SALENA ZITO: ObamaCare Only Deepens The Disconnect Between Main Street and Washington.

It is staggering to consider that, within a brisk walk of each other, so much money, power and influence is amassed – and even more staggering to consider the impact these have on our lives.

Those lives are not anecdotes but knee-weakening realities, as in the case of Genevieve Ward of Belle Vernon.

Her insurance company informed her this week that Obamacare would force her out of her existing plan, leaving a sad choice: reduced benefits or increased costs.

The 84-year-old widow, whose husband worked at now-defunct Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, saw her payment for out-of-pocket expenses go from $3,400 to $6,700; the co-pay cost for a hospital stay went from zero to $200 a day.

“I think it’s terrible. They shouldn’t be canceling what I have,” she said. “They are raising my prices and taking away privileges.” She and her friends were so distraught that they skipped their weekly card club, she said.

Ward’s letter contradicts Obama’s repeated promise that, if you like your doctor and your health-care plan, you could keep it, “Period.”

Read the whole thing, which is one of Zito’s best.