Health care shouldn’t be a political issue

As a small business owner, it has always been a challenge to provide health care for my family. So much in fact that I have often considered leaving a job I loved for the sole purpose of getting corporate health care coverage. It became more critical when my child was diagnosed with cancer in 2005. 

We were fortunate to be able to afford a top-end Blue Cross Blue Shield policy with monthly premiums of $1,200 per month for my family of four. In the years prior to the ACA becoming law, our premium increased an average of 22 percent per year. This was common because once someone was diagnosed, insurance companies were allowed to rate someone on a policy as high risk to insure. Extrapolate that out three years and our premiums were over $2,100 per month for our family of four in 2007… with it continuing to go up every year an average of 22 percent.

More concerning than that, back then policies had lifetime maximums for each person on a policy. Typically these were from $250,000 to $1 million. My son’s drug costs in year one of his two-and-a-half-year treatment protocol were $150,000. That did not include hospital fees or physician charges. Just the drugs used in his treatment… in year one…. in 2007.

These numbers are top of mind today, 19 years later, because I used to lay awake at night wondering what the numbers would end up totaling before his treatment was over. What would we do if he reached his lifetime maximum before treatment was finished? What would you do?

Thanks to legislators like Senators Kaine and Warner, who voted to pass and still vote to protect the Affordable Care Act, this is one worry none of us have to face when our loved ones are sick. We can now get health insurance without being penalized for having a pre-existing illness or worrying about maxing out our policy and not being able to get care. Do you know anyone who has had cancer or a heart condition? I’m glad the ACA protects them. Do you know anyone who is under 26 and has been able to stay on their parents’ policy? I’m glad the ACA protects them. Do you know anyone whose medical bills have exceeded $250,000? I’m glad the ACA protects them.

Our Congressional Representative Ben Cline voted against the Protecting Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Act and the Strengthening Health Care & Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act in 2019, against the Affordable Insulin Now Act in 2022, and against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act in 2023. Thank goodness these measures passed Congress with no help from him. Please be sure your representative votes to protect you and your loved ones, if that is important to you.

Thankfully, we have a choice in November to send someone to Washington who will vote to make sure ACA protections remain in place — Ken Mitchell. A career military, small business owner with corporate experience in broadband infrastructure and wastewater treatment, Ken is a Rockingham County resident who will LEAD FROM THE MIDDLE FOR THE COMMON GOOD.

Anne Gordon ~ Mt. Sidney, Va.

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