(WISCONSIN) — Wisconsinites Chrystal Chartier and Rosemary Doyle, who are both breast cancer survivors, penned an op-ed in the Cap Times highlighting how the Affordable Care Act saved their lives and that Trump’s attacks on the ACA are fueling their votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Read key points here:
The Cap Times: The ACA saved our lives. Biden and Harris will protect it
- There are few things more harrowing than waiting for the call from the doctor about your test results — “Do I have breast cancer or not?
- For both of us, the call we got was some of the worst news of our lives — we had breast cancer, and we were going to need very expensive treatment if we were going to survive.
- And what saved us both was the Affordable Care Act.
- We were able to get the treatment we needed without worrying about bankrupting our families.
- When we need medication, we aren’t discriminated against by the insurance companies for having a preexisting condition.
- You see, without the ACA we may not have been able to afford our treatment, but even if we had been able to scrape by, the medicine we now regularly need would be unattainable because of how insurance companies were allowed to charge us unconscionable prices just for having a preexisting condition.
- We thought we’d be able to live the rest of our lives without worry, but Trump has made that impossible.
- We aren’t alone. There are 2.4 million Wisconsinites like us who have pre-existing conditions and 150,000 who get their health insurance through the exchange.
- What makes Trump’s relentless attacks on protections for people with preexisting conditions even more cruel is that he is still going after them in the midst of a pandemic that has killed over 220,000 Americans and infected over 7 million.
- Now, if Trump gets his way, testing positive for COVID-19 may be considered a preexisting condition and reason enough for an insurance company to deny someone coverage.
- All of the people who have suffered through this virus because of Trump’s failed response may be dealt a second blow if he successfully repeals the ACA and rips away their health care.
- We’re both health care voters.
- We go to the polls thinking about what elected officials are going to do to protect people like us who have preexisting conditions or health ailments like cancer.
- What’s been made clear is that Donald Trump, his administration, and their Republican allies have never, and will never, protect people like us.
- That’s why when we cast our ballots, it’s going to be for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
- They’re committed to strengthening the ACA and finding ways to make sure every person has access to quality and affordable care.
