When I received the call on May 30th of this year that I had joined 1 in 8 women who will have a breast cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, I was obviously in a little bit of initial shock. But, as many of you know, I am a consummate planner and so a few of my thoughts ran to the financial side. I run a tight ship with our budget and wondered immediately how this would alter things for my family.
And so, one of the first questions I asked myself was “We [as a nation] got rid of lifetime limits, didn’t we?” It seems possible that a few of you are younger than me, so let me take you back to pre-2010. Health insurance companies used to be able to put a limit on the amount of insurance coverage that could pay on your behalf over your lifetime. People would get capped and have to do things like get a new job just to have different insurance. But then, there were these things like preexisting conditions that could get you if you weren’t careful because health insurance would deny coverage if it deemed that you had a preexisting condition.
And so even though I had never had a serious health crisis before, that fear that one might go bankrupt from a single health diagnosis apparently was deeply embedded in me. But a quick search of both my work health insurance policy and a review of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions, reminded me that lifetime limits were not something I still have worry about.
But that got me thinking, what laws jumped in to protect me the moment that I got my diagnosis? And here is a short list:
- Affordable Care Act of 2010 (aka Obamacare): among other things, eliminating that fear of lifetime limits and preexisting conditions.
- Family Medical Leave Act: Allows me to take time off of work
- American Disabilities Act: Prevents discrimination at work because of my cancer diagnosis.
- The Women’s Health and Cancer Act: It requires health insurance to cover reconstruction that is needed from breast cancer surgery.
There are also research components. Among others, the National Cancer Institute receives billions of dollars as part of Congressional Funding.
But there is one political party that is actively anti-science. One the presidential level, we have a daughter of a cancer researcher who also died of cancer running. On the other, we have a candidate who is promising to put an anti-science, anti-vaccine individual “go wild on health…go wild on medicine.” Across the nation, Republicans are actively pushing against vaccines and other science-based health initiatives. Significant process has been made in cancer research and I can’t afford to have a party in charge that won’t continue to fund those efforts.
Over and over, Republicans have promised to dismantle ACA. The protections we all have from it have benefited us all. But right now I can’t afford to have them taken away–and neither can you.
I acknowledge there is more we could do. Paid leave when one is sick or caring for a family member shouldn’t be at the mercy of your employer. It needs federal intervention. There is more funding that could help. Wait times for preventative care is still long. But one party is fighting to improve care for people like me. And one is actively trying to take away what we do have.
This Tuesday, please vote Harris/Walz for President. And vote for your for state and local candidate that will support people like me as well.
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