Former Obama adviser David Axelrod confessed he cried the night the Affordable Care Act was passed by the House as he remembered the struggles he and his wife faced as they learned their daughter had epilepsy when she was a baby.
“All those memories came rushing back the night the ACA passed — all the pain and financial worry we had felt as young parents, struggling to keep our baby alive,” Axelrod penned in an op-ed published by CNN on Thursday. “I cried because I knew that because of the law that had passed that evening, many other families would not have to face the same ordeal.”
At the time, Axelrod was a reporter and although he and his wife had health insurance, the coverage would not apply to their daughter’s expensive medications and they were unable to shift to a policy that would, since their daughter already had a pre-existing condition. Axelrod expressed his concerns in light of the latest GOP legislative push that attempts to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.
“The ACA has not only provided the opportunity for health coverage to tens of millions who lacked it, it has afforded new benefits and protections that make all Americans more secure,” he said. “It has promoted preventive care and innovations in the delivery of care that have strengthened our entire health care system.”
“That is why every major medical organization, disease and patient advocacy group — even America’s major insurers — have strongly condemned the latest plan from Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy to scrap the ACA,” he added.
Proposed by Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., the amendment would overhaul the Affordable Care Act and remove individual and employer mandates required by Obamacare. Additionally, the money currently being allocated to Obamacare’s exchanges and Medicaid expansion would be given to the states through federal block grants.
As a result, senators working on the legislation say that states will be able to address protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Axelrod joins late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel, who also has a son with a pre-existing health condition that required open heart surgery shortly after he was born, in bashing to so-called “Graham-Cassidy bill.” Kimmel slammed Cassidy on Tuesday and Wednesday on his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, and said Cassidy lied to him earlier in the year over his commitment to support legislation that guaranteed coverage for all families.
