Facing “a very tight monthly budget” after the recession hurt his Michigan solo law practice, John Ceci has cut back on movies and restaurant meals, drives a 1996 Honda and has higher priorities than health insurance.
“I would prefer to purchase a new car rather than pay a monthly health-care premium,” Ceci said in a court affidavit after suing to block President Barack Obama’s health-care law, which requires most people to have insurance by 2014. “I cannot afford both.”
The recession hit Ceci hard enough that, 13 months before his March 2010 lawsuit to overturn the insurance requirement, he filed for bankruptcy relief from almost $120,000 of unpaid balances on 20 credit cards, according to court records.
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to review the health- care law next week, Ceci’s case is one of three lawsuits, filed by 11 individual plaintiffs, in which federal appeals courts have ruled on the insurance mandate. Four of the people who objected to getting health coverage, including Ceci, have gone to bankruptcy court to discharge debts they couldn’t pay, court filings show.
Read the rest of the article at BusinessWeek
No comments:
Post a Comment