Bankole: Obamacare, an inconvenient truth

For some reason, lawmakers in Washington bent on dismantling the Affordable Care Act — known as Obamacare — want everyone to believe that it is the worst health care legislation ever created. That it is so bad that the American people don’t want anything to do with it.

But that posture driving the repeal of the health care law evidenced by last week’s narrow vote in the House, is powerfully contradicted by the hundreds of people — if not thousands — who have been showing up recently at town hall meetings in overwhelmingly Republican districts around the country telling their members of Congress to improve the law, not eliminate it.

Testimony upon testimony at these town halls have one thing in common: Obamacare saved their lives.

Often the testimonies are so heart-wrenching that lawmakers in attendance are left either stunned and speechless or simply trying to run away because the stories about how Obamacare rescued some of their district members are unbearable to listen to.

And like the rest of the country, Michigan, where significant number of residents receive care through the health care law and whose entire nine-member Republican House delegation voted for the repeal will feel the impact of the new plan were it to become law.

The three Democrats in the House delegation voted no because a repeal would make life difficult for people like 23-year-old Alexandra Noll, a second-year student at the University of Michigan law school who has been dealing with Lyme disease.

“One of the biggest struggles was when my dad made too little money to qualify for Medicaid, but we were still unable to afford health insurance pre-ACA. While my sister and I qualified for CHIP at one point, my dad’s income fluctuated enough that we weren’t able to keep it consistently. We didn’t go to the doctor unless something really bad happened when I was growing up. After the ACA became law, my family was able to all be insured at the same time for the first time that I can remember,” she said.

Noll said coverage of pre-existing conditions under the health care law ensured she received medical care.

“In college, the ACA meant I could get on my school’s insurance plan without being charged extra for my pre-existing conditions. I’m now on an ACA plan in Michigan, and it’s saved me a lot of money, mainly in prescription drugs. (I take approximately eight for Lyme at the moment, and used to take more.) I also get my birth control prescription and gynecological exams for free,” she said.

“The plan I’m on is also approximately $1,200 cheaper than the University of Michigan’s school plan. Since my doctor for Lyme doesn’t accept health insurance, I am extremely grateful my plan saves me so much in other areas.”

Noll would have been in limbo under the bill the House passed that doesn’t guarantee coverage of preexisting conditions and is receiving wide condemnation from the American Medical Association, the largest doctors group in the nation.

“The bill passed by the House will result in millions of Americans losing access to quality, affordable health insurance and those with pre-existing conditions face the possibility of going back to the time when insurers could charge them premiums that made access to coverage out of the question,” the AMA said in a statement after the bill’s passage.

House Speaker Paul Ryan in a chest stumping move after the vote last week said: “This bill delivers on the promises that we made to the American people. A lot of us have been waiting for seven years to cast this vote.”

Although the House bill has moved to the Senate, where members have vowed to create their own version of health bill, Noll and others like her have been showing up at GOP town hall meetings begging lawmakers to not to change the law but, rather, make adjustments to it.

“I would lose my health insurance. I’m lucky, and I could just go on the school’s plan, but I’d have to pay for things like, well, women’s exams and birth control, and the costs for my prescriptions would probably go up,” Noll said. “While I would likely not be affected by the current bill’s pre-existing condition stipulation (last I heard, they could only charge you more if you had a 60-day lapse in coverage), I would have to spend more to maintain coverage.”

She said her family will face a dire situation to meet their health needs absent of the health care law.

“My mother and sister are also on an ACA plan in Texas, and they would lose their health insurance as well, and it’s likely their coverage would lapse for some time as my parents can barely afford their ACA plan.”

It stands to reason that the partisan rancor taking place in Washington over erasing former President Barack Obama’s legacy is why there is a vigorous push to eliminate Obamacare, his signature domestic policy. It is hard to believe that if a Republican president had passed a similar law that even their own district members are clamoring to protect because of its benefits, there would even be a vote to repeal that same law.

“I’m convinced the only reason Republicans want to repeal and replace the ACA so much is because it was passed by Obama,” Noll said. “Health care coverage shouldn’t be something any American should have to worry about affording, but even with the ACA, it’s sometimes still too expensive. I’m concerned that even with the ACA in place, health care costs would continue to rise.”

“I’m definitely most concerned about how most Republicans in the House didn’t even read the bill before voting for it. That sort of politics-at-all-costs mentality will only hurt the American people.”

bankole@bankolethompson.com

Twitter: @bankieT

The writer hosts “Redline with Bankole Thompson,” which is broadcast at noon weekdays on Super Station 910AM. This column appears Mondays and Thursdays.