No, the Health Care law we enacted isn't perfect. I know that. But it does make a difference for a lot of people. Up until a couple weeks ago, I actually wasn't one of those people: I have a dynamite plan that really wasn't effected by the new laws at all.
Now I am. Or, rather, my daughter is. And here's a lesson in how quickly things can change. If this motivates you to GOTV or as a story to tell your Annoying Neighborhood Teabagger, great. The story after the fold.
Brigid is a freshman in high school. She just turned 15 last Sunday. A cooler, more delightful 15-year-old girl you'll never find. She's a quirky kid who revels in being a nonconformist; she's a complete geek whose main loves in life are drama club, playing the guitar, writing, and crocheting and sewing. We're far closer than most fathers with their teenaged daughters. (I'm back in college, preparing to become an English teacher; I'm doing observation hours in her school and she actually wanted me to come observe her class. Most 15-year-old girls would cringe at their fathers doing that...in fact, her teacher was stunned and impressed. :)) So, yeah, the greatest accomplishment in my life? The kid (and her little sister!). Only two good things that came out of my former marriage, that's for sure!
Anyhow, I was taking her and her sister to their annual physicals a couple weeks back. Brigid's been mostly healthy...a little exercise induced asthma that's easily controlled...and I wasn't expecting any bombshells. Until she dropped one on the way there: "Yeah, and I have to talk to the doctor about why I haven't had a period in a year."
A girl who hit menarche at 11 not having a period for a year when she's 14? This is never good. And it wasn't. After all the tests were done, we got a diagnosis: it's called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS.
Short version: her ovaries don't work. There's no ovulation going on. She's infertile. They had to give her a drug to kickstart her period and she'll be on the pill to regulate said periods, because if you don't have a period you increase the risk of endometrial cancer.
There's more, lots more. As I said, if she ever wants to have kids, she'll need fertility drugs at the very least. PCOS kicks your testosterone into overdrive, so we have a teenaged girl whose secondary sex characteristics are out of whack (in her case, acne and hair where girls shouldn't be growing hair, both of which the pill should slow down.) Also, the scientists don't actually know why yet, but they have identified a link between PCOS and insulin resistance, so she's at a MUCH higher risk for developing diabetes at some point. PCOS also seems to affect cholesterol.
Look, it's manageable, and she's handling the whole ordeal very well. BUt this thing never goes away. It's a lifetime condition, and requires management. So, just in case you haven't yet connected the dots, let me do so for you: my teenaged daughter was just diagnosed with one hell of a WHOPPER of a pre-existing condition.
Not only does she no longer have to worry about that, thanks to Health Care...she also doesn't have to worry about getting kicked off of my fantabulous plan until she's 26.
How many stories are like mine? How many people realize what a fucking relief it is not to have to worry about the whole pre-existing condition bullshit? I don't have to tell my daughter that she might have problems getting insurance. Because she WON'T. Thanks to an imperfect, but in some ways kick-ass, health care bill that our opponents want to repeal.
I'd be enthusiastically voting Dem anyway. This just gives me a personal reason to do so.