The Senate has passed the first step of repealing the Affordable Care Act on a vote of 51-48, and the House did the same by a vote of 227-198. This first phase included a budget blueprint that includes the repeal.

Democrats in Congress fought this budget blueprint and even tried to pass amendments which would allow imports of prescription drugs from Canada. However, some Democrats for whatever reason voted down that amendment. Amendments that would protect rural hospitals and ensure the continued access to health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions (The New York Times).

Specifically, repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would mean that 57 million senior citizens and disabled Americans with Medicare would experience higher premiums and deductibles. Repeal would also increase Medicare spending by $802 billion over ten years, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

With the repeal of the ACA, companies would no longer have to keep young adults on their parents’ plans until they turn 26. Additionally, with repeal employers would be allowed to impose annual or lifetime limits on benefits and caps on out-of-pocket spending. Further, insurers could ban works with a pre-existing condition or ask them to pay more. Even further, with repeal insurers could charge a woman more than men just because of their gender. Repeal would also take Medicaid away from the nearly 17 million people who gained access because of the ACA (CNN).

Repeal of the law would result in the number of uninsured people to rise by 24 million by 2021. It would also mean the increase of State spending on health care by $68.5 billion, according to the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Therefore, repeal of the ACA is costly, and we will leave millions of Americans without health insurance. We must stand up against this Republican attack on health care in America.

I am one of the Americans who benefits from the ACA because I live with a pre-existing condition, cystinosis. The disease is a rare orphan disease that causes the amino acid cystine to accumulate in the cells, and it slowly damages my organs including the kidneys, liver, thyroid, eyes, lungs muscles, and brain.

If the ACA is repealed, I will suffer. I may not be able to access health insurance to cover my care and prescription drugs. Without it, I would never be able to pay for many of my medications because of the high costs.

The ACA is a significant step forward, and we must fight to protect it. However, even with it one of my medications, Procysbi costs over $75,000 for a 30-day supply. That is just one medication not including the 28 other medications I am taking.

We must do more, but first, we must defend the ACA from Republican attacks.

Join me in calling, writing, and visiting our Congressional Reps. and Senators to tell them to stand up for Americans and vote down any repeal effort.

Call your Rep or Senator here: House, Senate