Washington, D.C. — A new video relays the challenges of Kimberly Crawley of Ashburn, Virginia, whose son Isaac was diagnosed in utero with an esophageal defect. Before he reached his first birthday, Isaac had undergone 14 major surgeries and had maxed out on health insurance. Fortunately for Isaac, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed a month later, barring insurance providers from using lifetime limits and discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. Without the protections on her son’s health care provided by the ACA, she says Isaac wouldn’t have survived. As Crawley explains, Rep. Barbara Comstock’s (R-VA) vote to weaken protections for pre-existing conditions puts Isaac and other Virginians with pre-existing conditions at risk.
Watch the video on Twitter.
Watch the video on YouTube.
As Crawley states in the video, “Don’t tell me that my son’s life is worth less because he costs more. … People miss how easily this could be them. You don’t have to worry about health care right now, but next week you might have to worry about it. And for some reason health care has become something that is almost like a system of class. I don’t think that my representatives realize what that feels like. They’re not the average working person who has to hold down a job and take care of a sick kid or sick parent, so I think it would be very important for my congressional representative Barbara Comstock to meet my family and look him [Isaac] in the eye and put a face to what you’re voting for.”
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 GOP’s donor-driven agenda.
Unfortunately, this story is familiar to many Virginians. According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, 50,300 people in Virginia’s 10th district under the age of 17 live with pre-existing conditions. Without the Affordable Care Act and protections on pre-existing conditions, many like Isaac are at constant risk of losing their health care under the continued Republican-led sabotage of the ACA.
Rep. Comstock has long promised to repeal Obamacare and voted to do so in 2015. As part of the Republican tax bill, Rep. Comstock voted to repeal the individual mandate, which will likely cause premiums to be as much as $1,312 higher than they otherwise would be for Virginians. According to the analysis by CAP Action Fund, 3,441,400 Virginians will lose health care and pre-existing conditions protections if the ACA is repealed in the future.
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.