Mainers worried that President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act are urging members of Congress to improve the law rather than dismantle it.
At a press conference in Portland Thursday, those who have benefited from the ACA said dropping the law would create a health care crisis.
The birth of Alyce Orenella’s son two years ago taught her to expect the unexpected. She had marketplace insurance coverage at the time, and her pregnancy had been normal. But within hours of delivering what seemed to be a healthy baby boy, it became clear her son was actually very sick.
He had multiple congenital birth defects.
“In his first month of life, he racked up $100,000 worth of medical bills,” Orenella says.
After receiving good medical care, she says, her son is now thriving. But he’ll need specialist care throughout his childhood, and possibly as an adult. With his pre-existing condition, she worries what repealing the ACA will mean for his care.
“It’s the protections that it provides. It’s not only that he cannot be denied medical coverage, it’s that he won’t be put into a high-risk pool,” Orenella says.
Trump says he wants to repeal and replace the ACA when he takes office. But it’s unclear exactly what the replacement would be, and some Republican congressional leaders say they want to vote immediately to repeal but delay the effective date to buy time for an alternative.
“Right now what we have is this rush to repeal, and then kick the can down the road,” says Steve Butterfield of Consumers for Affordable Health Care.
Butterfield says repealing without a replacement plan would destabilize the market and cause insurance companies to either spike premiums or abandon the individual marketplace altogether. He and others, like Portland physician Dr. Chuck Radis, say it would be a major step backward.
“I’ve seen firsthand what our health care system looked like before the Affordable Care Act, and the life-changing, and actually, yes, life-saving benefits of the ACA since it was enacted in 2010,” he says.
Radis shared the stories of four patients who emerged from devastating health and financial setbacks after they got insurance coverage under the ACA. Instead of scrapping the law, he says there’s another option.
“Let’s make it better. Improve it,” he says.
That’s what 26-year-old Katie MacDonald is hoping for. As she pursues a graduate degree at the University of Southern Maine, she relies on health insurance through the individual marketplace, and is terrified at the prospect of losing coverage.
“I can promise you, it wouldn’t be pretty,” she says.
After being sexually assaulted in her early 20s, MacDonald says she was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression.
“I pay $34 to get my coverage to be able to go to my doctor, to be able to go to therapy, to be able to do all those things that are required for me to be successful. Isn’t that what we want all of our citizens doing, moving forward and doing the best that they can?” she says.
Maine’s senators have different views on how Congress should move forward: Independent Sen. Angus King opposes repealing the ACA, but is open to fixing it. Republican Sen. Susan Collins supports repealing and replacing the ACA, but believes a framework for a replacement should accompany any repeal effort.
