In 2011, after I was 25 – and simply three weeks away from school commencement – I felt ache in my proper knee that wouldn’t go away. I used to be an avid runner and was main a wholesome life-style, and that’s why I believed I had simply twisted my knee.
However a go to to my physician didn’t reveal a torn ligament, a sprain or a fractured kneecap. At age 25, an MRI of my knee revealed a tumor. I used to be identified with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone most cancers normally present in youngsters and adolescents.
I used to be in shock. Nobody expects to be identified with most cancers, not to mention at 25. “Twenty-five-year-olds don’t get most cancers,” I believed.
That information was devastating. As an alternative of touring abroad to affix the Peace Corp after commencement, I started a 12 months of remedy that included 9 rounds of chemotherapy and 5 surgical procedures.
Obamacare saved my life
However there was some excellent news: First, we had discovered the most cancers early and it was treatable. And simply as vital, I used to be lucky to have been identified within the age of Obamacare. Because of one of many Reasonably priced Care Act’s provisions, I used to be nonetheless in a position to get protection via my mother and father’ insurance coverage at age 25.
I attempt not to consider what would have occurred to me with out that provision. My household wouldn’t have certified for charity insurance coverage – and they might have struggled to pay for my medical payments. (The knee surgical procedures alone price about as a lot as my mother’s home.)
In 2014, I purchased medical health insurance via the ACA’s federal insurance coverage change, and that protection meant that I’ve had common checkups to make sure the most cancers hasn’t returned – and I’m nonetheless in remission. The coverage additionally offered protection for the follow-up exams and the drugs I take for the persistent kidney illness that resulted from my most cancers remedy.
If the worst occurs, my insurance coverage ensures that I'll get the remedy I must battle the illness once more. However I don’t know what I might do if I misplaced my medical health insurance.
The regulation impressed me
Since my remedy, I've contemplated that query each day. It fueled my curiosity within the healthcare system and a ardour for well being reform advocacy that led me to Grasp of Public Well being and a brand new profession as a public well being educator.
In my “day job” at GetCoveredNYC, I assist customers navigate the change enrollment course of and educate them about their medical health insurance choices. In my free time, I advocate for well being reform by reaching out to our lawmakers and dealing with advocacy teams. (I’ve met with staffers of 30 U.S. Senators to debate affected person entry to care.)
The voters have spoken
The 2018 midterm elections highlighted the truth that tens of millions of Individuals like me have pre-existing situations: well being points like diabetes, bronchial asthma, and most cancers. The actual fact that I confronted most cancers and survived is cause sufficient for insurance coverage firms to disclaim me protection for the remainder of my life – if we lose ACA’s protections for folks with pre-existing situations.
As an enrollment counselor and well being reform advocate, I meet these folks day by day. I hear their success tales – of lastly having the ability to afford protection with the assistance of premium subsidies. However I additionally hear their issues about dropping protection if ACA’s protections are stripped away by our lawmakers.
Within the elections, voters despatched a transparent message, and it’s a message that all of us should proceed to share: that in the case of the well being and well-being of most cancers survivors, youngsters with disabilities, moms with being pregnant issues and each different doable well being challenge on the market, defending our protection is actually a matter of life and loss of life.
Mina Schultz is an outreach specialist at GetCoveredNYC, a metropolis initiative to attach New Yorkers to medical health insurance protection.
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