Christine Geraci speaks alongside a photo of her twin daughters.
Christine Geraci held up a picture of her daughter Mackenzie and her twin sister Cameron, both age four, and showed it to two U.S. senators and a crowd crowd gathered at City Hall.
“Does this look like a child who’s a tax burden?” she asked.
The senators, Democrats Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, gathered Geraci and other citizens to a hearing to describe how their lives would be affected by passage of the new health care bill unveiled Thursday by Senate Republicans to largely roll back the Affordable Health Care (aka “Obamacare”) and Medicaid.
Geraci spoke about how when Mackenzie was only four weeks old, she was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes an unrelenting sense of starvation. Soon Mackenzie’s insurance claims amassed to over $2 million. A nurse urgently instructed Geraci to apply for the Katie Beckett waiver, an option that allows parents to apply for Medicaid for their disabled children based only on the children’s income.
Recently, the Geraci family received news that Mackenzie qualified for the waiver. Still, both Geraci and her husband continue to work two jobs in order to support their children and Mackenzie’s medical fees.
Now the government program that allowed Mackenzie access to health coverage is in danger of extinction if the new health care bill passes.
Sens. Blumenthal and Murphy.
At the hearing, held in City Hall, over 40 citizens told of their personal experiences with Medicaid and Medicare, while hundreds listened in support and solidarity. (In the interest of balance, click here for an argument from The Heritage Foundation for repealing and replacing the ACA).
David Muccino.
According to David Muccino, senior pediatric resident at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, the average child on Medicaid in Connecticut now costs $3,465 a year to the state. The capped funding model proposed in the Senate bill would shift higher costs from the federal government to states. In turn, a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit could deplete all allotted funds before she even leaves the hospital, Muccino said.
Si Baker-Goodwin pulled out a framed picture of her beaming mother, Jaqueline, who was an AIDS buddy at the peak of the epidemic. Despite widespread fear, Jaqueline always provided a warm hug for patients of the disease before they even asked. Later, Baker-Goodwin’s stepfather was diagnosed with dementia, and both of her parents were unwilling to accept help from the state until their daughter insisted. Soon after, Jaqueline was also diagnosed with dementia. Baker-Goodwin prayed to God that some other ailment would release her mother from the disease’s grasp, as they both had watched the same disease torment Jaqueline’s husband. Shortly, Jaqueline was diagnosed with cancer, and her dying wish was that no one would be burdened with the cost of her healthcare. So Baker-Goodwin told the doctor that Jaqueline would not undergo chemotherapy. Jaqueline passed away weeks later.
“You don’t have the moral compass to clean my parents’ shoes, let alone the strength and courage to walk a mile in them,” said Baker-Goodwin in a message to Senate Republicans.
Like her parents, Baker-Goodwin struggles with sleep apnea, which has been linked to dementia and other life-threatening ailments. At her age, she explained, she would not be able to afford insurance with this preexisting condition. And under the proposed Senate bill, she could not continue her treatment.
Daniela Giordano.
The new bill would permit insurers to discriminate against those with a preexisting condition, but Daniela Giordano explained that “the entire human experience is set up for preexisting conditions.”
“We all need maintenance,” she said, to which members of the audience responded “Preach!”
During the hearing, the senators accepta cape adorned with the faces of Connecticut residents on Medicare or Medicaid. Blumenthal joked that he would wear it on the Senate floor, though it may cause him to be taken into custody.
One attendee yelled, “We’ll bail you out!”
Gretchen Raffa, a representative from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, explained that the new bill “makes being a woman a preexisting condition.” According to Raffa, one in four women of reproductive age rely on Medicaid, and without the ACA, 13 million would lose access to maternity care.
“These GOP people are making my friends die,” cried Tina Manus, who has lost 20 friends to the opioid epidemic within the last five years. She later explained that the Senate bill could deprive patients with opioid dependence of the necessary suboxone drug to maintain their recovery.
Many other attendees shared that same anger at the Republican Party.
“They’re pro-life until you come out of the womb. Once you’re out of the womb, you’re on your own,” said Paula Notarino.
Notarino spoke alongside her autistic son, Ralph, age 32, who requires Medicare and Medicaid as his supplemental insurance. Ralph has an insurmountable fear of the dentist’s chair and requires sedation for any dental work. When a pain in his mouth required medical attention, Notarino relied on his government-funded insurance to cover the procedure.
Notarino questioned her options if her son did not have the same government-subsidized coverage. Without the ACA, families might have no choice but to face insurmountable medical debt.
“We are at the precipice of a titanic political battle,” said Senator Blumenthal, who called the bill “the Un-American Healthcare Act.” And yet, with hope, he ensured that ultimately, the country would adopt a single-payer system.
But for now, the Senate will likely vote on the proposed bill next week. And for the time being, the fates of Mackenzie Geraci and Si Baker-Goodwin hang in the balance.