The New York Times ran a powerful "Life, Interrupted" column yesterday from Suleika Jaouad, a 24-year-old writer, offering readers a look at the health care system from a patient's perspective.
Like a lot of other young people, I never thought about health insurance until I got sick. I was 22, and my adult life was just beginning. But less than a year after walking across the stage at my college graduation, I received an unexpected diagnosis -- acute myeloid leukemia -- and with it came a flurry of consultations, tests and appointments. From early on, my doctors told me I would need chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
But before the shock of the news could settle in -- before I could consider where and how I would be treated -- I did what most Americans must do when beset with a medical crisis: I called my insurance provider.
Before I made that first phone call, I confess I didn't know exactly what the word "premium" meant. And "co-pay" sounded to me like what happens when friends split the bill at dinner. Certainly, the term "lifetime limit" had no meaning to me yet.... Now, I was facing cancer -- and I was beginning to get worried about coverage from an insurance plan I knew virtually nothing about.
Jaouad not only had to focus on her medical treatments, she had to learn quite a bit about her coverage -- which she currently has thanks to the Affordable Care Act's provision that extends protections to young adults until they're 26, and which shielded her from crushing medical bills she couldn't afford.
The piece is well worth reading closely, and it's hard not to marvel at the details of Jaouad's ordeal, facing a life-threatening disease while simultaneously navigating a serpentine medical/financial maze.
And in two years, she'll turn 26, and Jaouad has no idea what she'll do. It's possible she'll get coverage from a future employer, but finding and keeping a good job while undergoing treatment for leukemia is, shall we say, tricky.
What's more, she's all too aware of the fact that if Republicans destroy the Affordable Care Act next year, Jaouad can be denied coverage going forward based on a pre-existing condition.
Reading the piece -- and I do hope you'll read it -- my first thought is of course wishing Jaouad and her family well at this incredibly difficult time. But I also can't help but wonder about the impact the political world will have on their lives and the lives of millions facing similar circumstances.
Mitt Romney has said, nearly every day for years, that one of his top priorities is killing "Obamacare." Congressional Republicans have vowed to erase every word of every page of the law, and plenty of voters think that's a great idea. I read every transcript of every Romney stump speech, and every time he vows to destroy the law, GOP audiences cheer and applaud.
But I'm reminded reading Jaouad's column of a question I want to ask these folks who are so eager to turn back the clock: are you sure?
Before we undo the breakthrough accomplishment of 2010, a bipartisan law a century in the making, are you at all concerned that maybe, just maybe, you or someone close to you might actually want the Affordable Care Act to be in place? Do you think it's possible you might wake up one day with regret, thinking, "On second thought, maybe those protections would have been good for me and my family?"
How confident are you that you'll be better off once the reforms are destroyed? Will Suleika Jaouad and everyone in America like her have a more secure future if the law is repealed or it's fully implemented?
Have you really thought this through, or do you hate Obamacare because you've been told to hate Obamacare?
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Jaouad'sObama's Mother's ordeal, facing a life-threatening disease while simultaneously navigating a serpentine medical/financial maze."And they wonder why he created the ACA!
"Have you really thought this through, or do you hate Obamacare because ..."
I thought I knew where you were going with your final sentence, only in my version, the sentence reads:
"Have you really thought this through, or do you hate Obamacare because you hate Obama?"
The answer to this question is found in the polls:
Break down the ACA into individual components - these are wildly popular.
Put it all together and stick the "Obamacare" label on it - not so much.
I would like to point out that, soooooooooo often, Democrats are accused of wanting stuff for free.
But those of us who support the ACA accept that the benefits that are so popular will need to be paid for and generally accept the provisions that do so.
We KNOW it won't be "free" and we are willing to pay for it.
The main arguments against the ACA are the provisions to pay for it - and those who are fighting it are the GOP and the right.
It looks to me like THEY are the ones who want the "stuff" for free.
People who hate it do so because they've been lied to.
I read an article the other day about a very conservative woman who moved to Canada for work and then got to experience the dreaded healthcare system. She found that she had been lied to...severely and repeatedly, and then started to question all the other stuff conservatives had lied to her about.
It is unfortunate that we are a country of people where the majority hasn't ever left the US to see what other countries are like, many not having ever left their state, or even their own county. They fear the death panels. They fear the unknown. They have been lied to. Severely and repeatedly.
Read the article. It is very good.
That is a wonderful article! Thanks for the link.
That is an amazing piece, MsJoanne.
What really struck me was that even though the author grew up in circumstances that were so impoverished that her family was never able to afford doctor visits, as an adult, she was still so immersed in conservative propaganda that she was disgusted at the very concept that was created to help exactly those in her situation! It's wonderful, though, that she got to see firsthand that there is NOTHING to fear. Her description of the Canadian system almost makes me want to hop a plane there myself. As long as people here keep voting conservatives into power, we'll never have anywhere near that kind of quality of life here.
Why is it "secular humanist" Democrats care so much about others and the "christian" republicans not so much. Papa John's CEO declares that his pizza will cost 20 cents more and I think - "Well if that's all it takes, I'm okay with that" but it's not what he means. He wants to destroy ACA and let people die - so I won't be supporting his business.
I continue to be blown away by the callousness of the far right wing republicans and their need to hoard money and power while denying any responsibility to all of the people that have provided the framework that they rely on.
Religiosity to the right wing theocrats is a foil to their ideology believe.
To them, "God loves you because you're wealthy".
to them you are poor or working class,because God made you that way/you don't deserve wealth.
These people have nothing in common,with the Protestant Christians who fought to abolish slavery in this country.
Because of their Political philosophy,Democrats are more attuned to compassion,the ability to put oneself into another person's shoes.Even though sometimes they stray away from that ideal.
ah yes, the insidious pre-existing condition. I'm Type 1 Diabetic and I live constantly with this cloud over my shoulder. If my insurance lapses for any reason, ever, I am totally screwed.
So, with all the important and sometimes damaging issues being debated in this election. I literally pray for an Obama victory hoping that down the road I'll still be able to get insulin when I need it.
Thank you for letting me rant.
I have GOTP relatives who decry "socialized medicine". They HATE RomneyCare and ObamaCare. Can't stand the individual mandate. Can't stand any part of the law. And yet.....?
One of those very haters is alive today because of "socialized medicine". His appendix needed to be removed and those socialist doctors and nurses did the surgery, the socialist hospital took care of him for 2 days while he recovered. And they did this with no expectation of repayment as this hater had no insurance and a minimum wage part time job. After the surgery, his hater parents used RomneyCare to include him on their insurance. All the while, they talked about how much they HATED RomneyCare, that it does nothing but raise insurance rates and reduce the care level. He has now aged out of being covered by the parents. I doubt that he purchased insurance from his employer; we can't have insurance conversations because the hate/ignorance is too strong. Last month he was tripped by a dog and broke his leg in 3 places requiring surgery to set the bone. Who is going to pay for this new hospital expense? You guessed it! The hospital and staff are going to eat it. And pass the cost on to the rest of us who use that hospital. But he and his parents still insist that RomneyCare/ObamaCare is bad. They do nothing but raise costs.
Grrrrrr
"Have you really thought this through, or do you hate Obamacare because you've been told to hate Obamacare?"
No, the sheeple that hate "Obamacare" are selfish pure and simple! Thinking, real deep, independent thinking is just an anathema to these people! Many of these people are knee-jerk reactionists that either haven't faced a serious illness or maybe they have enough money to cover it - or they have so little money that they're eligible for Medicaid - whichever way it falls the sheeple have been dumbed down!
Who is the person that said "a pox on both your houses" - maybe the answer is for enough sheeple to be so badly disadvantaged, sickened, and reduced to poverty that they will wake up and stop voting against their own economic best interests!
Jonathan Alter made this point last night - the repeal of Obamacare means that people WILL DIE
Obama looses re-election would be the death of AHCA and we all be in trouble.
The young ladies situation constantly reminds me of why I am not impressed w/ ACA. It works currently only if you can afford and have health insurance. Why does everything that Obama does come off like he is Christ; the payoff is in the future?
You are one of the ignorant. Educate yourself about the Affordable Healthcare Act.
The thing I have to remind myself about is that Canada did not get its current healthcare in one fell swoop.
They had one province implement something and over the years it morphed into what they have now.
The US is behind the times, and we have a broken system with the GOP blocking what was once its own ideas. This is the best we could do under those circumstances. Had anything else been attempted, nothing would have happened. Nelson, Lieberman balked. Not a thing would have happened.
Will it be fixed in our lifetimes? I don't know. But it will be fixed. What is unfortunate is that many people will die before we have something worthy of American exceptionalism. Because we are not anywhere near enviable in healthcare to anyone in the world. Best doctors, yes. Best access, not even close.
But with the GOP liars and the media backing all the GOP plays, we're lucky to have gotten the scraps. But enough crumbs will assemble into something truly worthwhile...eventually. And I agree, that is not really satisfying. But we had to start somewhere.
i studied abroad i australia for four years. i had a student healtcare policy - $350/year. it covered everything my employer-paid policy covered here before i left. in 2007, i tore the cartilage in my knee and need various tests and surgery to remove. the tests were covered. my wait was never more than a couple of days. my surgery, non-critical, mind you, was covered 100%. i waited 3-4 weeks. absolutely acceptable. and people aren't dying or starving because they're sick. oh, how i want to go back.