I Have Cerebral Palsy. The ACA Is Vital to Those With Physical Disabilities and Chronic Illness.

I was born premature, to teenaged parents, and was adopted. After my adoption, at the age of three, I was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. My parents were both working professionals who always had health insurance. Prior to the passage of the ACA, I was kicked off my parents' insurance because of my age, and was unable to purchase my own insurance because my disability is a pre-existing condition. Thanks to the ACA, when I was twenty-five, and scrambling for any work in the middle of the Great Recession, my parents were able to put me back on their insurance so I could undergo surgery.

I have health insurance through my job now, but if the ACA is repealed and we lose the individual mandate, I will be priced out of coverage, and denied the opportunity to purchase an individual plan because Cerebral Palsy, along with many other disabilities and chronic illnesses, is still considered a pre-existing condition. I know the ACA is not doing all it was intended, or envisioned, to accomplish. But, it remains vital to disabled and chronically ill people, and for that reason, I am grateful for it, and for everyone who defends it.