The Affordable Care Act created a path to freedom
Imagine if you have a child born with a chronic condition or a loved one that develops a condition that requires treatment on a regular basis. You are drawn into unknown territory learning about the condition, how to treat it, and the cost. It turns out you, your child, or a loved one is now facing what health insurance providers call a pre-existing medical condition.
Millions of Americans face pre-existing health conditions such as arthritis, cancer, mental health disorders, sleep apnea, diabetes, organ transplant, and bleeding disorders, just to name a few.
I live with hemophilia, a type of bleeding disorder
Hemophilia is a genetic disorder I was born with where I am missing a protein called factor 8 that does not allow my blood to clot properly. A popular misconception is that if I were to get cut, I would bleed to death. The reality is internal bleeding is much more dangerous and harmful than superficial cuts. The internal bleeding mostly affects my joints and muscles.
A person who can clot properly has blood vessels that burst during physical activity or maybe mild trauma, they do not notice what has happened, and their blood clots without any worries.
In my case and 20,000 others living with hemophilia like me in the United States, we would continue to bleed into our joints or muscles resulting in severe pain and swelling until we are treated with an IV infusion treatment called factor replacement therapy. Continuous bleeding into our joints and muscles will cause them to deteriorate resulting in joint damage and crippling arthritis.
I treat myself twice a week with factor 8 replacement infusion therapy, typically referred to as prophylaxis treatment, that helps prevent bleeding from occurring. Without regular treatment, I would face a world of tremendous pain, physical limitations, or death.
By treating on a regular basis, I can be a productive member of society, work, pay my bills, provide my family with the necessities to live a healthy life.
One of those necessities is health insurance
In comes a saving grace for people like me that were born with or develop a pre-existing medical condition, the Affordable Care Act. It protects people with pre-existing medical conditions from insurance providers denying coverage or preventing treatment. This applies to employer sponsored insurance or marketplace coverage throughwww.healthcare.govif your employer does not provide health insurance.
Before the Affordable Care Act, if enrolled in a health care plan, insurance providers could drastically increase your premiums, or even cancel your policy for pre-existing medical conditions.
When signing up for a new healthcare plan, after you have enrolled, insurance providers could refuse to cover you for one year or even deny you coverage because you live with a pre-existing medical condition.
I remember working full-time, looking at a commercial healthcare plan where I would pay monthly premiums, but insurance would not cover me until I fulfilled a one year waiting period. Really? How would I be able to continue to work, do daily activities, or live?
In one year, I could suffer irreversible joint or muscle damage or even die, all while paying premiums on a plan I could not use for 12 months.the Affordable Care Act gave us more freedom of employment because many of us were forced to search for jobs from large employers we didn’t want or took a different pay rate just for the sake of getting health insurance.
You may not have a pre-existing medical condition now, but in the event you or a loved one does, you will appreciate the fact that those before you have put protections in place, such as the Affordable Care Act, to protect you or your loved one from being denied health insurance coverage or face unaffordable health care costs and premiums.
To learn more about hemophilia please visit:www.thbdf.org/what-is-hemophilia
David Tignor, a Gallatin native, lives with a bleeding disorder, hemophilia Factor 8 deficiency, is married with 2 children, and is a member of the Tennessee hemophilia & Bleeding Disorders Foundation.