Sneaky New Move By Shameless Republicans Puts Millions Of American Lives In Danger [View all]
Jamie Davis Smith
My daughter Claire loves ice cream sundaes, trips to amusement parks and watching “Gossip Girl” with her little sister while lounging on the sofa. None of this should be remarkable. However, because Claire is disabled and has complex medical needs, including asthma, epilepsy, autism, and cardiac, pulmonary and cognitive issues, her years living happily, and mostly healthily, at home were never promised.
Not all that long ago, children like Claire would have grown up in cold, sterile institutions instead of at home with their families. That’s because most private insurance plans, including Claire’s, don’t cover many of the medical costs and supports disabled people, including children, need to survive, attend school, live at home and be an active part of their communities.
It is only because of access to Medicaid that Claire, and countless other disabled children across the country, have been able to grow up at home with their families, where they are wanted and loved. Medicaid has helped pay for the bed Claire needs to safely sleep at home, the wheelchair she uses for trips to the park and the hearing aid she uses to hear what others are saying.
Claire is nonverbal, and Medicaid has paid for the assistive communication device she uses to let us know, in simple terms, what’s on her mind. Medicaid has paid for the chair Claire uses to keep her upright when she’s eating and the straps that keep her safe in our car now that she’s outgrown a traditional car seat. Without Medicaid, Claire wouldn’t have access to the countless occupational, physical, speech, audiology and behavioral therapies that allow her to attend school and become as independent as possible, even if that looks a little different for her than it does for most people. Medicaid has allowed her to face countless health scares and accessibility barriers head-on and emerge with dignity.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sneaky-move-shameless-republicans-puts-163623987.html
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