I have a son with a pre-existing eye condition that requires surgeries. My husband and I are both self-employed and secure our own health insurance. After my son's first eye surgery in 2008, our insurance company dropped us, simply saying they can no longer extend coverage to us. The next company we got a policy from said that my son's condition was excluded from coverage, so we had to pay not only the high monthly premium for our family's health insurance, but also pay all his eye related medical costs out of pocket.

The bills were crushing us. We were paying over $800 a month for the insurance coverage, plus anywhere from $600 (on a good month) to over $1,000 (on an expensive month) for my son's excluded medical bills. Who'd ever think a little eyeball could cost so much!!!

We have since switched policies and now thanks to the ACA, our son is fully covered. The insurance companies can no longer exclude his pre-existing condition. PS -- My son is now 6 -- he was 2 when first diagnosed with his eye disorder and 3 when he had his first surgery. So you can't say he got it from poor lifestyle choices; it was something he was born with -- luck of the draw, so to speak. How can you exclude coverage simply because of a condition someone was born with?