Affordable Care Act: A new lease on life

A distressed mom’s story:
     Our son was born with a serious congenital heart defect but is healthy and living a productive life, thanks to two open-heart surgeries, one at age six and the second at age 42. He suffered a heart attack at age 20 and a stroke at age 30, both requiring hospitalization, tests, and medication, but has recovered.

     Currently, he is a successful free-lance videographer in Massachusetts, working for a number of production companies, but has no organization through which he can buy medical insurance.  The MA Affordable Care Act made possible for him to purchase medical insurance as an individual with a pre-existing condition.  This insurance covered his second surgery which gave him a new lease on life.  His insurance cost before the Affordable Care Act in Massachusetts was well over $1,000 a month, after RomneyCare fell to $800 a month and after ObamaCare fell to $700 a month – still a significant expense.  But it has been a huge relief to know that the insurance is there in the event of another medical emergency.  The Affordable Care Act works!

     Repealing the parts of ObamaCare that cover costs of this program will totally destroy it, leaving people like my son at the mercy of greedy insurance companies.  His insurance costs are certainly going to go higher than $1,000 per month as soon as the Affordable Care Act is repealed by the Republicans.  

     What will replace ObamaCare for the 20,000,000 who, like my son, are trying to survive?
Are the Republicans so power hungry that they cannot see what they are doing?

The storyteller is a member of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, a group of the congregations of 42 churches, synagogues and mosques.  GBIO was a leader in the coalition that brought universal health insurance to Massachusetts, as the model for ObamaCare.

Read about the effects of universal health insurance in Massachusetts.