A healthy nation equals a healthy you

By Mary Elizabeth Marr, CEO Thrive Alabama

Talk of repealing Obamacare has surged in recent weeks, dominating social media feeds and broadcast news. Politicians and citizens on both sides of the aisle are calling for a replacement plan to be in place before scrapping the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and leaving 22 million people without insurance.

The ACA allows Americans to live healthier lives by allowing them to see a doctor regularly for preventive care and early diagnosis which leads to lower medical costs for both the individual and the nation. When people don’t have insurance they go to expensive emergency rooms which leads to higher costs for insured people, or they forego early medical intervention which leads to a sicker community and sometimes needless deaths.

That’s the big picture.

At Thrive Alabama the majority of our clients are people living with HIV, many of whom did not have insurance prior to implementation of the ACA. While we serve their primary care needs regardless of their ability to pay, the ACA allows easier and more cost effective access to specialists or hospital visits that otherwise would have been out of reach.

That’s why it’s important to look at this as it will affect individuals living with HIV, diabetes, hypertension, and more. I urge you to join me in reaching out to Congress asking them not to repeal the Affordable Care Act. However, if a repeal plan moves forward, together let’s demand this of Congress:

1. Any plan to repeal the ACA that moves forward must be simultaneously enacted with a replacement plan. Both repeal by itself or repeal and delay will result in higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs, and will jeopardize coverage for people with preexisting conditions including people living with HIV. Our healthcare is too important to live with the uncertainty and disruption that a repeal without a simultaneous replacement plan would cause!
2. No matter what happens to the ACA, ensure that people living with HIV and other chronic health conditions have affordable access to the comprehensive healthcare coverage and services they need to stay healthy. We cannot afford to go back to the days when most people with preexisting conditions were denied insurance coverage, could not afford the coverage offered, and did not qualify for Medicaid until they were very poor AND became sick and disabled. Any replacement plan that is put forward should include the cost effective move of expanding Medicaid eligibility to cover all people living with chronic illnesses.
3. Commit to no cost increases, benefit reductions, or other new burdens for poor and working people with chronic diseases. We need to preserve premium and cost-sharing assistance for low-income individuals, prescription drug benefits, preventive services, non-discrimination provisions, and protections for preexisting health conditions.

Health care policy affects all Americans and reform should benefit us all too.

Huntsville clinic says repealing ‘Obamacare’ would be a ‘travesty’ Read More at WAFF.com