Our daughter has Type 1 Diabetes. It’s a chronic, life threatening disease.

Having your child lose coverage is a serious and constant concern for parents like me. At diabetes support group gatherings, I’ve talked to countless parents who have had difficulty getting and keeping their child insured. Several of the people I've talked to at these gatherings have moved or changed jobs, only to find that the subsequent change in their insurance plan means their child is no longer covered for Type 1 Diabetes treatment. I remember one family that had to take out an individual policy for their child that cost as much as the policy for the rest of the family's coverage, and was less comprehensive than the coverage they had before. Before health reform, losing coverage was something that I worried about all the time. Knowing that my daughter is safe from losing her coverage means the world to me and my family.

But like most families, we don’t have just one story about health reform. My sister and her husband own a small business. Every year their coverage increases in cost while it decreases in what it covers. Their out-of-pocket expenses have been going up quickly, while their premium expenses increase right along with them. It’s a huge financial burden for a family and for a business. Luckily, it’s a burden that will start to be lifted if health reform stays on track. My sister and her husband are a part of the large group that will start to see benefits from reform in 2014.

With the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act around the corner, my family is incredibly thankful for what health reform has done for us already, and for the benefits that are yet to come.