Chronic Rants

In the chronic illness community, there seem to be two groups of people:

• People in the U.S. who are terrified of losing their healthcare or of it becoming completely unaffordable.
• People outside the U.S. who are wondering what the hell is wrong with us.

These are some scary times.

If you don’t know what’s going on, here’s the basic summary. Our political system has become incredibly divisive. It’s been divisive for a long time, but there are no longer congresspeople working with folks from the other party. Politicians go out of their way to hurt the other part just for the sake of hurting them. Even if politicians from different parties agree with each other in private, they won’t do it in public.

When Obama became president, the Republicans vowed to do whatever it took to prevent him from being reelected. But he was reelected. Still, they could destroy everything he had accomplished. For 7 years they talked about repealed the healthcare plan he put into place. They talked big. And then the day came when they had to actually do what they’d said.

So now here we are with a Republican-majority congress and a Republican president. They have no excuse for not repealing Obama’s healthcare plan. The thing is, they suddenly realized that wasn’t so easy to do. People like it! They use it and rely on it! They need it.

But after talking big, the Republicans can’t just say, “Oops, turns out we can’t come up with something better that will make our richest supporters happy, so we’ll just keep what we’ve got.” No, they have to get rid of it. And the plans they have been coming up with instead are cruel.

Yes, cruel. That’s no exaggeration. The House’s plan would cause 23 million people to lose health insurance. The Senate’s plan would cause 22 million people to lose health insurance. Preexisting conditions could cause your rates to skyrocket. A “preexisting condition” could be anything from cancer to lupus to migraines to pregnancy.

The Senate’s plan would remove access to free birth control, abortions, and maternity coverage. That’s right. So you won’t have any monetary help avoiding pregnancy, ending a pregnancy, or getting medical treatment during a pregnancy, never mind actually giving birth to a baby. Cruel.

Both plans cut billions – yes, BILLIONS – of dollars from Medicaid. Medicaid is the government-run healthcare program for the poor and disabled. You know, the folks who most need the help.

As for “regular” folks with jobs and steady incomes, they’re safe, right? Not really. Predictions are that their premiums, deductibles, and co-pays will go up, even while the covered services (like contraception, abortion, and maternity care) are reduced.

So who benefits? The rich will get huge tax breaks. Insurance companies will also save money.

Um…. Yeah, I’m usually speechless at this point. For about a minute. Then I start yelling again.

Remember, these bills are hugely unpopular. But they can still pass. Because the Republicans would rather do something unpopular than nothing at all.

As for me, I currently have two different health insurances. My primary insurance covers 80% of each bill and the secondary insurance – Medicaid – covers the other 20%. If any of these bills pass, I will likely be able to keep the primary insurance, but there will be limits placed on it, so it won’t cover as much as it does right now. There aren’t any details yet. I don’t know if it will still cover the CPAP-type machine that I need for my sleep apnea, the many doctors’ visits, the blood tests, or the MRIs.  I would lose the secondary insurance. I might or might have access to other secondary insurances that I could pay for myself. Right now, those cost about $250 per month – money I don’t have available. But that’s right now, and those prices will go up under these new Republican plans. How would I pay for it?

Shit.

This is bad. Horrible. Catastrophic.

Cruel.

So what can you do? I’m so glad you asked! Here’s what you can do:

• If you are in the U.S., call your Senators! Tell them to vote against these bills! Tell them you want to keep the Affordable Care Act just the way it is. If you can’t call, send an email. Their contact information is right here: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
• If you are in the U.S., call other Senators! There are many who are on the fence, and we need them with us on this!
• No matter where you are, ask your friends in the U.S. to call their Senators!
• Post about this on social media. We need awareness! Too many people don’t realize what’s happening or how it might affect them. And that’s a problem. On the other hand, if the 22 MILLION – that’s 22,000,000 people! – all called their Senators, and each got a friend and/or family member to call also, there’s no way the Senators would vote for this. They wouldn’t want to risk losing the next election, after all.
• [Edited to add on 7/5/17:] Attend any town halls that you can and make your voice heard! These town halls have a HUGE impact, not only in the media, but on the senators themselves. If they get a lot of feedback at these town halls, they might very well switch their votes to be against this heinous bill.

I’m sure my Facebook friends would be sick of my myriad posts on this subject if so many of them weren’t also concerned. Many are in much worse situations than me. Some are just as disabled, but will lose ALL of their health insurance coverage if this passes, and they don’t have any savings to manage without it.

Remember, 22 million people will lose health insurance if these bills pass. But how many of those 22 million will survive? Because people will die. That is a fact. And while I have no doubt that history will prove me right on this matter, I don’t want to be right. I want to be alive. How about you?

What are you waiting for? If you feel up to it, take 5 minutes RIGHT NOW to call your Senators, call other Senators, ask your family and friends to call Senators, and post on social media. Because unless we take action, millions of people will lose access to healthcare.