The horror stories related to the unfortunately named Affordable Care Act continue to pile up. This time, its widows who were married to retired Madison County (Ala.) employees who are in the crosshairs of the president’s healthcare law.

Widows have always been covered under the Madison County’s self-insured healthcare plan. But they lost their coverage in January after the county commission was informed that new regulations in ObamaCare would cost the county an extra $25 million per year.

“The change was sparked by the federal healthcare law,” explained WHNT’s Jerry Hayes, “but whether or not coverage can actually be restored really isn’t clear.”

Madison County Commissioner Roger Jones is pushing for the widows to be reinstated into the program.

“What I’m trying to do is get this coverage back to them,” said Jones. “A lot of these people are on fixed incomes… some of them are living on Social Security and very little else, and health insurance is very important to them.”

But it’s going to be very difficult for Madison County to find the money to cope with the increased costs. The county recently moved into a statewide health insurance network along with 50 other county governments, leading to the widows being dropped from the county’s plan.

“In joining with this large group, it does not provide for spouses when their husbands die or their wives die,” said Madison County Commission Chairman Dale Strong. “So that’s the thing that came up. How do we do this? The things I’m wanting to know (are), is this a common practice with the corporate world? Is this a common practice within the state of Alabama?”

Strong expressed concern for the individuals being impacted by the changes, but said he’s trying to make the best decisions he can given the budgeting realities.

“The big thing is, while I want to do what’s right for the employees, I want to do what’s right for the taxpayers of this county,” he said.

Watch the full WHNT report in the video above.

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