White House cites Ohio woman in health-care debate

MEDINA, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio woman’s ordeal with medical costs has played a leading role in President Obama’s latest pitch for an overhaul of the health-care system.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, in a briefing Thursday, read a letter sent to Obama by 50-year-old Natoma Canfield of Medina in northeast Ohio.

Canfield is a self-employed cleaning worker and breast cancer survivor. She wrote to Obama on Dec. 29 and two days later dropped her medical insurance when the annual premium rose to nearly $8,500.

Last year she paid more than $10,000 in out-of-pocket premiums and medical expenses. But she never met the deductible, so her doctors got only $935.