Dear Rep. Pallone
I am a 33
year old man with Pulmonary Atresia with Ventricular Septal Defect. I am one of
the first people to survive this condition passed age 3 or so. In fact, I’ve
been told it is the audio of my heart that medical students listen to in order
to know what we sound like.
I am
writing this to you as a letter of encouragement, please continue to stand for
the 57 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and all those who need
good laws in order to have good healthcare.
I’ve been blessed,
I was covered under good insurance as a kid, because my mom worked for the
Department of Defense, the VA, and NATO and they made sure my pre-existing
condition was covered. Now days, I am a Lutheran Pastor and I have insurance
through the Church, I’m happy with it, and because it is a national plan
connected with a national Church, it will follow me from congregation to
congregation. But, I know not everyone with a pre-existing condition can be a
Lutheran Pastor.
On top of
that, there was a period of time during seminary, before the ACA was passed,
when I was covered by inferior insurance. I’d been told, when purchasing the
insurance, that my heart condition was covered (they wanted to sell me the
policy, right?), but when I went for my every-other-year heart check-up I
received a $10,000 bill, nothing covered because everything to do with my heart
was “pre-existing.” $10,000 was 80% of my income that year (I was a Vicar at an
inner-city church in Baltimore). I had to plead poverty once I found out my
insurance company would not cover it.
It is a
painful and embarrassing thing to skip out of paying what you owe. Everyone in
the hospital was gracious once it was clear what had happened and that I wasn’t
trying to pull one over on anyone, so it sort of worked out that time.
But, these
days, I only pay 10% of my income for health insurance as Pastor of St. Stephen
here in New Jersey, because I have good insurance. I am happy to pay my fair
share, and so glad that no one discriminates against me based on this condition
I was born with.
I have to
admit, I am deeply afraid for my fellow pre-existing condition folk, that this
protection will be taken away if the ACA is repealed. I hear Trump’s point
person plans to replace the ACA with a non-taxable savings account and the
ability to transfer insurance across state lines. Neither of these will do
anything for the 57 million of us with pre-existing conditions. Maybe it is
just my Lutheran sense of Sin with a capital S, but I am damn sure if companies
are given back the right to discriminate, they will.
Please
understand me, I want to pay my fair share. I want to do right by my doctors
who keep me alive. The ACA gives folk the possibility to do that—the
alternative doesn’t.
Again,
thank you so much for fighting for me and the 57 million.
Peace,
Chris Halverson
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