Republican voters, this message is for your eyes only. I grew up with so many of you. I’ve lived next door, played with your kids, cheered alongside you for our favorite sports teams, eaten delicious burgers and hot dogs at your backyard party, I even call some of you “family.” Because we are family. How did we grow so far apart when it comes to politics?
I know you hated Obama because he was probably going to come for your guns. You hated Hillary because something, somethinghazi. We don’t like Trump because we view him as an incompetent con man. We can agree to disagree when it comes to the leaders of our parties. But, let’s keep it real for a minute:
Cancer does not care who you voted for in the last election.
Alzheimer’s and dementia are not checking to see whose side you are on.
Multiple Sclerosis doesn’t give a hoot whose yard sign you stuck in your manicured lawn.
And pediatric cancer treads on whoever the hell it wants to tread on.
You are healthy … until you aren’t. When one of these things comes for you or a loved one, you will want to be covered. You’ll want to know that if it is your child or grandchild who is disabled, they won’t face lifetime limits. You’ll want to know you can’t be refused coverage because of a pre-existing condition. You’ll want your parent, even yourself, to get quality nursing home care if Alzheimer’s comes a-knockin’.
The Republican bill on the verge of a Senate vote is a disaster for all of us. Don’t you remember only a few short years ago when families regularly went bankrupt directly due to healthcare debts? When people were denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions? Even for minor things like a bum knee? Because that happened and it wasn’t so long ago. Check out this chart detailing the decline in personal bankruptcies.
That is a huge, huge change. Those families saved from bankruptcy weren’t divided into Republicans or Democrats. They’re American families whose lives were changed for the better because of the Affordable Care Act. And the bill under consideration right now would take us back to those golden days of personal bankruptcy and debt.
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