Welp, here it goes. I cant be silent. I reviewed the Senate Healthcare Bill, and it affects my son. I dont know if my blogging does a darn thing, but I believe Im obligated to advocate for my child. As such, doing what I can to ensure that people are aware of the ramifications of this bill and asking those who care to make their voices heard, is the least I can do.

For the sake of brevity, I will keep this to the two factors which have the greatest impact on my child. The photos below were taken from an NPR summary of the bill.

Image Courtesy of NPR

Many people think that Medicaid is a hand out to able bodied people who choose not to work. However, around 90% of Medicaid dollars go to the elderly, disabled or working people whose income falls below the threshold in their state. Therefore, reduced funding to the program hits heaviest on the most vulnerable populations. As adults, both of my sons will rely on Medicaid for their medical coverage. Its not exactly clear what these cuts will mean to them, and perhaps thats the most worrisome part of this. Alex might be just fine if he stays healthy, but Benjamins health needs are lifelong. If he cannot stay on our healthcare plan, and Medicaid is cut, what would the options be? Nothing here is clear, and for families like ours its terrifying.

Image Courtesy of NPR

This part is even more harrowing. In addition to his developmental and medical needs, Ben has serious mental health needs. He sees a psychiatrist, uses psychiatric medicine, and needs autism therapy, which is a mental health benefit. Without these in place, his wellbeing is in jeopardy. I cannot overstate the seriousness of this situation. As it is, resources for people with developmental, medical and psychiatric needs are sparse, if funding is cut, it would be nothing short of devastating for Ben and our family.

But we arent the only ones. In fact, were pretty fortunate so far. My husband works for the state and has his choice of excellent healthcare plans, of which we have chosen the most thorough and economical coverage. Many are self employed without access to such benefits. For us, the cost of healthcare thus far has been a seriious strain, but one that we can manage. For many, its already past management and only set to get worse, highlighted in this Washington Post article.

Ive followed Parkers story for years now, and his family deserves better. Theyre working hard, being resourceful, and just want their son to live!

Heres the thing, we have spectacular medical science thats evolving and growing daily. We are able to save lives that just a few years or decades ago were hopeless. Its marvelous, simply marvelous. But its expensive, as would be expected, too expensive for any but the wealthiest citizens to afford. Do we reserve such marvels for those who can afford to buy it? Is modern medicine a luxury for the few? Is it a commodity available to only those who have the cash reserves to pay for it?

How do we decide who gets this care? Do we deny children whose parents dont have jobs with a hearty benefit package? Or do we put caps on it and say we can only spend so many dollars to save a persons life, and after that just shrug it off? Or do we leave people with mental illness without access to health insurance? This is dangerously close to eugenics. I shudder to think that denying Medicaid coverage for mental illness is a tidy way of saying society shouldnt be obligated to help them.

Finally, I want to point out that its the pro-life party that is endorsing all of this, and Im calling bullshit. There is nothing life affirming or life-protecting about any of this. This is prioritizing finances over people and its repugnant. If you suggest that charities or churches should fill in the gaps, please just get off that ridiculous notion. In eleven years of managing complex medical, developmental and psychiatric needs, we have tapped into private resources to a great extent, Im quite savvy at finding and accessing them, and we have had a church with a congregational care employee who identifies and designates church resources for families in crisis. Between the two, the help has been incredibly helpful for certain things, but only a drop in the bucket compared to the day to day impact of copays, deductibles, time and miles. Its simply not feasible for private organizations to offset such monumental costs.

So I ask you, do you really think its okay for people to suffer and die when medical care is available, but not affordable?

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Is Modern Medicine a Luxury? - HuffPost