Mom who shared son's hospital bill speaks out on GOP health bill

A tweet from a New Jersey mom put a very young face on the fight over the Senate health care bill.

Ali Chandra shared this photo of a $231,000 medical bill for her 2-year-old son, Ethan, for a 10-day stay. It was re-tweeted more than 57,000 times. Chandra was surprised to see how much their story was resonating with others. 

Her goal was simple: put the health care debate into perspective by reminding politicians in Washington that their decision affects real people -- children like her son. Ethan was born with nine congenital heart defects and his organs in the wrong place. He had his first heart surgery at just six days old. 

"Five surgeries, two heart catheterizations, another diagnostic procedure under anesthesia… He doesn't know any other life," Chandra said.

"Did you ever ask yourself, 'How am I gonna pay for this?'" CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal asked.

"I didn't have to," Chandra said.

The Chandra family is covered by employer-provided private insurance. Insurance negotiated and covered the majority, leaving the Chandras with $500 to pay. But Ethan's fight to get better gave his mother perspective on the battle over health care.

"I'm not sitting here telling you that the ACA is perfect; it's not," Chandra said. "When I say, 'I'm thankful for Obamacare,' what I mean is… I'm thankful that there's a set of laws that tell the insurance companies, 'Look, this is what you need to cover. You need to cover essential health benefits.'"

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans must meet a minimum standard of coverage. This includes a set of "essential health benefits."

"The plans that you offer need to cover prescription medications, hospitalizations, specialist visits," Chandra said.

Under the new proposed Senate bill, some benefits could be removed from a state's definition of "essential health benefits."

"The Chandra family is probably better off than many because at this point today they have what seems like a pretty good employer-sponsored plan. And the odds are their employer will keep their plan," Columbia University health policy professor Michael Sparer said.

Sparer said there are still a lot of uncertainties with the proposed bill.

"There are a lot of other folks, though, a lot of other folks who may be buying health insurance on the exchanges right now, or a lot of other folks who are on Medicaid, who might be even more nervous than the Chandra family, because they truly may be in a situation where they will be priced out of health insurance very quickly," Sparer said.
 
Ethan will take medication for the rest of his life and will likely need more procedures. Chandra hopes lawmakers will keep working to improve health care and its cost for all Americans.

"I don't think that, right now, our government is looking out for us. And I think we need to come together, and demand that they do better," Chandra said.

Even though she is under an employer plan, Chandra told us that when her husband changed jobs last year their premiums almost quadrupled. Critics often cite high premiums as one of Obamacare's flaws. Chandra said while she knows the ACA has its problems, she doesn't think the proposed GOP health care plan is any better.

In:
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act