The U.S. Supreme Court has heard by now both arguments regarding the Affordable Care Act. Many disabled individuals with NEIDs have both Medicare and Medicaid covering
their healthcare (dual eligibility). The arguments for and against the
Medicaid mandate expansion to the states about the ACA (Affordable Care Act) were presented by the U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr, and the
opposing counsel by Paul Clement. Medscape has been providing daily recaps of
the Supreme Court's proceedings regarding the ACA. Florida is the lead state
joined by 25 other states. For many experts, the personal or individual mandate
that requires the young, the old, the health and the sick to sign up for
healthcare benefits creating a large pool is crucial to the affordability of
the program. Other experts representing opposing point of view, are saying
that the mandate is unconstitutional and therefore if the mandate is found
unconstitutional the entire ACA program needs to be scraped.
Many experts have noted that this mandate was for many years embraced and promoted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that
embraces and promotes conservative values in the U.S. political arena. Many
experts also have noted that a similar mandate is already in place in
Massachusetts. It was signed by President hopeful and former Governor
Mitt Romney. The program in Massachusetts is viewed by a large
majority of experts who have been analyzing the program as extremely successful
and has kept the affordability of developing the program in check.
PANDORA recommends to our members to become
educated on these important issues. The ACA has answered some of the concerns
patients have had to deal with for a couple of decades. No more pre-exisiting
conditions, no more caps on life-time coverage. If one is disabled and cannot
afford insurance one can join a special insurance pool. Children up to 26 years
old can also be kept on the same insurance medical plan of their parents regardless
of going to college or not.
This new access to medical insurance through ACA
has in fact neutralized some of the harsh reality that the overall patient NeuroEndocrineImmune
diseases (NEIDs) community faces. The NEIDs patient community
has been consistently and often penalized by the medical, scientific and
government ignorance of how NEIDs are to be treated. There is also a lack of
serious concern leading to a complete lack of priority from the Department of
Health and Human Services in the past 3 decades, with no difference whether
there is a Democrat or a Republican in the White House or a Congress that is
either to the right or to the left of our political spectrum. The harmful
effect trickles down to the National Institute of Health, CDC, and other
federal government agencies that complement care and quality of life for U.S.
citizens are minimal in terms of addressing 3 decades of abandonment and lack
of political will from our government officials to fix these serious problems.
The lack of priority by our federal government
regarding NEIDs, then trickles down to the state, municipal and county levels.
It crosses over academia causing lack of interest in the science of NEIDS. The
lack of physician training and robust scientific research prevents even the
basic level of medical care to be provided to NEIDs patients in every state.
The cost of ignorance is higher than the cost of treatments that would
benefit the overall NEIDs patient population in the U.S.
As a citizen of this great country I urge you to
learn about the issues and make your voice count.
You owe to yourself to win your future. Neither
PANDORA, nor you, and nor I can change the past. However we can change the
future. Join us as an Advocate Extraordinaire™ during May Awareness Month in
2012. Speak up and stand up for the NeuroEndocrineImmune disease you
are stricken with loudly and clearly. Support PANDORA and the other hardworking
organization serving the NEIDs community in the state where you live
and create change. Join the member organizations of the Coalition 4
ME/CFS and the Coalition 4 Fibromyalgia and they will
show you how we can all work together across state boundaries toward a
comprehensive national policy that will benefit our entire community.
All of our collective voices, as ONE Community, One
Voice, One Cause!™
