This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One of the most popular features of the Affordable Care Act is it allows parents to keep children on their family insurance plans until age 26.
But a South Jordan family, through an extraordinary event, has learned the value of that safety net the hard way as they suddenly face financial challenges.
Twin brothers Beau and Skyler Maxon, 23, moved to Los Angeles a couple of years ago to chase their dream of becoming actors. They achieved some success in television and film and were just about to join the Screen Actors Guild when tragedy struck in August.
Outside their apartment a car had crashed into a light pole and fire hydrant. Neighbors rushed to the scene where a live wire had fallen into the growing pool of water. A woman who tried to rescue the driver was electrocuted, and Beau tried to grab her and pull her out of danger. The current ran through her and then through his body, nearly killing him.
Another woman also grabbed her and was electrocuted as well. As both women died, Beau was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
He is back in Utah with his parents and rehabilitation. Skyler has gone back to L.A. where he has found work in television.
But Beau's father, Mark Maxon, says with his insurance plan, the premiums were prohibitively high for children who live in a different state. Because Beau and Skyler were close to joining the Screen Actors Guild, which would have provided them their own health insurance, the parents took them off the family plan.
Beau's medical expenses are approaching $30,000 and continuing to grow as he receives treatment.
—
Open and public meeting? • Politicians like to use the phrase "think outside the box" when describing how they could do a better job than their opponent.
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon has taken that idea one step further.
He decided to think outside the board room.
Corroon created some amusement and a lot of curiosity at the County Government Center recently when he and about 15 department directors and top staff members convened their Monday morning cabinet meeting, which is always open to the public, in a corridor as county employees and visitors to the building cautiously walked around what was obviously a serious meeting.
Corroon said that after some office shuffling recently, a large conference table has been sitting in the hall. After noticing it for a while, he thought, why not?
Corroon said when he told his cabinet members to grab their chairs and come out in the hall, some rolled their eyes and looked annoyed. But after a while, they got down to business and forgot they were in the middle of the hallway.
The meetings are always public, Corroon said. So if the public won't come to you, go to the public.
—
Bulging optimism • Mitt Romney might have had a premonition that he would do well in Thursday's debate against President Barack Obama and would convert lifelong Democrats to his team.
That's the only explanation Brian Martin can think of as to why he received a letter two days before the debate from Mitt Romney telling him that "because you are one of America's most prominent Republicans…"
The letter goes on to ask for money, of course, but Martin still wonders how he became one of America's most prominent Republicans.
"I've been a registered Democrat since moving to Utah and support the reelection of Obama," he says.
Oh, but the debates. The debates, Brian. Dream about them. You'll come around.