Obama aids fainting woman during healthcare speech

(UPI) -- President Barack Obama was discussing the Affordable Care Act in the Rose Garden on Monday when a pregnant woman standing behind him began to faint.

“I got you. You’re ok,” Obama said as he turned around and put his arm around her.

“This is what happens when I talk too long,” the president joked as she was taken away for medical care.

Media reports later identified the fainting woman as Karmel Allison, a pregnant diabetic woman from San Diego.

"I'm ok world- just got a little lightheaded," she tweeted. "Thanks, @BarackObama for catching me!"

Allison has Type 1 diabetes, a disease insurers often considered a pre-existing condition before the Affordable Care Act made it illegal for them to do so. In a conversation with Business Insider, Allison said she had always stayed on the same insurance plan, despite rising costs.

“I had never actively looked for other coverage, because what I had was working, and the message I was getting from all the other insurance companies was, ‘Why would we cover a Type 1 diabetic? There’s no obligation for us to do that. And we’re not going to do that for anything remotely close to affordable,’” she said.

When the American Diabetic Association noticed Allison's October 7 blog post, “What Obamacare Feels Like To A Diabetic," they invited her to the president's Monday address.

“I’m just very grateful to the president for all the work he’s done to get this law enacted, and I’m very grateful to the ADA for all they did to allow me to be here, and for all they do on a regular basis,” she added.