Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act! A MomsRising member stories blog carnival
Posted March 19th, 2012 by Kristin Rowe-FinkbeinerMarch 23rd will mark the second anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act. In the time since it first went into effect, this law has improved the lives and health of millions–with many more improvements to come as the law is fully implemented in 2014.
At MomsRising, we’ve heard from thousands of moms and dads across the country who are sleeping better at night because they know their families can get the health care they need. So far, because of health reform, 86 million Americans have been able to get important preventive care including well checks, vaccines, and cancer screenings that help reduce health care costs down the line. Approximately 2.5 million young adults are no longer uninsured because they now have the option of staying on their parents’ health plans – giving this generation a chance to get a healthy start to their adult life. And, importantly, approximately 5 million children with pre-existing conditions are not facing a lifetime of insurance denials and reaching a lifetime limit of medical care.
Our MomsRising Affordable Care Act Blog Carnival features the stories of our members about how the Affordable Care Act is helping their families. These stories are moving and powerful. Stories from moms like:
MomsRising member Tracy Muñoz who writes that the provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies till the age of 26 allowed her oldest child to continue to pursue his graduate studies and secure his financial future without putting his health at risk. He says that without this support, he would likely be forced to discontinue his studies.
–and–
MomsRising member Felicia Willems, who shares that without the ACA, her family probably wouldn’t have had coverage for her son, Ethan, who had a benign vascular tumor and required chemotherapy and other medical treatment, followed by physical, occupational and speech therapy.
Millions of families, like Tracy’s and Felicia’s have been helped, but millions more are hanging on, waiting until the law is fully implemented in 2014. Even as we speak, some lawmakers and candidates are vowing to repeal this important consumer protection law. Too much is as stake to remain silent. We’ve seen first-hand the positive impact health reform has had already and we won’t go back to the days when consumers had no power to fight against insurance company abuses like dropping people from coverage when they get sick.
Speak Up/ Tweet Up on Thursday, March 22nd with the White House and Felicia and Tracy!
Please read the moving stories below and share them with your friends and family. And please also join us Thursday, March 22nd at 2:00 PM EDT for a tweetchat with Tracy and Felicia and top White House officials about the Affordable Care Act. Ask a question, share a story, or simply retweet to get out the info to your network. Follow #ACAwhchat on Twitter.
If you have questions on how to participate, contact anita@momsrising.org.
And check out the inspiring stories below!
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Children
The Night Health Reform Was Passed, Kris Cambra
Keeping your child healthy is stressful enough, Deidre Bagocki
Thanks to the ACA, my daughter is safe from losing coverage, Elaine Cornett
A lifetime limit on insurance would limit my daughter’s lifetime, Julie Walters
Thanks to the ACA, our son is fully covered, Dawn Josephson
How much more pressure do families have to face?, Tracy Heiman
An unusual first four years of life, Felicia Willems
My son is a leukemia survivor, Michelle Cunningham
Informarse para cuidar mejor la salud de nuestros hijos, Jeannette Kaplun
Prognosis ACA: Two Years Later Children are Healthier and Better Off, Lisa Shapiro
How Health Reform is Helping Children Nationwide, Voices for America’s Children
Young adults
Now a beautiful grown woman, but still my baby girl — with a pre-existing heart condition, Lisa Doyle
The Affordable Care Act allows my children to invest in their future, Tracy Muñoz
Diagnosed with liver disease at 19, planning for my health coverage, Bonnie Brueggeman
Knitting hats for babies: Why I’m grateful for the Affordable Care Act, Teri Kepner
The Limbo of a College Graduate, Brittany Papalia
How the ACA is Helping My Family, Sarah Robinson
Thank you, ACA: Protecting Our Country’s Well-being by Protecting Students, Andrea Alajbegovic
Pre-Existing Conditions
I finally have hope that I can maintain my health!, Jordyn Zimmerman
Let my husband and his incredible doctors fight his disease, Beth Herkert
My daughter has non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Carol Rayner
Health reform gave my son affordable coverage, Donna Crane
I have been a Type-1 diabetic since childhood, Jasmine Ong
I believe everyone should have access to health care, Akbar Rahman
I am so grateful for health reform, Peggy Jenks
We pray every day that my daughter’s health holds up, Mary Tabatcher
We can’t afford to drop COBRA. We can’t afford COBRA., Marya Kowal
Getting health coverage for my pregnancy, Katelyn Oldham
New Options for Those with Chronic Illness, Dania Palanker
Medicaid
I want to stand up for the expansion of Medicaid, Gail Schimmelpfennig
Small Business
I’m a small business owner covering health care for my employees, Nan Warshaw
The Affordable Care Act has impacted me — and my employer, Donna Rodriguez
Health Reform and the Economy
Health reform has given our family hope, Brenda Adrine
Preventive Care
The Affordable Care Act has helped me get necessary preventive care, Cindy Okolichany
Women’s Health
The Affordable Care Act and Women – Two Years On and Working Strong, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
5 Ways Health Reform Helps Women, Erin Armstrong
Health Care Reform and Breastfeeding, Saray Hill, IBCLC
Reform. It’s Good for Your Health., Leni Preston
I will NOT be denied: Protect Women’s Health!, Leni Preston
The Last Two Years: Health Care Reform Continues to be the Right Choice for Wisconsin Women, Raising Wisconsin Women’s Voices
42 Comments
March 22, 2012 at 12:49 pm by Laurie MatthewsThis health care law is extremely necessary or families!!!!!!!!!
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Cherie Long Reply:
March 22nd, 2012 at 3:30 pm
@Laurie Matthews, Thank you for the email concerning this morning’s truly exciting events! I have some questions though. I am wondering about our elected officials that MomsRising.org are actually dealing with, communicating with and are being backed by. I haven’t seen any names as of yet, unless I am reading in the wrong places. I would like to know specific names of the elected officials that we are dealing with. Can you give those names? Senators, Governor’s, Representative’s, Mayor’s, etc…Thank you for your time! I am so proud to be a member of this community and you have my entire support! My voice is being carried to friends and family as well.
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cheryl autry Reply:
March 22nd, 2012 at 8:19 pm
Moms Rising, drum majors for change and justice for all families. Mothers united with a purpose to protect and preserve our most cherished asset, family.
Affordable health care is essential for all citizens. People should not be forced out of their homes to live in despair; because of inflated health care cost and politics.
The poor, disable and elderly suffers the most; silent voices trapped in a world of greed and self-gratification.
We know what happened yesterday and today, regarding health care; but no one knows what the future will bring. The system is broken.
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I have a 23 year old daughter with 2 kids. She CANT get health care. WHy? THis program is so great than why cant she get it? THis program is BS and you people need to take off your blinders and realize that the government is doing nothing more than taking total control of your life! Obama is a dictator and wants to control the AMERICAN people. ANd you dumb ass people let him! WTH is wrong with you?! At the rate this country is going some where, some day, some one will start a revolution because the REAL AMERICAN people are getting FED UP with government control. At the rate it is going, you willhave ot ask for permission from the government when to take a shit! I AM A FED UP AMERICAN! I BELIEVE IN MY CONSTITUION! I BELIEVE IN LAND OF THE FREE! Like it was intended! Take off your rose colored glasses and start seeing what is really going on in this country!
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Ina, M.D. Reply:
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:45 pm
@Shari Kalous,
If your daughter can’t get health care through this program (which depends on the particular circumstances and the state she and her kids live in) that doesn’t make the program useless to many many others. Moreover, the provisions of ACA go into effect in a stepwise fashion – if people like you hadn’t protested so hard against it, the portions that go into effect in 2014 would be in effect already and your daughter would probably have coverage. Lastly, I despair of our country if people like you think you’re not being controlled by insurance companies – right now, you don’t have medical health providers determining you (or your daughter’s) health care; it’s companies who don’t want to cover people who don’t make them money. If this is the kind of cheap, wind-bag sound-bite repetition that passes for some people’s thinking in this country, then maybe you’re right and people who can’t contribute to political dialogue in a meaninful way shouldn’t be insured.
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Jan Stephens Reply:
March 22nd, 2012 at 1:12 pm
@Ina, M.D., Thank you!!
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Lauren Androvich Reply:
March 22nd, 2012 at 1:43 pm
@Ina, M.D., I thank you for your reply to Shari Kalous also. Interesting, how, invariably, those that rail against the Affordable Care Act have trouble putting a cohesive sentence together.
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Shari Kalous Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 2:54 am
@Lauren Androvich, Umm, There is nothing wrong with my sentences. There is nothing incohesive here, maybe you need to learn to read better.
Anonymous Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 2:50 pm
@Ina, M.D., You have to be kidding me? Right? The affordable care act is a big windfall to insurance companies, essentially giving everything over to insurance companies. How ignorant do you have to be to use the argument against insurance companies as a statement for ACA?
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Shari Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 3:25 am
@Ina, M.D., I am not against health care for all individuals. Lets get that straight right off the top. I am how ever against my tax dollars paying for health care (Welfare) for others when my daughter can not get it! I do NOT believe if you do not have insurance it is right for the government to penalize you for it! That is wrong and un constitutional! THere are a lot of things in this bill that are NOT right, not justifiable and very unconstitutional! Take that stuff out of it and then we might be ok. Small business owners are laying off workers and not hiring because of this bill and what it does to them. Wheres htier justice? How is it fair to them? They are already struggling with all the regulations that they have to deal with. What about kids like my daughter? Her 2 kids get health care through the state but she cant have it! She isnt married and is a stay at home mom, her boy friend cant cover her because they arent married. SHould they be FORCED to get married? No they shouldnt! What happened to freedom in our country? THe government is trying to control every thing we do! THeythink our kids should be raised thier way, not ours. THey think we should pay taxes for every thing and then pay more taxes! THis hwalth care reform bill, is payed for by the tax payers! Not the government! WHo do you think pays the government?! WE DO! To top things off, this bill has doubled in costs! THat we and our kids and our grandkids and so on will be paying for! How can you find that constitutionally right? Whent his country falls and fails and we become like Europe (likethier in a great boat) You people who are wanting this will be the first ones to complain!
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Dominick J. Reply:
March 22nd, 2012 at 2:01 pm
@Shari Kalous, YOU need to take of those blinding glasses and ear plugs and STOP listening to the lies YOUR political party is tells you. Even our forefathers Wanted a Universal Health Care for this country!!!! And it’s taken this long for a President to come along who actually got it done!!
You want to call the President a Dictator??, YOU need to look up the word to see He IS far from that. The Republican party is closer to be a dictatorship than this President is. REMEMBER A CONGRESS passed our New Health Care System NOT just the President! AND The President has time and time again BUT You and other fools like you just don’t listen! IF YOU HAVE A INS. YOU LIKE KEEP IT!! YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHANGE!
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Anonymous Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 3:06 pm
@Dominick J., I don’t know where to start with you? Let’s look at the promises made to us that would come from ACA
1. ACA would provide coverage for everyone. The truth is, no it won’t , and as time passes we learn of of the growing numbers that won’t have access to health insurance. The CBO reports now that ACA will leave 27 million without insurance by 2022. And of the 23 million that will gain insurance, the CBO is now estimating that 17 million of them will not have real insurance, but will be dumped into Medicaid.
2. ACA will bend the cost curve downward in controlling healthcare costs. The truth is that CBO now is estimating that in the next ten years, ACA will cost twice as much as was predicted, rising to almost $2 trillion in 10 years.
3. The President promised that ACA would lower our insurance premiums by $2,500 a year. The truth is that the MIT experts who helped craft ACA are now, even after tax subsidies, almost 60% of citizens in the individual market will be paying average premiums that are 31% higher than what they are now.
4. If we like our health insurance, we can keep it. The truth is, the CBO is suggesting that 20 million workers will now lose their employer-provided health insurance as a result of ACA. Instead, they will be dumped into the government-run insurance exchanges.
There is more to come, I am sure. But please get off the Kool-Aide.
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Dominick J. Reply:
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:05 pm
You need some education as far as the Affordalbe Heath Care Act goes and other things as well. Getting your info from Fox or you Miseading, lying Republican leaders is what’s getting this country into the bad shape it’s getting.
Here’s what Mike Thompson, Our Congressperson of California, has to say about “OUR AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT”
Read the truth.
http://mikethompson.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=MY3CSVQUGR65WAEDTR5GPKD5QA
Chris Reply:
March 24th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
@, Poor Dominick accuses others of being brainwashed by right wing republicans and Fox New, joining the 2/3 of the country who dislike ACA, and yet when pressed with the realities of the failure of ACA to the promises it made two years ago, turns to a Democratic Congressman’s website for “convincing facts”? Sound like Dominick is practicing the parroting that he accuses others, but is selecting a different source. Congressman Thompson, an honorable man and wine enthusiast, has found himself at odds with the American public and is trying to save face for having voted in favor of a failing law. Having worked in hospital administration for nearly 30 years, we struggle with the reality that in 10 years, 1 out of 3 hospitals will have to close. We have to import more foreign graduates into physician positions in our country because American students who would want to be doctors can no longer expect the years of sacrifice and expense in training to result in payments for medical services to cover their costs. More covered lives, fewer hospitals, fewer doctors, and less money spent in medical care for this nation is not a good strategy for a strong, healthy America.
I am a female, age 62. I pay $1100 per month for a plan with a $4000 deductible. Because I have a bunion on my right foot that causes no problems, only one insurance company would give me coverage and the rates increase 15-17% regularly. I see no relief in the health reform package. If I wanted to drop my coverage for 6 months (a scary thought), I could qualify for the CA Pre-Existing Plan at half the rates. But there are very few doctors in my area that take this plan (no radiologists or anesthesiologists) so I would still end up paying over $18000 per year in medical care (premiums, deductible, and copays).
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March 20, 2012 at 10:44 am by RobertsThis so called “reform” is mostly a capitulation to the greedy corporate health insurance companies. When you force me to buy a product I don’t want it’s not capitalism, and it’s not socialism. It is fascism.
I don’t want affordable coverage – I want affordable CARE!
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March 20, 2012 at 12:23 am by Mary T. ColemanI’m also a veteran who has served my country. The veterans need more services for PTSD. It is so sad that Officer Daile is having so much difficulties because of possibly PTSD and having flipped and shot those civilians, he is now incarcirated with a possibility of a death sentence. Someone needs to come to his defense and evaluate his mental status properly instead of just crucifying him.
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March 20, 2012 at 12:17 am by Mary T. ColemanI’m a disabled Registered nurse who has worked 40 years in the field. I had excellent dental coverage when employed. Now when I need it, the COBRA is too expensive and the other dental coverages are expensive and doesn’t cover very much.
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March 19, 2012 at 9:27 pm by JoeI was shot in the head and rolled in the ditch as an experienced, 22 year educator. My family has no health insurance, but automotive companies who weren’t willing to innovate and stay current have jobs and banks have more money to give away to themselves. Where’s my job?
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March 19, 2012 at 6:34 pm by Anne JacketsI would donate to MomsRising.org, but the site accepts only credit card payments.
I will donate only by check!
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March 19, 2012 at 5:48 pm by PatriciaWonderful stories about the first successes of the ACA, can’t WAIT to add mine in 2014, when, at long last, I have access to affordable health care, regardless of my preexisting condition!
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March 19, 2012 at 5:45 pm by Deborah SchmidtPlease help make this insurance that we all
need to have afforable and fair to all…It costs differently for everyone..Why should we be paying over $1100 a month for the same coverage that one friend is paying $40 a month and another is paying $10 a month..both where state employees..My husband was a school teacher for 40 yrs and they are not considered atste employees and we pay for the same coverage over $1100 a month…This is an abscene amount of money..WE CAN NOT KEEP THIS UP….Please HELP
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