A friend who is also a Facebook friend shared this post from an 18 year old who has a long term health issue:
“Well,I can honestly say my first and most likely LAST election as a legal adult has suck. I don't think I can explain how terrifying this is for me. I don't even care what anyone thinks of the fact that it has brought me to tears. When I say "Obama being president for another term will be the death of me" I mean it literally. When it come to Obama Care,people who have a major illness or a life long illness..such as myself,are pretty much not far from their death bed. Once it takes full affect he will be making those people with a major or life long illness comfortable until they pass because we are too expensive. SO YES,I have a reason to be upset and I have a reason to cry. I already had a time limit on my life and with the help of Obama care it's even shorter. Congrats on your win for a second term. Next time anyone wants to say "Obama cares about everyone" remember people like me,and how we pretty much have a time limit on our lives.”
This young woman was in my thoughts all day yesterday and I could not go without responding with the aim of providing her with some help that she desperately needs:
T has been on my mind since I read your post. I hope that you will pass this along to her. I am posting this privately because I don’t need to start another political debate. It is time to heal.
I am deeply sorry that there is someone or more than one person who is giving her the wrong information about the Affordable Care Act. As the parent of a child with special health care needs, I have examined the legislation carefully and have also spoken with advocates and lobbyists who specialize in working for the disability community. With great respect, I feel a need to point out how T is wrong. The Affordable Care Act will allow T’s parents to keep her on their health insurance until she is 26. It will allow her parents and eventually T herself to move and/or change jobs and get insurance for her even though she has a serious preexisting condition. I am assuming here that T is covered by private insurance. There is no provision of the Act which demands that T or her parents change their health plan or that her health plan will need to change her benefits.
If she is covered by some sort of Medical Assistance and/or long term care assistance, the Affordable Care Act will improve her coverage. There will be no “death panels” and treatment options will be no more limited than they are now. At present, insurance policies, private and public, have caps on services and restrictions on treatments. I don’t believe that the Act will change that, that is, expand caps or restrictions. Experimental treatments will probably never be covered.
State medical assistance plans and advocacy groups vary widely from state to state, but I hope that T will find an expert, an advocate, or someone who understands benefits for people who are disabled and have a serious conversation with them. I urge her not to depend on the rhetoric of the extreme conservatives who have dominated the conversation but to seek out moderate voices for information and help.
Here are a few websites and articles to get T stared:
Also, if she looks on the National Disability Rights Network (http://www.napas.org) about half way down the page, under Latest News, there is a downloadable pamphlet/guild entitled “How does the Affordable Care Act affect people with disabilities?” It is good reading, a bit dense but with lots of answers.
I’ve also given your comment about the passion of liberals a good amount of thought. Why do I have a passion to extend the civil rights that we, as able, straight Americans take for granted to people who experience life differently than I do? I guess because I can. T’s desperation and fear is exactly what is wrong, of course in my opinion, with current conservative thought -- prey on the weak, scare them to death and fill them with fear and hate for people who are trying to solve problems. That’s what Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter sound like to me.
I know you are conservative and I’ve worked and played with conservatives, but it is the current crop of radical conservatives that keep me as far left of the conservative ideology as I can get. I hope the the most recent election causes an earthquake in the Republican party and that moderate Republicans take back their birthright. Then, the discussions about solving problems can begin again.
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