We started the week in Charleston, South Carolina. In the Palmetto City, we heard from parents, faith leaders, local lawyers and activists about why they’re working to #SaveMyCare.
Donna Ellington from Demand Universal Healthcare kicked off the event, sharing a number of statistics detailing how the Affordable Care Act has helped South Carolinians. For example, did you know that in South Carolina, the number of uninsured has dropped from over 15% to 11% since the ACA was passed?
Health care activist Donna Ellington kicks off our Charleston #SaveMyCare event by explaining how the ACA has impacted South Carolinians. pic.twitter.com/S1UJq82IIy
— Save My Care Bus (@savemycarebus) March 6, 2017
We also heard from Janene, who shared her powerful story about delivering premature twins. Here’s what she said:
“Six years ago, I delivered twin girls after only 24 weeks of pregnancy. My younger daughter passed away a little more than a week after she was born.
My elder daughter weighed only about a pound at birth. She remained in ICU for ten and a half months. When she came home, she was breathing on a ventilator, which she relied on for seven months, and eating through a tube.
Today, my daughter is a beautiful and vibrant six-year-old. She’s a miracle, but miracles are not free—they come at an enormous cost.
As we watched the dreams of our children evaporate, my family is eternally grateful that because of the Affordable Care Act, we did not have to fear bankruptcy to get our daughter the care she needed to survive. As we watched her fight for her life—mainly because of the machines hooked up to her tiny body, the medications being pumped into her, and the many medical professionals looking after her—we knew that because of the ACA our insurance would not deny our daughter coverage because of lifetime caps. Because of the ACA, my daughter can get health care despite her pre-existing condition.
How lucky were we that the ACA helped prevent our devastating personal tragedy from turning into a financial nightmare? Every person—every family in this country—deserves to be that lucky. The Affordable Care Act saved my family—and it continues to do so for my child.”
See what all of our speakers in Charleston had to say here.
