1/11/2024 0 Comments Obamacare success story![]() I ended up being admitted and spending 4 days in the hospital with severe diverticulitis that had nearly perforated my intestine. “Last spring, I experienced severe abdominal pain and went to the emergency room. My son is now sober, alive, attending college and healthy, I am not sure this would have happened if he did not have insurance." His insurance did not pay for the entire cost of the time he was in the hospital or for the program that he attended but it made it much more manageable. He only had insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. One year ago when he finally realized he needed to stop drinking. He has now in recovery and has been sober for almost one year. I am terrified that we will have to start all over again." This family has been fighting to keep healthcare for 30 years. Please do not repeal this law without a realistic alternative. My daughters will literally die without the healthcare they receive. If the ACA is repealed I worry that we will lose the protection that it gave my daughters from being denied healthcare coverage due to a pre-existing condition or from losing health care if they meet a lifetime cap. My older daughter has insurance through the Marketplace, and my younger daughter is able to be on our insurance for 3 more years thanks to the ACA. They depend on intravenous feedings to keep them alive. They have a rare digestive disease that makes it impossible for them to digest food. "I have 2 adult daughters who were not expected to live to adulthood. These were only possible because I was able to access health insurance as an individual, at reasonable cost. In 2014 I had three joints replaced life changing surgeries that restored my active lifestyle and removed chronic pain from my life. The ACA has provided me with options ever since then options that I never had before its passage. Eventually I left the workforce to care for him… and, of course, lost my employer-provided health insurance at the same time. "In 2014… my husband died from early-onset Alzheimer's. Ret, 9/11 First Responder from Rockland Before the ACA, I was terrified of losing my job and losing health care because of my pre-existing condition." After working search & rescue/recovery at Ground Zero in 2001, I developed a lung condition necessitating costly medication. ".The ACA means that as a self-employed resident of the state of Maine, I can actually acquire coverage with a pre-existing condition. Matthew, small business owner from Brunswick If the ACA were eliminated today and I had to buy health insurance on the open market I'd be paying an extra $4,800 a year. Each year that I've made more money our subsidy has gone down, and that's just as it should be. We still have to watch what we spend but we're breathing a lot easier. Food assistance is a thing of the past and we're actually contributing more in taxes now than we ever did before. Today, through God's grace, hard work, and the support of my wife my business is prospering. My wife and I were able to put our children on Maine's Dirigo Health, but we had to do without. Those first years were tough on my family. "Five years ago I left a comfortable job with good benefits to start my own business. Eleanor, small business owner from Belfast After her diagnosis, I went for my first-ever mammogram." She was diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and has recently undergone a mastectomy with follow-up care. The same is true for my partner of 17 years. "I am a 63 year old small business owner who has health insurance for the first time in my adult life since passage of the ACA. Patrick, small business owner from Winthrop I had my first physical in over 20 years." "Under Obamacare, we now pay one-third of our old premium and have a $2,500 deductible. ![]() Here's just a small sample of those powerful stories. When I put out a call for people to share their stories of how the Affordable Care Act has helped people in Maine, I received over a thousand responses in just a few days. ![]()
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