Couple find solution to pre-existing condition in the Affordable Care Act

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A wedding is viewed as a blessed event for couples all over the world. In the case of a Woodland couple, it seemed like a ceremony they would never have until the Affordable Care Act provided the solution they’d been seeking.

On Jan. 26, 2014 Ben and Ashley Hayden raised champagne glasses to toast their first moments as husband and wife and their story will appear in the July edition of Redbook Magazine, available for sale as early as June 10.

Ashley graduated with a teaching degree from Washington State University about the time the economy was in decline. A degree in hand, there were few opportunities to be had in her chosen field so she took a job at True Value Hardware in Woodland. Ben, a farmer and mechanic on a family-run farm, frequented True Value for supplies. On Ashley’s first day on the job, Ben helped her stock some freight and their chance encounters went on that innocently for several months.

One day, Ben made a remark to Ashley about her singing that he was sure had hurt her feelings so he sent her a dozen roses to apologize and a relationship grew from there. She would bring dinner to him and sit next to him on a tractor as he worked and in the evenings and they’d talk for hours on the phone. After three months, Ben asked Ashley to marry him.

“I thought he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen,” Ashley said.

Neither one of them considered that Ben’s pre-existing illness could keep the two of them from formalizing their love for one another. Ben has epilepsy and from about 13-22 years of age he worked closely with a dedicated doctor on the right combination of medications to control his grand mal seizures. The same doctor submitted enough documentation to keep Ben on his mother’s insurance well past the typical age of 26 (he’s currently 35).



As a married man, Ben would no longer be eligible to be covered under his mother’s insurance so Ashley began looking into other options. According to Ashley, if she were able to find a teaching position, his pre-existing condition could deny him enrollment or at least put him in a 12-month waiting status, which wasn’t an option considering the medication needed to keep his symptoms stable. The next avenue Ashley pursued was the Community Health Plan of Washington. Again, due to Ben’s pre-existing condition, he scored too high to be eligible for this insurance option.

They began to tell people – and themselves – “we’re married in our hearts” but it was difficult to conceive that they’d found each other and a seemingly simple thing like health care coverage was keeping them from walking down the aisle.

Ashley is the first to admit that she was skeptical when she began hearing that even people with pre-existing conditions would be covered under the new Affordable Care Act. It seemed too good to be true. She continued to listen to the debates and waited patiently and hopefully for it to roll out.

The day she purchased coverage for her fiancé was the day they were finally able to start planning the wedding they’d dreamed of having. Amid the twinkling lights of the Bavarian town of Leavenworth they exchanged their vows and now look forward to a life of travel and continued adventures together.

“We want to go to Disneyland,’’ Ashley said. “We like cruising. We just love being with each other in each other’s company. Simple things is what makes us happier.”

Look for their full love story authored by Ashley Hayden in the July issue of Redbook Magazine.