Thread by @VABVOX

I had another life-threatening heart/lung episode today.
I'm not sure how much of it had to do with my cutting my heart meds back to once a day while appealing the increased price by my health insurance from $120 for 60 pills to $1k for 60 pills.
We had to call 9/11.
Scary.
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I couldn't afford to go to the hospital--when you call 9/11 the city charges you $1,200 for the trip to nearest hospital.
They only accept cash.
The EMTs checked me out, told me to take the heart meds the way they were prescribed, established I wasn't in VFib, just SVT AFib.
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So all day, instead of doing work that needs to be done, I have been trying to get my heart rate under 140, which given my lung meds increase my heart rate, has been more work: breathing exercises my PT taught me, single nostril breathing @HillaryClinton taught me (try it).
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I stayed away from politics, from Twitter, from email. I read a book, listened to classical music--all the things we are supposed to do to make our lives calmer.

All over America this is happening. Millions of people are making decisions about their medications based on $$$.
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There are millions of Americans with #cancer, chronic illness,#disability like me who are forced to do this every day.

I've met many chronically ill & #disabled people on here.
@DisVisibility, created by Alice Wong (@SFDirewolf) & others made space for us with #CripTheVote.
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Generally incurable and ongoing, chronic diseases affect approximately 133M Americans, representing more than 40% of the total population of this country. That number is projected to grow to an estimated 157M, with 81M (like me) having multiple conditions.
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40% of Americans are dealing with chronic, incurable illness/#disability.
This will tell you more about this if you are fortunate enough to not be one of us.
#CripTheVote
nationalhealthcouncil.org/sites/default/…
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If you are #disabled or chronically ill, you are more likely to be poor, under-employed or unemployed, making these decisions about paying for rx's and other care more likely.

If you're chronically ill and employed, you're most likely to be self-employed--which is expensive.
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2017 unemployment rate for persons with a disability (PWD), at 10.5%, was unchanged from 2016. The rate for those without a disability declined to 4.6%. Employed PWDs were more likely to be self-employed than those with no #disability. #CripTheVote
bls.gov/news.release/d…
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#GOP has been trying to repeal #ACA since its inception in 2010, even as most other Western nations have some version of #UHC. On Monday, Brits marched to save the #NHS, which keeps them from going bankrupt like Americans do.

US needs #ACA fully funded until we have #UHC.
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#Medicaid and #Medicare and #SSDI are supposed to pick up the slack for #disabled and chronically ill Americans.

They do not.

Yet even though these each help a percentage of sick and disabled Americans, #GOP wants to cut all three.

#CripTheVote
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It's going to get worse for the 40% of Americans who live with chronic illness and/or #disability.
The Impending Destruction Of #Medicaid By #GOPTaxCutBill: Cruel And Un-American
pnhp.org/blog/2017/12/0…
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The long-term impact of treating PWDs and/or chronic illness differently--even though we are 40% of the population--is traumatizing, especially for young people.

Young Adults With Autism More Likely To Be Unemployed, Isolated n.pr/1DyorF5
#CripTheVote
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Ignoring the impact of chronic illness will be disastrous for the country and the economy.
And--as was the case for me today--people are at risk of dying.

We are the largest minority in America: 40%.

The Growing Crisis of Chronic Disease in America
fightchronicdisease.org/sites/default/…
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Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and #disability in the US. Chronic diseases and conditions—such as heart disease, stroke, #cancer, #diabetes, #asthma, #arthritis—are among the most common and costly of all health problems.
cdc.gov/chronicdisease…
#CripTheVote
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So--that's my day.

Heart crisis brought on by cutting back my medication because of cost.
Afraid to call for help because of the cost of a 911 ride to hospital.
A story being played out all across America.

Remember: 133M Americans are facing what I did every day.
Maybe you.
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POSTSCRIPT: While I was writing this thread, I got an email via the portal from the nurse at my cardiologist's practice.

The appeal my doctor put through for my rx--the one I've been on since my 20s for a congenital AFib--has gone through. I can get the rx by Wednesday.
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This is great news for me--it will still be $150, but it won't be $1k.
But what about all the other people who don't know they can file an appeal or whose doctors haven't known them for years and aren't willing or don't have time to take hours to do this for one patient?
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This is going to happen more and more.

Someone, somewhere, will die.
If you think this isn't political, you would be wrong.

If you didn't vote for the woman who had been working for #UHC for Americans since the 1970s, at LEAST vote to #FlipTheHouse for 133M of us.
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