There’s no need for me to explain how important it is to vote in this election. Before I go any further, I’ll admit that I am a Democrat and strongly hold those values. I understand I am in the political minority on campus. This election cycle has seen everything except real policy debates from the candidates. I won’t argue the merits of either candidate but rather the single issue that matters most to me. I am a Healthcare voter, and I have to vote for Democratic control in order to preserve the hope of substantial policy evaluation of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
In my senior year of high school, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This disease is chronic, and I will live it every single day for the rest of my life. I am completely insulin-dependent, meaning that I must inject insulin for every meal I eat. I must prick my fingers and check my blood sugar every couple of hours. I run the risk of either low blood sugars, which would quickly put me in a coma, or high blood sugars that cause significant nerve damage and eventually organ failure. My life is a constant struggle to stay in balance.
In addition to the health concerns, diabetes is not a cheap disease to treat. Since being diagnosed, my estimated costs of care, if I did not rely on my parents’ insurance, would be tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Without insurance, my family would have to come up with that money out of pocket in order to quite literally keep me alive.
Prior to the ACA, insurance companies could deny any applicant on the basis of “pre-existing conditions.” Pre-existing conditions is some sort of health condition that a person had before the insurance took effect. These could be anything from heart disease, to a previous accidental injury, to even pregnancy. As you may have guessed, both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes were considered pre-existing conditions. Based solely on the fact that a person has diabetes, major insurance companies would normally deny an applicant any kind of insurance. Even some employer-provided insurance excluded coverage for pre-existing conditions. According to a Congressional memo released in 2010 by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, in a three year span, the four major insurance companies denied at least 1 in each 7 applicants based on “an extensive list of medical conditions.” About 80 percent of all applicants listing a form of diabetes were denied.
This election matters because only a Democratic president will initiate policy discussion about Obamacare, rather than dismantle the policy all together. I believe that a Republican majority in Congress and a Republican president would ultimately lead to the abolition of the ACA. Many Americans would be excited about this, but those with pre-existing conditions and no health coverage in our name fear this reality. I will not deny that premiums and copays have gone up for some Americans due to the ACA. Wait times for care have increased. People struggle to understand how this policy will play out in the future. There are problems with this law that desperately need to be addressed. However, I strongly believe that compromise and fixes to the law are far better than dismantling it completely. This election is the ultimate test of legitimacy in my mind. Despite surviving several Supreme Court cases and over 60 failed votes to repeal the legislation by Republicans in Congress, the ACA must survive the president who has ultimate veto power.
I don’t buy arguments that a free market would be better for the management of healthcare. Sure, costs could be cut, and some could be better off. But people like me would be excluded from ever entering the market simply on the basis that we have a medical condition outside of our control. Without government regulation, as soon as I filled the box labeled “pre-existing condition” on an insurance form, I would be blacklisted and only given the option of outrageously unaffordable coverage, if not denied outright.
In reality, healthcare insurance providers are for-profit companies at their core. They have to consider their bottom line, and it makes sense to deny people with pre-existing conditions. In the eyes of insurance providers, I am not even a risk. I am labeled as a complete liability and an expensive one at that. Each month, I require at least one doctor’s visit, hundreds of blood sugar testing strips, four vials of insulin, and six boxes of other supplies. There is no question whether the insurance company will need to pay out for me. They will.
The ACA did an incredible thing for me. It changed my label. The ACA changed me from a liability to a person. People have their reasons for voting for their candidate in this election, and I completely understand not every voter is a Healthcare voter. For me, I have no choice but to vote for a Democrat. In order to have a chance at owning an insurance policy in my own name, a Democratic president must win this election.
Amelia Putnam is a junior majoring political science. Her column runs biweekly.
