The Real Face Of Obamacare
Come in close, y’all: I want to share a story with you. About assistance, government assistance, and “handouts.” About the Affordable Care Act.
You see, I have a dear friend, and neighbor, who is struggling right now. She is a wife, a mother — a stay-at-home mother to two beautiful little girls — and an all-around amazing person. She is perhaps one of the most generous human beings I have ever met. Unfortunately, just after the New Year, her husband lost his job. The same job he held for 14 years. And while he did receive a small severance and will be eligible to collect unemployment, it will not be enough to pay the bills, stock the fridge, and cover COBRA costs.
Not by a long shot.
And so, like many families, they may soon be forced to make a tough decision: do we pay for heat or do we pay for healthcare?
The problem is that they, like millions of other Americans, not only deserve insurance, they need insurance. They DESPERATELY need insurance because my friend is pregnant. Nine months pregnant. And she is due just a few days before they are scheduled to lose coverage.
She will deliver insured…or uninsured.
The good news is that she and her family appear to be eligible for low-income insurance thanks to Obamacare. Thanks to AFFORDABLE CARE. But if ACA didn’t exist her family would be in dire straights, as they cannot afford COBRA and, as a pregnant woman, she could — and would —be denied coverage because of her “pre-existing condition.”
(Yes. Pregnancy is a pre-existing condition.)
And not to belittle any expenses, but do you have any idea how much a hospital birth costs in America? Thousands. Tens of thousands. And that is if you have a “normal” delivery. If you have a “healthy” and uneventful delivery.
But this isn’t about “the numbers.” It isn’t about billing or astronomical medical expenses or even insurance company games. This is about people. Millions of real people who will soon face difficult decisions, terrible decisions, and who will be forced to make horrendous decisions about their health and well-being if Obamacare is defunded and repealed. If the Affordable Care Act is suddenly defunded and repealed.
So please, if you truly want “greatness” in our country, stop ignoring your fellow man, stop fighting your fellow man, stop assuming Obamacare is a “party problem” — that repealing ACA will fix all of our problems — and stop assuming everyone on a government assistance program is a lazy mooch, or a “drain” on our economy, because it is NOT true.
It is completely and entirely untrue.
Instead, start considering compassion. Start practicing empathy and understanding, and start thinking about what greatness looks like for ALL people — not just you, your family, your friends, and what you see happening in your own backyard.
