Washington, D.C. — A new video relays the personal story of Anna Durand, a small-business owner and native of Bar Harbor, Maine. Durand’s daughter, Phoebe, has needed to take insulin twice a day since her diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes at age 10. Phoebe’s treatment finally became affordable under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), without which Durand says she had to worry about choosing between insulin and mortgage payments when their business reached the off-season. Durand explains how Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s (R-ME) vote to repeal health care protections and his ongoing efforts to roll back the ACA have put her family and the families of countless other small-business owners at risk.
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Watch the video on YouTube
In the video, Durand asks, “Why shouldn’t people with pre-existing conditions be able to afford insurance? It doesn’t make sense. There are so many self-employed people in Bar Harbor who run businesses, create jobs for their neighbors. We need our representatives to fight for better health care, fight for better access to insurance, not to strip it away. That would be foolish. That would be devastating for this community.”
The video is part of an ongoing effort by the Center for American Progress Action Fund to provide a platform for real Americans who are being negatively affected by the Republican Party’s donor-driven agenda.
Unfortunately, this story is familiar to many Maine residents. According to a recent Center for American Progress analysis, 30,500 people in Maine’s 2nd district who are 17 years old or younger live with pre-existing conditions. Without protections for those with pre-existing conditions, families such as Durand’s face the risk of losing their health care under the continued Republican-led sabotage of the ACA.
Rep. Poliquin has long promised to repeal the ACA and voted to do so in 2017. He also voted to repeal the individual mandate as part of last year’s Republican tax bill, which is estimated to be causing premiums in Maine to rise by as much as $1,200. Additionally, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, nearly 116,800 Maine residents will lose coverage under the tax bill supported by Rep. Poliquin.
For more information on this topic or to talk to an expert, please contact Jesse Lee at [email protected] or 202.741.6350.
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The Center for American Progress Action Fund is the sister advocacy organization of the Center for American Progress. The Action Fund transforms progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world. The Action Fund is also the home of the Progress Report.