The Faces of Health Care: Durrain K.

"With the new health care reform, we are able to get a secondary insurance with an affordable premium and 40 hours of therapy. That is what Shaheer needed all along." 

The first word he said was "Mom." 

For Durrain K., that word was more than a milestone, it was a breakthrough. Her son, 5-year-old Shaheer, is Autistic -- a condition that, for most of his life, had prevented him from speaking at all. 

Unfortunately, even with insurance coverage and a good IT job, Durrain's husband could not afford the therapy hours that Shaheer needed. They were already paying $1,300 out-of-pocket because there's no coverage for ABA. 

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Durrain and her husband could afford to buy a secondary plan that covered 40 hours of therapy for Shaheer. After getting that intervention therapy, Shaheer is now able to talk and communicate with his parents.

"There are many families like us out there who are benefitting from this new health care system," Durrain wrote in a letter to President Obama. "So thank you on their behalf and thank you from ours." 

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