LTE: Don’t Put our Health at Risk
I will be 61 this year and already I am on SSDI. I have worked with a disability (cerebral palsy) since I was 16 and have lived with CP for all of these 61 years. I have had to use humor and reason to deal with unconscious social bias against those with disabilities. To the point, right now our elected officials are arguing over funding Medicaid expansion. Besides being an adopted son into a loving family (despite “having something wrong with me”), I have paid it forward and adopted a child from the foster care system who was diagnosed with a veritable alphabet soup of real issues, from Reactive Attachment Disorder to PTSD to ADHD. These conditions were serious enough that she had Medicaid coverage up until she married. My condition takes expensive medication. Her condition takes expensive medication. Without Medicaid we could have not raised her.
Medicaid is much different than private insurance. The first thing private insurers ask is, “How much is this going to cost?” The first thing Medicaid asks is, “What is the medical issue?” Different right?
My daughter has moved on to fighting with another government agency for funding life-empowering medication, but for all those other families struggling to make ends meet and care for their children, I hope that our elected officials can read this plea. Don’t put families at risk. These kids on Medicaid don’t want pity, but they and their families want respect. Compassion builds community, love conquers the bottom line.
Rev. John Dyce