Here's my response:
I am so glad that
you are opening this for people to share stories about how Obamacare
has affected Americans!!
I have been disabled
for the last fifteen years, and as a (divorced) single mother of two
with no other income than Social Security, qualifying for Medicare
and Medicaid (as MaineCare) has made it so that I don't have to
choose between getting the health care and prescriptions I need, or
putting food on the table.
Before Obamacare, I
was able to see my mental health care professional only a certain
number of times, and only after pre-approval and a referral from my
primary care physician. For years, I went without proper treatment as
my PCP tried to manage my psychiatric medications. As a family
physician without any specialized training in the rare mental illness
I have, it was barely sufficient and I (and my family) suffered
through a lot of problems with my health.
Now, with the mental
health parity, I can get the professional care I need to manage my
disability, covered in the same way that a physical illness would be.
The way Obamacare
has been structured, I have been able to have several surgeries to
remove large cysts that had engulfed my ovaries, as well as a surgery
to relocate my stomach from having herniated up to being more than
halfway into my chest cavity and put back into my abdomen. Without
Obamacare, I would not have even been able to afford to go to the
doctor for checkups, much less afford the tests needed to diagnose
these issues, and the surgeries necessary to save my life.
I would literally
not be alive right now if it wasn't for the care I have been able to
get under Obamacare. I am terrified that the changes the current
administration has in mind are going to make it impossible for me to
continue with the current course of treatment I am receiving, which
is finally starting to see some positive effect. I am terrified that
my prescription drugs will no longer be covered at the level that
they are now, and that my twice-weekly sessions will go back to being
so strictly regulated that it was barely a way for me to be
surviving, much less being able to move forward to better health. I
am terrified that repealing and replacing Obamacare means I will have
to choose again between taking care of my health or paying my other
bills.
The current
administration's proposal for healthcare reform will very likely lead
to a huge decline in my health, as well as an inability to afford
health insurance, which will lead to a further decline in my health.
In all honesty, it is not unrealistic to believe that I will die, and
that is something I and my doctors are trying to fight.
So, it is my hope
that the "American Health Care Act" not be passed, and that
the Affordable Care Act be left in place. I STRONGLY believe that
the AHCA, or "Trumpcare", will have a negative financial
and health impact on a huge percentage of Americans, and that
millions will be left without affordable health insurance, and will
therefore end up with life-threatening conditions and no way to pay
for treatment.
I can't understand
how the people who designed and support Trumpcare can be okay with
the financial breaks that the upper-middle-class and wealthy will
get, at the expense of the lower-middle-class, poor, disabled, and
elderly. I can't understand how the supporters of Trumpcare can be
okay with making these people more financially destitute, as well as
putting their lives at risk. People -will- die if Trumpcare is
enacted, and I cannot understand people who are so hard-hearted that
they are okay with that, as long as they get more money in their own
pockets.
Please save the ACA.
My life matters.
~mk
