As a 36-year cancer survivor , I am watching with great interest as the debate rages over whether the Affordable Care Act strengthens the individual insurance market , as the law 's supporters contend , or dismantles it , as critics say . Having been repeatedly denied health coverage I needed and wanted to buy because of my pre-existing condition , I know that provisions of the law can dramatically improve the quality and cost of insurance for people shopping for coverage on their own . I was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia as a college student . After nearly five years of aggressive chemotherapy , immunotherapy , bone marrow harvests and more , I was cancer-free . My cancer has never returned , but since then I have waged a battle of a different kind -- a three-decade struggle to obtain quality , affordable coverage . I spent a few years on my parents ' health plan as a student -- long before the new law guaranteed that parents ' policies can cover their children through age 26 . Later I joined my husband 's work-based plan . It was n't until he got laid off and our COBRA coverage expired that I discovered how difficult it would be to buy a health plan on my own . I shopped around , but as soon as I revealed my pre-existing condition , I was denied coverage -- no further questions asked . My appeals were unsuccessful , and insurers would n't even sell me a plan at some sky-high price . I went to California 's high-risk pool for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions , but the option to pay $ 1,800 a month for flimsy coverage that would have left my three young children uninsured was not really an option at all . After months of searching , I found an expensive plan with limited benefits through a professional association , and ever since I have paid to be a member of the organization just so I can maintain coverage . For 15 years my sons and I have struggled to afford the plan 's annual deductibles of up to $ 3,000 per person and monthly premiums that have risen about 30 % each year . Every couple of years I reduced our coverage and gave up our trusted providers to avoid yet another premium increase , until we reached the plan 's minimum coverage level . Now a single mom with three sons to put through college , I 've had to make some very tough choices . The situation is similar for the millions of uninsured people across the country who are living with cancer or another pre-existing condition . For decades , we have been denied coverage outright , charged exorbitantly expensive premiums for limited coverage and forced to pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for lifesaving care . It 's no wonder that high medical bills are a major cause of family bankruptcies , or that seriously ill patients have died because they could not get the treatment that could have extended or even saved their life . The health care law offers people like me a choice of health plans sold in online marketplaces in every state . Each plan must cover essential benefits needed to prevent and treat cancer or another serious disease , and no plan can turn down someone with a pre-existing condition or charge them more than they would a healthy person . No one will have coverage revoked if he or she gets sick or terminated if his or her plan 's coverage reaches an arbitrary limit . Patients will not have to pay for preventive tests such as mammograms , and many people with low or moderate incomes could get tax credits that help them afford coverage . I visited California 's marketplace , CoveredCA.com , on October 1 -- the day it went live . At first I encountered technical problems , as so many others have , that were caused in part by the large number of people trying to find coverage . But I knew I had until December 15 to enroll for coverage to begin January 1 . Recently I tried again and enrolled in my chosen plan in about 15 minutes . In January , for the first time since my diagnosis 36 years ago , I will have an individual health plan that offers quality coverage for me and my family . I will save $ 628 every month on premiums . Best of all -- I was n't even asked if I 've ever had cancer .
Lori Greenstein Bremner says she had problems getting insurance after surviving cancer . Bremner says she settled for pricey health policy due to her pre-existing condition . She says premium hikes left her scaling back coverage for herself and sons to a minimum . With Obamacare , she says she has cheaper , better plan and no one asked about cancer .