Letter to Editor: Shanna of Nashville, TN

Shanna of Nashville, TN writes:

Years ago, I was laid off from my job and soon found myself without health insurance. I wasn’t worried; I was young, healthy and had never been sick a day in my life, other than the occasional cold. Getting new health insurance would just be a formality.

I was wrong. Because of one irregular pap smear many years previously that had turned out to be nothing, every major insurance carrier denied me. I couldn’t believe it; if I was uninsurable as a completely healthy person, imagine if something was actually wrong with me.

The Affordable Care Act offers an essential human right to all Americans, and the ban on denying insurance for those with a pre-existing condition (or even false tests that can be characterized as a pre-existing condition) is a critical protection. Millions of people depend upon the ACA, and their health, livelihoods and very lives are at risk if this plan is destroyed. If Senator Alexander is promising “repeal and replace,” he owes it to Tennesseans and all Americans to have a comprehensive plan in place that will immediately offer the same protections as ACA on Day 1.

Help Shanna get this message heard by adding your voice.

We’re stronger together.

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