There are few couples in America who fought as hard as Matt and Brittany Cover to defeat ObamaCare. Brittany, a seasoned conservative communications operative, has worked for Citizens United, and was the RNC’s social media coordinator during the 2012 elections. Matt was a longtime conservative reporter for CNS News who did what the mainstream media rarely would: keep the spotlight on the politicians ramming the unpopular mountain of regulations down voters’ throats, and hold them accountable. (He once asked then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi “where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” She responded, in typical fashion, “Are you serious? Are you serious?")
Since the elections, the Covers have both left the jobs they held, and the health-insurance coverage that went with those jobs. Their fear and loathing of the healthcare bill has moved from the abstract to the very real. The poisonous effects of ObamaCare on the health sector is one subject many conservatives hate being right about, despite the Obama administration’s fervent vows to the contrary. And Brittany, a woman with a medical precondition and thus precisely the promised beneficiary of the law, knows just how hollow those promises were.
During the 2012 election, while working long hours running the GOP's social media department, Brittany was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Since leaving full-time work at Citizens United behind, the Covers have been forced to seek healthcare from the ObamaCare insurance exchanges in their home state of Virginia. Being intimately familiar with the law, the Covers thought they knew what they were in for. Despite rock bottom expectations, the couple has been shocked at just how poorly their case has been handled by the unfeeling, unthinking bureaucrats now in charge of their healthcare. Brittany was forced to ration her own medication and live with debilitating pain, all while trying, in futility and frustration, to navigate the extra layers of red tape thrown up by ObamaCare in front of those simply trying to get care.
In a series of hopeless and infuriated tweets, Brittany explained her healthcare saga,
Oh, in case you thought our Obamacare nightmare was over: For the months they lost our info, the exchange's system stated we had coverage
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
Oh, and I have a preexisting condition that requires frequent visits to my specialist.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
I was using an old steroid prescription just to be able to walk to get by since I couldn't get my correct meds.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
So Obamacare can take a big flying leap. I knew it was going to be bad/inefficient- I never imagined it would be this atrocious.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
I would talk to the folks at the exchange sobbing and talking to them about my chronic pain and how I needed them to fix this. Nada.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
It's a bureaucratic nightmare, when what people need is access to their physicians. This just adds another step btwn you and your doc.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
It used to be deal with insurance and your doc. Now it's exchange, insurance, THEN doctor.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
I can't think of anything more stupid when you have a chronic condition- and yet that's what it was supposed to be made for.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
So then I would get on conference calls with the exchange and the insurance company and the chaos of talking to a diff person every time….
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
… would cause issues bc there was no one actually working on my case. It has been chaos from start to finish.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
I would just get off the phone and call my husband and sob, because I didn't know when I could get my meds.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
I was picking and choosing which days I was going to suffer in order to save my final 5 prednisone pills.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
And that is someone who is willing and wanting to pay! I can't imagine someone who doesn't have the knowledge of these systems…
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015
…. trying to navigate them. It's completely insane. I did everything right, and it wasn't enough. It's like it was built to fail.
— Brittany Cover (@bccover) January 2, 2015