Pennsylvania Laws On Spousal Health Insurance

OR-1: Bonamici: Consumer Advocacy to the Legislature to Candidate for Congress

This is the third and final piece in a series of interviews with the three most competitive candidates in the Democratic primary for the First Congressional District seat. Brad Avakian's interview can be found here . The interview with Brad Witt can be found here .

If ancestry provides an indication of one's own traits, Suzanne Bonamici is resilient and excels at perseverance. Born in Detroit and raised in small Michigan towns, Suzanne Bonamici is the grandchild of Italian immigrants who landed in the state via Ellis Island and Pennsylvania. From Tuscany, Bonamici's grandfather was a stone mason who, after losing his leg in a Pennsylvania coal mining accident, went to work for the Ford Motor Company in Michigan. Bonamici says that he used to tell stories about how working standards at that time were not the same as they were in later years.

Bonamici's father worked at a local bank, beginning in an entry level position working there 45-50 years, until his retirement. He stewarded loans to car dealerships for their stock as well as car loans for consumers. Her mother was a piano teacher while her children were small and then became a small business owner when her children were older. "It was a small town. One high school. Life was simple. There wasn't any choice about the high school you went to. You went to Northville High School," Bonamici said.

Her relocation to Oregon came at a whim. "I moved out to Oregon in the 70s with a group of friends. We were all sitting around one day on kind of a gray and cold day and decided that we'd venture west. One of the friends had a connection in Boulder. And we got to Boulder and some of us just kept going. Someone had some friends in Cottage Grove so we visited with them and fell in love with the state."

Bonamici enrolled in the 2 year Legal Assistant program at Lane Community College. She also began volunteering for Lane Co Legal Aid doing intake interviews and qualifying folks or referring them to someone who could help them. Bonamici said she also began doing financial counseling talking to people who were struggling primarily with unpaid bills and possible bankruptcy. "I learned at that time, and this shaped my career choices, that a lot of those people who were struggling were struggling because of something that happened to them: lost a job, lost a spouse, had unpaid medical bills and not enough insurance or no insurance.

Is it legal for an employer to stop offering health insurance coverage ...

My employer recently announced that our spouses would have to purchase health insurance through their own employer if it is offered. My husband works for Sears and they offer him the option to purchase it - all at his own expense - they contribute NOTHING to it, they just give him the option to purchase it. They said the next time the insurance open enrollment happens he will have to sign up for it through them. Is this legal for them to force him to do this?

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