Healthcare News 2017: Mother Tweets Son's Medical Bills to Show Importance of Health Insurance
The mother of a 2-year-old boy with a rare genetic condition speaks up as the Senate debates over the health care bill.
Ali Chandra, the mother of Ethan, who was diagnosed with nine congenital heart defects, a genetic disorder called heterotaxy syndrome, and two left lungs, took to Twitter to show people the importance of being backed by an insurance plan.
In her post, she showed his son's hospital bills from his latest open heart surgery at the Boston Children's Hospital. In a bill amounting to more than a couple of hundred thousand dollars, she was required to pay only $500, with the help of an employer-provided private insurance.
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Speaking to CBS News, Chandra revealed: "Five surgeries, two heart catheterizations, another diagnostic procedure under anesthesia... He doesn't know any other life."
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, insurers provide clients with a coverage that includes a set of vital health benefits. Aside from hospitalization costs, insurance plans also cover prescriptions medications and specialist visits.
All of the procedures done on the child could have cost the Chandra family millions of dollars. Although they are no longer relying on Obamacare, it reportedly paid for almost all of Ethan's early care. For this reason, she wants to use her story to send a message to the Republicans who are trying to alter the healthcare law.
While she did admit that the ACA is far from perfect, Chandra stated that she was grateful that it was able to help her family. However, with Obamacare almost being flushed down the drain, Chandra is concerned about how the new health bill could affect her family.
"My fear is that this bill comes into play and suddenly essential health benefits are no longer covered, like hospitalization, prescription medications," she said, as reported by CNN.
"He will rely on prescription medications for the rest of his life. He is functionally asplenic and will need to take prophylactic antibiotics the rest of his life to prevent and protect against sepsis, a huge risk of death for our kids in the heterotaxy community."
Chandra's post has received over 50,000 retweets and 87,000 likes, proving that her point has resonated with many.
