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Kari Anne Roy's picture

This November, I'm voting for my son's health care security and my family's financial stability.

My youngest son, Isaac, was born at 28 weeks. That's 12 weeks early. He spent the first 8 weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit, which is very expensive.

As a micro-preemie weighing only 2 pounds 5 ounces, Isaac was at risk for many, many life-threatening challenges. We were lucky, though, that he seemed to dodge bullet after bullet. However, when he was five-and-a-half-months old, we discovered he had a malformation of his trachea, which has required several surgeries to repair.

Thanks to our health insurance -- combined with additional support from Medicaid -- my husband and I have been able to secure support from skilled nurses to give Isaac the medical care he needs to stay healthy and out of the hospital. The in-home support also means that my husband and I have been able to keep our jobs, maintain our family's financial security and continue to pay taxes.

As I look forward to Issac's future, I am so relieved to know that he will no longer face limits to health care as a result of an insurance company's "lifetime cap" of coverage or denial of coverage based on his pre-existing conditions. Both of these insurance industry practices have been outlawed as part of the the Affordable Care Act.

Isaac has to fight to breathe; he should not also have to fight to get the medical treatment he needs. As a mom, there is nothing more valuable to me than my child’s future and, for this reason, I will have my family's healthcare security in mind as I vote this November.

I hope you will join me!

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