When does explaining what happens to people when they lose their health insurance turn into fearmongering?
Fearmongering according to the Oxford dictionary is:
The action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue.
Now I don’t see it as fearmongering. It’s the honest truth that if someone with an incurable disease loses their health insurance could have a very hard life or possibly die of complications. I’ve seen people with IBD lose their health insurance and end up in the hospital multiple times due to flares and complications of IBD. Many patients need medications to stay out of the hospital to try and keep their IBD under control. And when you no longer have access to medications, things tend to not go well.
Now, my dad got accused of fearmongering after he said that he’s mad at Republicans for potentially getting rid of the ACA because I could have a very hard life or potentially die if I ever lose my health insurance. Which could very well happen. And with all of the uncertainty around healthcare and what some Republicans in office have said that they want to do it’s a real concern of mine, my husband, and my family.
What would happen to me if I got laid off and couldn’t get rehired again? What if my husbands insurance took too long to kick in or wouldn’t let me enroll until open enrollment? Or I can’t work anymore and have to go on disability?
I need my medications to stay functioning. And my medications are extremely expensive without health insurance. There is no way I would be able to afford then without it. And I am stuck with biologics.
This person my dad was talking to also said I needed to go get a job with insurance and stop expecting the government to take care of me. And I hate it when people make assumptions like this. I have a good job that has health insurance. And I will keep working until I can’t anymore. I also don’t expect the government to hold my hand and take care of everything. I want a fighting chance to LIVE. And that fighting chance to live is what I expect out of the government.
What I also don’t get is what is so fucking wrong with wanting the government to take care of the least of us? The people who need healthcare? But I have yet to hear of a way to convince someone to actually care about other people.
