Utah Bookseller Among President’s Guests to Mark Patient’s Bill of Rights

Betsy Burton

On Wednesday, September 22, President Obama marked the six-month anniversary of the enactment of his landmark healthcare bill in a backyard in Falls Church, Virginia, where he met with Americans from across the country who will benefit from the new law. The event also commemorated the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s Patient’s Bill of Rights, which goes into effect on Thursday, September 23. Included among those meeting with the president was Betsy Burton, the co-owner of The King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an ABA Board member.

In opening the event, President Obama explained why health care reform is such a big part of his agenda, noting that people’s wages were going down, while costs were going up – none more so than health care costs. “What we realized is that we had to take some steps to start dealing with these underlying chronic problems that have confronted our economy for a very long time,” the president stated. “And health care was one of those issues that we could no longer ignore.”

President Obama stressed that the new legislation “is the most important patient bill of rights that we’ve ever seen in our history.”

At the event, Burton explained that the health care reform bill would make a huge difference in her business and in the lives of her family. “I also want to speak on behalf of small business,” she said, “because small business has been used as an argument against this bill, and I find it very hard to understand. I think there’s a huge campaign of misinformation – in fact, we were about to make a decision between not insuring our employees anymore because we simply couldn’t afford [health care premiums] … or closing our doors.” She explained that the tax credit that she received under the health care reform bill has made a “massive difference” to her business.

Noting to Burton that he “loved bookstores” and that “he used to love to roam around” bookstores when he was still able to do so without being noticed, President Obama stressed that most small businesses should be able to take advantage of the “significant tax reductions” in the health care bill, just as The King’s English did. “That goes directly to a small business’ bottom line,” the president said. (To see Burton’s exchange with President Obama, click here.)

Following the event, Burton told BTW that being flown out to Virginia to meet with the president was “sort of a fairy tale.” She said, “It was an incredible honor. I’ve always been a fan of President Obama and, after meeting in him person, I can say he more than measures up.” She said she hoped the president does more forums, such as the one she participated in, to get the word out on how the health care bill will help small business and to counter detractors of the bill.

In addition to participating in the presidential event in Falls Church, Burton’s audio testimony is used on a White House website promoting the benefits of the new health care bill. Burton was also featured in a New York Times article on September 17 in which she discussed the challenges of providing health care for The King’s English’s seven full-time employees. Burton told the newspaper that last year she seriously considered dropping health care coverage altogether or closing the bookstore. But, the Times reported, “After sorting through the somewhat complicated requirements, Ms. Burton discovered her store was eligible for the full credit, which will give the business a rebate of $21,000 this tax year. So for now, the King’s English is still in business, and Ms. Burton and her employees have kept their insurance.”

Under the small-business health care measures that kick in September 23, companies that didn’t provide coverage “pre-reform” and have no more than 25 workers will be offered incentives such as tax credits and grants to encourage them to offer insurance coverage, Dorothy Miraglia, director of benefits with AlphaStaff, a firm that manages employee benefits programs for small businesses, told CNN Money.

The White House estimates that four million small businesses will be eligible for health insurance tax credits, the CNN Money article noted.These include a credit of up to 35 percent of the premiums employers pay on worker plans. For small non-profit companies, the credit is up to a 25 percent. The 35 percent maximum credit is also offered to employers with 10 or fewer full-time employees, according to Miraglia.

The Small Business Majority offers an in-depth health care FAQ to help business owners navigate the health care bill to find out, among other things, if they qualify for tax credits and their shared responsibility requirements.

WhiteHouse.gov provides an overview of the new protections afforded all Americans in the Patient’s Bill of Rights, which include:

• Ban on Insurance Companies Dropping Coverage
  Before reform, insurance companies could cancel coverage when people got sick and needed it most because of a simple mistake on an application. Starting September 23, insurance companies are banned from cutting off people’s coverage due to an unintentional mistake on an application.

• Ban on Insurance Companies Limiting Choice of Doctors
  Before reform, insurance companies could decide which doctor people could go to. Now, if people purchase or join a new plan, they have the right to choose their own doctor in their insurer network.

• Guarantee a Right to Appeal
  Before reform, when insurers denied coverage or restricted treatment, people were left with few options to appeal. Starting September 23, if people purchase or join a new policy, they will be guaranteed the right to appeal insurance company decisions to an independent third party.

• Covering Preventive Care With No Cost
  Starting September 23, if people join or purchase a new plan, they will receive recommended preventive care with no out-of-pocket cost. Services like mammograms, colonoscopies, immunizations, pre-natal and new baby care will be covered and insurance companies will be prohibited from charging deductibles, co-payments, or co-insurance.