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Starting tomorrow I will lose my health insurance. I am a type 1 diabetic who is working full-time and will be uninsured during a global pandemic just as covid reaches the highest numbers in my state. Let that sink in for a minute.
I recently left my job and started a new one immediately—there was no gap in my employment, but because of the way that healthcare works in this country I won’t be eligible for insurance at my new job until the first of December.
I could get on a cobra plan, but due to an administrative error, I didn’t get the paperwork for that until yesterday—even so, that would cost $700 for a month of coverage.
Luckily I had time to prepare for this, so I made sure I filled a three month supply of insulin (something that many people are not allowed to do depending on their insurance).
I researched the rules for cobra in my state to make sure that I could retroactively apply for it if something catastrophic happens. I signed the paperwork and put it in a place where my partner could access it, so he could submit it if I am incapacitated.
Even when I do receive insurance in December, I will avoid getting medical treatment or supplies until January because I’ll have a new deductible to meet so the $1500 I would normally spend would come entirely out of my pocket and insurance wouldn’t kick in at all.
These are the things that I have to figure out in order to stay alive—even with the ACA in place.
I should also say that I navigate the system as an expert. I have worked in healthcare for over a decade. I am intimately aware of how diagnosis and treatment gets converted to billing that goes to insurance and how they pay (or don’t).
I also have the time and means to research how each of these moves impacts me, my family, and my financial situation. I consider myself one of the lucky ones.
A type 1 diabetic man my age died from rationing insulin in February in a city 30 miles from my home. He died alone in a garage he was renting as his family was unaware that he had lost insurance coverage.
I wish I could say that I don’t know how something like that can happen in the United States, but, unfortunately, I know exactly how that can happen. It will happen to many more people if the ACA is overturned. It could happen to me.
My friend Jon called me and encouraged me to share my feelings about this more widely. A few weeks ago, a conservative friend on Facebook sincerely asked how a Trump re-election might ruin their lives and I decided to respond in kind; with sincerity.
I want to explain one of the points that I shared with him. If I’m being honest, my purpose in writing this is to get as many of you as possible to vote for Joe Biden, but at the very least,
I want any of my conservative friends to at the very least put a personal face to a party that you may see as the enemy.
One of the major reasons I am supporting Joe Biden and democratic congresspeople is because I am a type 1 diabetic who believes that healthcare is a human right.
The reason that I support democrats is that the passage of the Affordable Care Act ensured that I couldn’t be refused insurance due to having a pre-existing condition and are working toward better care including the outrageous price of insulin.
Republicans are doing everything they can to overturn the ACA with no plan to replace it with anything. After years of study, observation, and activism, I am certain that my healthcare will be better under a Democratic administration.
For those that cite Trump’s executive order on insulin prices and evidence of the contrary, you have been misled. The order has a very limited impact—some diabetics on Medicare part D and Medicare advantage plans will have a co-pay maximum.
In addition, this doesn’t go into affect until next year at the earliest. This is a very small subset of patients. The order amounts to a PR stunt and a lie. Insulin is not the price of water as Trump stated in a recent debate a water bottle filled with insulin would cost $15,000
Ultimately I don’t know what to say other than I want to live. I think that being a part of a society means we should take care of one another.
I want people with other preexisting conditions to live without fear of financial ruin. One party has a plan to do that. The other does not. Please vote for Biden/Harris and if you can’t do that please understand why I did. #diabetes #BidenHarris2020 #vote 
