Yesterday, I posted that I have a pre-existing condition and I vote. Today, I’m going to tell you a little bit about it. First, understand that I’ve been debating whether to share this information, and if so, to blog, Facebook, talk about my journey, or something else. Tomorrow is Election Day, so I’ve chosen something else: Politics. I have an extremely rare form of muscular dystrophy, shared by 1 in 100,000 people worldwide. It’s called oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy, OPMD for short. It’s not going to kill me. It’s not even going to shorten what I expect to be a long life and it’s not even likely to cause me to be disabled. But technically, it’s genetic, incurable and degenerative. So there it is. In insurance terms, that makes me high risk. In real life terms, it means that I need to see a high-paid specialist, a neurologist, a few times a year, and have periodic testing to make sure that there’s no significant degeneration. But the diagnosis is forever, and unlike some other things I have going on, it won’t go away with simple and routine surgery. There’s lots of other pre-existing conditions out there, ones that are much more common. COPD, asthma, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, high blood pressure and even cancer are just a few of them. And speaking of high blood pressure, mine is completely controlled by medication. Completely. It’s perfect. Really. So are my BMI, my pulse, my heart and my lungs. But high blood pressure is another pre-existing condition. So here’s why the Affordable Care Act is so very important. Without it, an insurance company could deny you coverage for any of these things. If you need to change jobs, get laid off, start a business or are self-employed, you’re on your own. Develop asthma? Well, you may not be able to get health care. This is crazy, that this great and wealthy country could put the needs of very large companies ahead of the health of Americans who need to see a doctor. So, here’s the thing. Maybe you’re healthy now. Maybe your job provides coverage now. But one day, you will be sick. That’s just what it is; all bodies develop problems at some point, many easily treatable. So you better pray that the control of the house and the senate does not fall to people who have sworn to overturn the Affordable Care Act. You better pray that you never get sick. And if you don’t believe in prayer, there’s something else you can do. Vote tomorrow. Vote like your life depends on it. Because it does. vote411.org/
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:44:09 +0000
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