June 26 (UPI) — To bring attention to what the Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act could mean to millions of families, a mother of a 4-year-old who just had open heart surgery tweeted a photo of what her medical bill would have been if she didn’t have health insurance.
“It seems fitting that, with the #TrumpCare debate raging, I got this bill in the mail today from Ethan’s most recent open heart surgery,” tweeted Alison Chandra, a Boston-area nurse, along with a photo of an itemized list of procedures her son, Ethan, has had.
The total came to more than $231,000. But under her Aetna health insurance plan, she only had to pay $500.
“Ethan was born with nine congenital heart defects and he has two left lungs,” Chandra told CNN. “Five or so spleens of dubious function, his liver and his gallbladder are down the middle of his body along with his heart, and then his stomach is on the right instead of the left side.”
On Twitter, Chandra explained that Ethan has had several open heart surgeries and the total cost of his medical care has already passed $1 million.
“As long as we have him with us (and I hope with everything in me that it’s forever) we will need to pay for expensive medical care,” Chandra wrote.
Chandra said she doesn’t pay much attention to politics and was out of the country during both of former President Barack Obama‘s elections. But the latest health care debate got her attention due to the potential impact it could have on families like hers.
“My fear is that this bill comes into play and suddenly essential health benefits are no longer covered, like hospitalization, prescription medications,” said Chandra. “He will rely on prescription medications for the rest of his life. He is functionally asplenic and will need to take prophylactic antibiotics the rest of his life to prevent and protect against sepsis, a huge risk of death for our kids in the heterotaxy community.”
“It seems like our kids are being reduced to a line in a budget,” she said. “No one seems to realize there are real people behind it.”
