Apologies in advance. But there are about 20 tweets to follow about life and death before the Affordable Care Act and how it affected me
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
A couple of vignettes from my pre-ACA life:
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
In the summer of 2004 my husband began feeling really ill — digestive problems
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
I was a grad student then, and we didn't have health insurance coverage over the summer
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
He waited until back-to-school (and insurance) before seeing a doctor, because of that fear of being diagnosed with a pre-existing condition
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
He was diagnosed with liver cancer
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
At first we thought perhaps he could have a liver transplant. My grad student health insurance didn't cover transplants
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
We were panicked. How could we ever afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket?!
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
We were actually a little relieved that he was not medically eligible for a transplant (Yes. Relieved)
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
He had surgery. They tried to remove the tumor. We discovered the cancer had spread to his pancreas, his lungs. Stage IV
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
He was given a few months to live. He lived 9 more
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
I still had to work, of course. I was the one providing the family with health insurance after all
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
In the final months of his life, he rapidly reached his cap on insurance benefits
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
One day I went to refill his morphine prescription and was told that he'd hit the limit
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
I had to pay out of pocket
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
It was nearly every penny in our checking account. But what choice did I have. He was dying. He was in pain. He needed morphine
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
"Thankfully" he was soon moved to hospice care. A different set of insurance limits and pharmaceutical coverage. That is, 2 weeks' worth
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
The morphine was covered by insurance once again
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
And he died at the end of those two weeks
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
I really cannot put into words the hell my son — then 12 — and I went through watching him die
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
The Republicans who want to undo the ACA are sentencing so many of us to this very hell
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
And they know it
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 7, 2017
Reposted here from twitter with Audrey's permission, for telling her story once was painful enough.
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