American Health Care Act will kill people

Neil Kelly is a Symmes Township resident.

On Thursday, Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Steve Chabot and Brad Wenstrup, succeeded. They succeeded on their pledge to once again devastate the lives of their constituents in the name of the almighty political win.

As they glad-handed in the Rose Garden and celebrated their callous act of craven political expediency with one another, constituents of all political persuasions across the nation with pre-existing conditions likely felt sick to their stomach.

With the passage of the American Health Care Act, they have firmly committed themselves to the idea that those with pre-existing conditions deserve to pay more for worse health care if they're even able to get any at all.

With his yes vote on Thursday, my representative, Steve Chabot, told me I mattered less than his healthy constituents because I happen to have been paralyzed at birth. As a 26-year-old young adult, I have only recently aged out of limits to remain on my parents' health insurance plan. Ahead of me is a lifetime of doctor appointments, tests, medications, procedures, and surgeries. That is to say nothing, also, of the future costs of medical equipment I need to sustain a high quality of life.

I wonder if Mr. Chabot could look me in the eyes and tell me that I deserve to pay higher premiums because of my disability? Surely, he would tell me that I will be taken care of because Republicans so kindly set aside $8 billion over 10 years to fund "high-risk" individuals in states that opt out of guaranteeing coverage to pre-existing conditions.

I wonder, also, if Mr. Chabot is familiar with a recent study from the Center for American Progress, which found that the funding shortfall for a high-risk pool in the state of Ohio alone is $385 million over 10 years.

To draw a broader point, according to a CNBC article from Thursday, "Over 10 years, the $8 billion increase wouldn't even fill the funding shortfall for Michigan and Missouri, much less nationwide."

Almost as important as the horrendous details of the AHCA, of which I didn't even scratch the surface, Republicans are telling us that individuals without pre-existing conditions are better people. For example, the heartless Republican congressman from Alabama, Mo Brooks, said people without pre-existing conditions lead "good lives" and deserve cheaper health insurance. He continued, "They’re healthy; they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy. And right now, those are the people who have done things the right way that are seeing their costs skyrocketing."

Meanwhile, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel revealed this week that he and his wife gave birth to a baby boy with congenital heart disease, a pre-existing condition. He had a different take:

"Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease – like my son was – there was a good chance you'd never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition – you were born with a pre-existing condition. If your parents didn't have medical insurance, you might not live long enough to even be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition. If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make. I think that's something that – whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or something else – we all agree on that, right?"

There is a battle for the future the health care in America. Down one path is the Affordable Care Act, which set forth the vision – articulated again so vividly by Mr. Kimmel – that income or stroke of luck should never determine whether you live or die in America. Down another path is the American Health Care Act, which throws the lives of Americans into the hands of the health insurance industry.

Make no mistake, the American Health Care Act will kill people. That's not hyperbole. That's the sad truth that Kimmel now understands.

And if Chabot, Wenstrup, and the other 215 signees to the health care act don't have the courage to face us and tell the truth, then they no longer deserve to represent us in Washington.