Lucas —
Three years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law and delivered health care reform to our nation, the Tea Party zealots are still trying to tear it all down. Some members of Congress have voted 40 times to repeal the ACA, and some extremists even want to shut down the federal government to de-fund it.
I know you have heard a lot of overheated talk about "Obamacare," "individual mandates," and "death panels." All kinds of buzz words get thrown around cable news, but we end up losing sight of the people health care reform can help. I want to share a simple story of the son whom I had to bury when he was only 33. I truly believe if Obamacare had been passed ten years earlier, my son would be with us today.
My son, Mike, was born with a birth defect, which predisposed him to colon cancer. Mike grew up to be a son whom I deeply loved. He was married and building a life of his own when he became seriously ill. That birth defect caught up with him, and because insurance companies saw Mike's birth defect as a pre-existing condition, they would not cover him.
Mike could not get coverage, and so he could not get timely medical care. A condition that could have been managed turned into a fatal tragedy that took my son. They say the worst feeling for a parent is to lose a child, and since 2008 I have known how that feels.
But with my son's memory I am steeled for this fight for health care reform. Will you join me on this last leg? We are almost there.
Will you stand with me? Will you "Stand with Leslie?"
The Affordable Care Act immediately prohibited insurance companies from denying health coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. In 2014, those protections go into effect for everyone. That rule would have saved my son's life.
The public overwhelmingly supports mandated coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. But the extremist opponents of Obamacare want to do away with that part of the ACA, as well.
Please "Stand with Leslie" now. I know my son, Mike, would be proud.
Thank you and God Bless.
Leslie Boyd
Asheville, NC