Repealing Obamacare Impacts These Women Even Though They’re Not on It
A Mother of a Disabled Adult, a Firefighter/Breast Cancer Survivor, and a Physician/Brain Tumor Survivor Speak Out
Recently, I asked three women how the repeal of The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would impact them and their families, even though the ACA is not currently their health insurance provider. Here’s what they had to say.
Jaime Job, Age 50, Snohomish, WA, owner of Jaime Job Consulting, Inc., Mother of Children Aged 18–26, including a disabled child, and Wife to husband with a pre-existing condition.
“My family and I are covered under my husband’s insurance offered through his employer, and while it is arguably good coverage and subsidized by his employer, it is nowhere near as good as it used to be, and it is more expensive.
However, we have complex healthcare needs in my family, and we have benefitted from the Affordable Care Act in multiple ways.
We have three children over 18 but under 26 who we cover under our healthcare policy (we PAY for their coverage, it is not free). This is extremely important to us because for a variety of reasons, they are not in a position to purchase their own insurance at this time. By repealing the ACA, we will no longer be able to cover them.
One of our sons just turned 25. He contracted meningitis as a newborn, which devastated him. He suffered multiple strokes, brain damage, three neurosurgeries and spent three months in Children’s Hospital (most of it in the NICU). He is left with a variety of health issues — he is blind, cognitively delayed, and suffers from epilepsy. As you can imagine, the financial costs alone involved in treating his illness and continued medical care were significant. The ACA lifted lifetime maximums and insured he would always be able to receive healthcare regardless of his pre-existing conditions, of which there are many.
Further, when he turns 26, he will rely solely on Medicare for his healthcare, which will be significantly impacted by repealing the ACA.
During a meeting with a local organization about the needs of our community’s disabled population, I was told that 50% of the people receiving services from the Developmental Disabilities Administration would lose their healthcare if the ACA is repealed. This is absolutely heartless and devastating to the disabled population who are among our most vulnerable and truly are not able to ‘pick themselves up by their bootstraps.’
Finally, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago. While he is healthy now, he is not healed and will always have this pre-existing condition. If the ACA is repealed, he can be denied coverage moving forward.
The impacts of repealing the ACA are broad sweeping and affect all of us. We are each one injury, tragedy, illness away from needing help.”
Camari Olson, Age 52, Sammamish, WA, Firefighter and Breast Cancer Survivor
“I’ve been extremely fortunate through two bouts with breast cancer that I’ve had outstanding medical insurance through my employers. For that I will always be grateful. At this time, I am still employed as a full-time firefighter, still with excellent medical benefits. So, at this point in my life I have not had to use Obamacare. I went through chemotherapy both times I had cancer. The second time through put me into an immediate and permanent menopausal state at age 41. The long-term effects of that are loss of bone density, muscle mass and, of course, strength. Because of the cancer history I am not eligible to do hormone replacement therapy to combat those effects. My profession as a firefighter requires a great deal of strength, especially for somebody my size. I am trying to put myself in a position to finish my career in an administrative role, but the ability to do that isn’t certain. I need to be realistic about future options including the possibility of finding work elsewhere.
My fears regarding repealing the Affordable Care Act and not maintaining the provisions that protect those with pre-existing conditions and [prevent] lifetime limits are very scary to me. One of the options I’ve considered in a career outside of the fire service is a CPR/First Aid teaching business. But without these protections I would not be able to get insurance. With my extensive health history that is a very frightening reality.”
Sara Shorter, Age 44, Hutchinson, MN, Physician and Brain Tumor Patient
“I have never been on the ACA. I have had a job and been the one (between my spouse and me) who takes on the medical insurance cost via my job.
I was elated for the change of the pre-existing condition issue, for myself but mostly for a gigantic proportion of my patients in my practice. I have always thought it cruel that once you have a known medical condition, you are negatively ‘marked for life’ in your ability to get medical insurance coverage. I know so many people who have stayed in jobs that ranged from not great to frankly horrible because they felt they couldn’t afford the risk of pre-existing insurance expenses.
I also think that more people having insurance causes them to come in and get help sooner and do health maintenance that will decrease the risks of future problems. I love that more kids are covered on ACA — it is painful to see kids come in with a problem that has been put aside for a long time until it became impossible to ignore.
[Right now], the most prominent effect on me and my family is the pre-existing cause issue. I love my job and feel committed where I am, but if something changes (and in this crazy world of medicine, something always changes!), I either can’t consider another job or will have to deal with the real stress of the increased cost of whatever insurance I can find to cover me.
From a professional standpoint, [with the repeal of the ACA] I will see more patients with more stress over how much it costs to see me, how many tests I recommend as a part of their care, how often I want to see them for their given medical issue. There will be a lot of preventative health care that will be avoided. I don’t even want to think about the drop in mental health care that will hit our communities in disastrous ways.
In another 15 years, [the most prominent effect on me and my family will be] the continued healthcare via parents for kids into the mid-20s; I’ve watched my siblings and nieces and nephews be very grateful and appreciative of this option.
I think we need to stop expecting perfection from ANY healthcare system. I think we need to look toward universal health care. As an upper-middle-class person in the U.S. and a ridiculously wealthy person on the planet, I have no problem contributing some of my money toward helping others get care that I pretty easily (at this point) can get for myself and my family. As a person of faith, this is one of the ways I tithe.”
