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Minneapolis woman to join Michelle Obama at State of the Union

Abby Schanfield of Minneapolis will sit in First Lady Michelle Obama's box during Tuesday's State of the Union address, according to a White House official.

February 11, 2013 at 10:16PM

Abby Schanfield thanked Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after a discussion where Schanfield spoke of her congenital and chronic disease called toxoplasmosis that is a pre-existing condition and how healthcare reform has helped her. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius met with a group of women, along with Gov. Mark Dayton, Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Betty McCollum, at the home of RN Linda Hamilton for a discussion on the anniversary of federal health care reform on Friday, March 23, 2012, in Spring Lake Park, Minn. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Abby Schanfield of Minneapolis will sit in First Lady Michelle Obama's box during Tuesday's State of the Union address.

Schanfield was among the Minnesotans the Star Tribune profiled in June after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law championed by President Barack Obama.

Schanfield was born with toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease. She has had lifelong medical problems, including a brain operation before her first birthday and losing sight in her left eye at 17. Schanfield said that she'd have little chance of buying medical insurance on her own without the law, which aims to prevent insurers from turning away people who have preexisting conditions.

"These are things that healthy people don't quite understand," she said.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the recent University of Minnesota graduate can stay on her parents' insurance policy until she turns 26. Prior to the new law, Schanfield would have lost coverage on her 21st birthday.