Health act defended at roundtable in Youngstown
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Health care professionals expressed concern Sunday that the repeal of the Affordable Care Act could limit the number of people they can treat, especially while the state struggles with problems of drug addiction, high infant mortality rates and poor continuity of care.
Area experts convened with people that have been helped under provisions of the ACA in a roundtable discussion hosted by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Christine Terlesky teared up when speaking about how the Affordable Care Act ensured she had access to treatment for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. National insurance programs have ensured Terlesky's family didn't grow bankrupt as she received treatment, she said.
Without the provision barring insurance companies from refusing her insurance because of a preexisting condition, Terlesky, who is confined in a wheelchair, might not have received the care that can't cure her, but keeps her alive.
She said it would be "cavalier" and "unfair" for Congress to repeal the law now, with so many dependent on it.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to overturn and replace the Affordable Care Act, and majority Republicans in Congress last week began the process of repealing it using a budget maneuver that requires a bare majority in the Senate.
The repeal would jeopardize insurance coverage for as many as 1 million Ohioans by 2019, according to advocates against overturning the law.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the health care law was "so arrogant and so contrary to our founding principles" and had not delivered on President Obama's promises to lower costs and provide more choice.
"We have to step in before things get worse. This is nothing short of a rescue mission," Ryan said.
There is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen to the millions of people who found insurance under Medicaid expansion or those who could afford insurance because of the law's subsidy program.
April Caraway, executive director of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said many who are struggling with addiction have found a way to pay for treatment because of the law.
"I don't know what will happen to those people, where these folks will get insurance, who will pay for it," Caraway said.
Some treatments for opioid addiction are expensive, like Vivitrol injections, said Beth Weir, chief operations officer of ONE Health Ohio, an association of community health centers.
The relatively new way of treating opioid addiction uses monthly shots that block opioids from interacting with the brain, helping people avoid the deadly drugs. The shots can cost more than $1,000.
"Patients can't afford this with out coverage," Weir said.
Getting rid of the ACA now takes away a vital tool in the fight against the area's most alarming health problems, which include addiction, infant mortality and diabetes, said Patricia Sweeney, Mahoning County health commissioner.
Since the ACA was implemented, Sweeney said, it has been easier to get people in for preventive care, especially new and expecting mothers, which is key to reducing the infant mortality rate.
Brown said Ohio ranks as one of the worst in the nation for infant mortality.
Brown recently learned from someone at the Centers for Disease Control, that for every million that lose insurance, he said, 5,000 people die.
Included in this report was information from The Associated Press.
rfox@tribtoday.com