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Protect Our Care :: From a Woman with Cystic Fibrosis
I was born with a life-shortening genetic disease called cystic fibrosis. When I was diagnosed in 1988, my parents were told I wouldn’t live to turn 20. This year, I’ll turn 29. I’m grateful for the medical miracles that have enabled me to have a long, full life, complete with marriage and parenthood. But those miracles have come at great cost. Each year, my prescriptions alone total at least $460,000. Adding in specialist visits and inpatient hospital stays, that number gets exponentially higher. Without the medications, specialist visits, and treatments that price tag buys, I will die in short order. Without one medication, my cells will lose the degree of…
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Protect Our Care :: From a Mother of a Child With Cancer
As a mother of a child with cancer, I am deeply grateful for the options and protections the ACA affords my son and other children like him. I am also deeply concerned about possible replacements or changes to the ACA that could affect my son. While I realize the ACA has flaws that should be addressed, and I acknowledge that healthcare reform is a complicated and multifaceted issue, all I can do is speak from our family’s experience. When abstract political ideas become law, these laws affect the lives of real people. This is the story of how the ACA has benefitted our family, and how possible changes to the…
