(Photo: Eric Meyer)
The nearly $2 million in hospital bills was the result of receiving treatments for only 10 months.
Any day now, the Senate will stop revising and vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), which is the Senate version of the original American Health Care Act, and has been dubbed Trumpcare for short.
There have been huge debates about how certain parts of the bill as it stands would affect Americans, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has already estimated that it would leave 22 million Americans without health insurance by 2026.
This would be disastrous for citizens of the U.S. to say the least, but many people who get tax cuts if the bill were to pass or people with amazing private insurance don’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation for those that can’t afford insurance as it is.
Although Eric Meyer, a web developer from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, could benefit from tax cuts from the passing of the BCRA and he currently has wonderful private insurance, he recently took to Twitter to share the heartbreaking story about his then-5-year-old daughter, Rebecca.
She was diagnosed with cancer a few days after leaving for vacation back in 2013 and her 10-month battle with cancer cost her parents an insane amount of money. Her story has inspired Meyer to speak out about how detrimental the BCRA could be for Americans.
This is my daughter Rebecca in 2013. She was 5¼ years old when I took this, and less than three days later, she almost died on an ER bed. pic.twitter.com/usipeEzzAL
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
She’d been completely fine, and just seemed to come down with an infection or virus or something on vacation. Antibiotics didn’t help. pic.twitter.com/DnIJy18M8x
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
We took her to be checked out at a nearby hospital, who were also stumped. They were looking for a room when she seized and flatlined. pic.twitter.com/tK3SqUSTci
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
Just like that. She’d been ill, but not severely so. All of sudden, she was on the edge of death. They barely stabilized her.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
After a life flight, she had several surgeries, spent more than a week in the ICU, and then another two weeks on the recovery floor. pic.twitter.com/hCcK7db8Wq
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
Later, there were weeks on weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. After that was done, we came home for more chemotherapy. pic.twitter.com/gCfbA96qGX
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
With just these few weeks in the ICU, Becca’s treatments would have been well over a quarter of a million dollars, as was seen when this mother shared her son’s hospital bills from a recent visit.
This is her, hauling her baby brother up the slide in our backyard, and her mom through the local garlic festival. pic.twitter.com/S0uO9EB4OQ
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
At a @CureSearch walk with her siblings and dozens of friends and family. Barely tolerating dad jokes. These are all during chemotherapy. pic.twitter.com/iPN8gkC1s0
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
The treatments didn’t work. She died at home less than ten months after her cancer was discovered, June 7th, 2014, her sixth birthday. pic.twitter.com/VFSMAwpxWi
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
Sadly, Rebecca lost her battle with cancer shortly after being diagnosed. He said, “I miss her every day, but I know that we did everything that could be done, including being able to afford the hospice care that kept her as comfortable as possible in her final hours, preventing the seizures and pain and fear that would have made her last moments a hell beyond endurance. Allowing her a peaceful end. Every family should have access to that.”
In those ten months, the total retail cost of her procedures and treatments was $1,691,627.45. Almost one point seven million US dollars.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
We had health insurance—really good insurance, thanks to @cosesmallbiz and my wife’s and my combined income. Their cost was $991,537.29.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
We paid very little, comparatively speaking, until you counted the monthly premiums. All of it together added up to low five figures.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
If pre-existing conditions had prevented us from being covered, or if we’d been less fortunate and unable to afford premiums—bankrupted.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
How many families go completely bankrupt trying to save their child? How many could have saved their children, if only they’d had coverage?
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
How many never could have saved their child, but went broke and now believe that lack of coverage and money was what killed their child?
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
I don’t think I’ll qualify for tax cuts under this bill, but if I do, I’ll commit every cent of it, and more, to unseat those who vote yes.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
I already told @SenRobPortman that, and how this bill could endanger relatives I have here in Ohio. People who probably voted for him.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
It’s awesome that Meyer is getting involved with his senators and not just sharing his story on Twitter, where it’s bound to reach social media users but not his representatives.
But that shouldn’t matter. What matters is every family should have the chance to fight for their loved one’s life without going bankrupt.
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
There’s no neat wrap-up here. I miss her every day, but at least I have the (small) comfort of knowing we did everything that could be done. pic.twitter.com/ruP8i0hB0N
— Eric Meyer (@meyerweb) June 26, 2017
Meyer acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act under Obama was not the ultimate solution to America’s messy healthcare dilemma, but that it was certainly an important step towards treating every American the same and allowing them the same access to services.
“The Affordable Care Act wasn’t perfect, and it was severely and willfully undercut after it launched, but it was a huge step in the right direction. The bill currently before Congress would be an enormous step back,” he said.
“I would spare every family the pain we endured if I could, but nobody has that power. We do, together, have the power to help every family that must endure that pain, to give them access to the simple safety net they need, to concentrate everything they can on the struggle to heal.”
What’s even more unfortunate about Meyer’s and his family’s story is that it’s not uncommon; countless Americans have become poor and/or homeless as a result of medical issues that they can’t afford to treat or even diagnose, and that’s why so many veterans are currently living on the streets. If Americans can’t stand up for veterans, the people they universally commend more than any other group in the nation, then what else are they willing to do in order to secure tax cuts for the rich?
This work by True Activist is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
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