Sen. Harris: "To everyone who is barely hanging onto their homes"

[bigtree]

Kamala Harris @SenKamalaHarris 38m
To everyone who is barely hanging onto their homes, who has lost a loved one to COVID-19, who has no way to pay the bills: know that instead of voting to provide relief you desperately need, Senate Republicans today are choosing to hold a hearing to confirm a judge.

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[MontanaMama]

1. It is often overlooked that pre-existing condition protections

benefit everyone with insurance not just people covered by plans through the ACA exchanges.

[bigtree]

2. and that medical issues arising from Covid infections

...will also be considered pre-existing conditions.

[MontanaMama]

3. 100%.

If these protections cease to exist, it will be an unmitigated disaster.

[haele]

4. We have employer-provided insurance. Losing pre-existing protection

Means my spouse can no longer be covered by my insurance. Which means that currently at the age of 55, he has to worry about the GOP's wet dream wish-list of dismantling of SSDI as well as Social Security and Medicare,
One of the first groups Fascist try to get rid of are the disabled or physically damaged who can't "contribute" anymore. So,, if the GOP has their way, this is what most American families can expect...

Mom and Dad, happy retirement - and sorry, goodbye. You are now becoming just too expensive to maintain because you wouldn't take care of yourself back while you were "contributing to society".
Say goodbye to the grandkids - well, except for baby Jack and maybe Claire, both of who are going to accompany you with these nice Public Health Care people who are here for the "Health Care Day" holiday pickup.
Yes, we are going to be sad, but both you, and Jack and Claire have too many health problems to be useful if they grow up, and so you all have to go to the public health housing where the taxpayers will provide for you. We can't afford you anymore, if we want to feed and house ourselves and the other four kids, so we have to let you go.

You're going to get all the health and care you deserve....

Hyperbole? Only a little, when considering what has already happened in Fascist governments of the past. There's plenty of our fellow citizens who don't care, or would be willing to pull on the jackboots to have "fun" while serving anyone who will give them any modicum of authority over others around them, so long as they're "protected".

Haele

[MontanaMama]

5. I get it.

I’ve had to refinance my house 3 times for medical bills not paid for by insurance. We are a self employed family and have always purchased our own insurance. I had to refinance the first time to pay for two surgeries to repair torn ligaments in my husband’s hand. Since he had had a previous injury to that hand, our deductible was $21,000 for any orthopedic injury on his whole body. The second home refinance was for the birth of my son. At that time, our deductible was “better”...only $12,000 but we had 50/50 co-insurance up to $24,000. I got pregnant in one calendar year and gave birth in the next calendar year so pregnancy being a pre-existing condition, I had to pay a total of $36,000 in total for childbirth. The third refinance was after we discovered a tumor in my son’s ear...sitting in the dura of his brain. The tumor was begin but fast growing. It required two surgeries to remove the tumor and rebuild his tiny 8 year old inner ear so that he could hear. I had to pay the $12,000 deductible twice. Thank goodness I had a home to use when I needed it. How many people do not?

Being self insured is like swimming with sharks.

[watrwefitinfor]

6. Do Kamala and Joe know this?

I never hear them (nor most of our candidates) mention this. (Senator Whitehouse did just mention in passing the part about pre-existing conditions .)

Can someone let them know?

Not just about pre-existing condition coverage for everyone on any insurance (includes private and workplace insurance), but for many other things we have come to take for granted or don't know about:

Insurance for children to age 26.
Caps on annual and lifetime pay-outs.
Annual wellness doctor's visit.
Contraception coverage.
"Essential" coverage (see list at bottom of this post)
And much more.

Medicare considerations.

Hospital reimbursement and incentive considerations, which I have read have kept many small hospitals from going under.

Not to mention expanded Medicaid which will result in more millions losing coverage, INCLUDING (how many?) seniors whose nursing home coverage will be eliminated - so what will become of them? What about those in nursing homes with covid?

Wat

List of original Essential Services covered by ACA on the healthcareDOTgov website. Again, these are the things that original ACA required all insurance policies to cover (prior to all the court cases).

~ Outpatient care—the kind you get without being admitted to a hospital
~ Trips to the emergency room
~ Treatment in the hospital for inpatient care
~ Care before and after your baby is born
~ Mental health and substance use disorder services: This includes behavioral health treatment, counseling, and psychotherapy
~ Your prescription drugs
~ Services and devices to help you recover if you are injured, or have a disability or chronic condition. This includes physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, psychiatric rehabilitation, and more.
~ Your lab tests
~ Preventive services including counseling, screenings, and vaccines to keep you healthy and care for managing a chronic disease.
~ Pediatric services: This includes dental care and vision care for kids

https://www.healthcare.gov/blog/10-health-care-benefits-covered-in-the-health-insurance-marketplace/

A note at top of page says "This page is out of date" with link to new page (I didn't have time to compare them, don't know if anything has changed):
https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/what-marketplace-plans-cover/

[bigtree]

9. Sen Harris Oct.7 : "If you have a preexisting condition...they're coming for you."

Link to tweet

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One of the reasons this issue is front and center is because BOTH candidates have talked about this extensively, repeatedly.

[watrwefitinfor]

12. Yes. One of the reasons this issue is front and center

Bigtree, I'm in total agreement with you. And regret I cannot express myself more clearly.

"One of the reasons this issue is front and center is because BOTH candidates have talked about this extensively, repeatedly."

What I was trying to say is that I don't think most people are aware that all those benefits I mentioned apply to anyone but people with a policy via ACA. They just don't pay that much attention. I know because I still find myself explaining to neighbors and even family who are astounded to learn that. Some still haven't even sorted out how ACA and Obamacare are the same program.

So I think it would be a good thing if more of our candidates laid out the whole thing sometimes instead of just referencing the ACA and doan't mention how they are interelated with the other policies people have - the way those programs are tied to ACA and how they will be gone for everyone with a market or workplace policy, not just the ACA policies.

I know the candidates are aware of this, especially Joe, since he helped so much getting through all those interminable Republican amendments and attempts to shitcan it before it was ever passed. (I guess I was trying to be a little facetious in my first post.)

Broad numbers of people need to be more aware of how they depend on ACA, too. And that information just isn't out there for those who don't haunt news outlets and progressive forums.

Of course the media could do this too, but we know they will never do that.

I was not meaning to be critical of our candidates in any way whatsoever. I hate if it came across that way - that's the main reason I don't often post anything.

Wat

[Initech]

7. They can't fast track a COVID relief bill but they can fast track RBG's replacement.

Priorities people!!!

[JCMach1]

8. This is happening to me . ACA saved my life from Covid pneumonia

Now I face a host of problems to recover and have one or more permanent/semipermanent new health issues...

I am just one of the millions

[benfranklin1776]

10. Amen! 👏

And to paraphrase her: “We’re coming to help you!“

[Boogiemack]

11. I heard Sen Harris on my way home from a funeral. She did a great job but made me cry.

I guess the emotions are getting the better of me. Too many deaths, too many loved ones lost without being able to say good-bye, and too many unshared moments of grief.

[bigtree]

14. .

...22 days.

[DallasNE]

13. For Millions This Is literally A Life And Death Struggle

For my daughter, who was diagnosed as bi-polar while in high school and was able to stay on my insurance until her 26th birthday, ACA was a god-send. After that she was immediately able to get insurance from the Marketplace (ACA) and then at age 30 she was diagnosed with diabetes. She is now 31. ACA is now her lifeline. Losing that would be a literal slow motion death sentence. That is what is at stake in this confirmation hearing. How many people will die early as a result of putting this heartless, soulless person on the Supreme Court where she can impose her religious values on the rest of us and along the way if that kills tens of thousand a year, so what. That's right. Imposing her precious religion on the rest of us will be a death sentence for all kinds of people, including my daughter. No wonder I am livid at this turn of events. Where do they find all of these rotten people? And as rotten as she is, she will fit right in with the likes of Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh.

[TheBlackAdder]

15. I have my 4 kids living at home. It would be great if the ACA was expanded to 30 years of age.

[Sherman A1]

16. This will be my point in my emails

To my senators today.