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Lifetime Republican Voter Thanks President Obama For Saving His Life With Obamacare

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B

Bleepey

Member
To My President,

I sincerely hope that this reaches you, as far too often praise is hard to come by. Apologies to people who deserve it perhaps even less so.

I did not vote for you. Either time. I have voted Republican for the entirety of my life.

I proudly wore pins and planted banners displaying my Republican loyalty. I was very vocal in my opposition to you–particularly the ACA.

Before I briefly explain my story allow me to first say this: I am so very sorry. I understand written content cannot convey emotions very well–but my level of conviction has me in tears as I write this. I was so very wrong. So very very wrong.

You saved my life. I want that to sink into your ears and mind. My President, you saved my life, and I am eternally grateful.

I have a ‘pre-existing condition’ and so could never purchase health insurance. Only after the ACA came into being could I be covered. Put simply to not take up too much of your time if you are in fact taking the time to read this: I would not be alive without access to care I received due to your law.

So thank you from a dumb young man who thought he knew it all and who said things about you that he now regrets. Thank you for serving me even when I didn’t vote for you.

Thank you for being my President.

Honored to have lived under your leadership and guidance,

Brent Nathan Brown
Click to expand...

n June, I wrote this in a letter to the President:

"I did not vote for you. Either time. I have voted Republican for the entirety of my life. I proudly wore pins and planted banners displaying my Republican loyalty. I was very vocal in my opposition to you -- particularly the ACA. Before I briefly explain my story allow me to first say this: I am so very sorry. I was so very wrong.

"You saved my life. My President, you saved my life, and I am eternally grateful.

"I have a 'pre-existing condition' and so could never purchase health insurance. Only after the ACA came into being could I be covered. Put simply to not take up too much of your time if you are in fact taking the time to read this: I would not be alive without access to care I received due to your law. Thank you for serving me even when I didn't vote for you. Thank you for being my President."

The Affordable Care Act saved my life. I can now say, after several surgeries, that I'm in recovery from what was a serious autoimmune disease. Kicked it to the curb.

That is why I am so excited to welcome President Obama to Milwaukee. Today, he'll congratulate the people of Milwaukee on helping deliver the same health care that saved my life to so many in their community. Tune in to watch his speech at 2:50 p.m. Eastern.

Before the Affordable Care Act, I was unable to pay for an incredibly expensive drug that helps to stabilize my condition. So, because I was too poor to pay thousands of dollars for medicine every few weeks, my hospital trips were emergency ones, to keep me from dying. There was absolutely no hope -- and I was quickly running out of money.

I, like many fellow patients, was stuck between paying what I couldn't afford and going without the health care I needed.

Then the President signed this bill. I was against it at first -- very against it. But with the Affordable Care Act, I was finally able to receive the quality of care that had eluded me for years. I was able to consult the top surgeon in my state for the particular surgery I needed. I was able to receive the stabilizing drug that was always hidden behind a doctor's apology: "I'm sorry, Mr. Brown, we have to take your financial consideration into account." I was able to stay at one of the best equipped hospitals in my state for as long as I needed, without having to worry about checking myself out early because of cost concerns. I had hope.

I saw things change after the Affordable Care Act. People who were denied treatment because of exorbitant cost, well, they started to get that treatment. The millions of people who were locked out of health insurance due to pre-existing conditions were finally able to seek medical counsel. Those who were denied access to medications could now take them.

America started to take care of her own.

In just a little bit, President Obama will take the stage to help celebrate Milwaukee's victory in the Healthy Communities Challenge and talk about the progress we've made on health care as a nation.

We deserve to live in a country where everyone has the same access to quality care that I did. Watch his speech at 2:50 p.m. Eastern to hear how our President is making that happen.

I'm proud to welcome him to Wisconsin.

Thank you,

Brent

Brent Brown
Mosinee, Wisconsin
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/03/03/brents-letter-president-you-saved-my-life
 
N

ninjabat

Member
This is amazing. Hope one day access to healthcare is even easier for folks.

Edit: Also credit to this guy for being open to change.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
Obama care was there for me when I was laid off for a couple of months. I didn't get any tax penalty either for being without insurance for too long.


So yes, thanks Obama
 
O

Ogodei

Member
Stuff like this is why we'll be seeing protests to the next universal care law saying "keep your government hands off of my Obamacare." Like Medicare and Medicaid, it'll fold into the fabric of society until lower-income conservatives will defend it.
 
D

Dabanton

Member
I've always been baffled that a lot of people in the US put their own political party affiliations over their own health.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Ogodei said:
Stuff like this is why we'll be seeing protests to the next universal care law saying "keep your government hands off of my Obamacare." Like Medicare and Medicaid, it'll fold into the fabric of society until lower-income conservatives will defend it.
Click to expand...

While this is true, the framework for expanding the ACA is already in place. The next step won't be scrapping the ACA and starting from scratch again, it'll be a public option. Then it'll be expanding the public option.
 
P

pantsmith

Member
Ogodei said:
Stuff like this is why we'll be seeing protests to the next universal care law saying "keep your government hands off of my Obamacare." Like Medicare and Medicaid, it'll fold into the fabric of society until lower-income conservatives will defend it.
Click to expand...

A lot of the opposition isn't based in anything, it's simply an emotional reaction to hearing that the workings of medical care in the "greatest country on Earth" are being reworked by a President a lot of people are vehemently opposed to already for emotional reasons.

I just paid 100 dollars for a nurse practitioner to tell me my throat was swollen and to drink some tea - this is even with great insurance! Average people don't know anything about Healthcare, or how terrible it is in the US, until it fails them. They just know that they don't like Obama, so "Obamacare" then must be bad too.
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
B-Dubs said:
While this is true, the framework for expanding the ACA is already in place. The next step won't be scrapping the ACA and starting from scratch again, it'll be a public option. Then it'll be expanding the public option.
Click to expand...

States will lead the way when it comes to expanding the ACA.
 
P

Palette Swap

Member
Slayven said:
ACA will looked back on as one of the greatest actions by a sitting president.
Click to expand...
Conversely, history will not look favorably on the crazies who fought tooth and nail against it and tried to bloat it with dumb provisions. If history even remembers these forgettable petty people, mind you.
 
S

Sutton Dagger

Member
Whilst this is a fantastic turn around and he should be acknowledged for changing his mind, it is perplexing to me that someone would have to experience something like this in order to empathise with the plight of those without healthcare. I 'naturally' empathise with other people and thus would hate to see someone go without proper healthcare, that's why I don't have an issue with paying into 'free healthcare' through taxation. How does one reach the point of the 'fuck you I've got mine' mentality?
 
X

Xe4

Banned
Slayven said:
ACA will looked back on as one of the greatest actions by a sitting president.
Click to expand...
Given that Hillary is elected in November, Obama will probably become the Democratic Regan. I can already see the writing on the wall. Democrats needed someone more recent than FDR to admire and I think they found their guy.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Glad he's not one of those Republicans that eat from the government trough but still hate the idea of government providing help.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
Touching story. Would be nice if more people were for everyone getting healthcare. It's absurd that you have to decide between dying or going broke because of our healthcare costs.
 
Bonfires Down

Bonfires Down

Member
Sutton Dagger said:
Whilst this is a fantastic turn around and he should be acknowledged for changing his mind, it is perplexing to me that someone would have to experience something like this in order to empathise with the plight of those without healthcare. I 'naturally' empathise with other people and thus would hate to see someone go without proper healthcare, that's why I don't have an issue with paying into 'free healthcare' through taxation. How does one reach the point of the 'fuck you I've got mine' mentality?
Click to expand...

Social and media conditioning combined with a narrow world view.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
HT_OBAMA_CHEWING_ll_141111.gif
 
B

Bleepey

Member
Dabanton said:
I've always been baffled that a lot of people in the US put their own political party affiliations over their own health.
Click to expand...

They have a devotion to their political team that makes Jihadi zealots look like atheists. It's bizarre. At least some people are beginning to see the light. I was able to explain to my libertarian friend why a free market doesn't work for healthcare (introduced him to adverse selection). I recall adverts of people feeling conflicted about the fact Obama was right and don't know how to reconcile the fact their team lied to them. Republicans will have trouble taking credit for Obamacare, ironic since it was Mitt Romney who thought of it.
 
N

NimbusD

Member
Slayven said:
ACA will looked back on as one of the greatest actions by a sitting president.
Click to expand...

I hope so, or at least looked back favorably on. It's still a bit of a clusterf-ck, I'm going through my state marketplace now trying to get health insurance since I took a new job thats a huge paycut and no insurance in order to follow my career dreams. Holy shit it's really not great, I mean as far as what the options are and what's 'affordable', it's insane. The cheapest options barely do anything for you and take so much money out of your pocket I could see why people would rather not have it. BUT, looking back on what it was BEFORE this? 100 times worse, if I had a disease or condition right now, any option wouldn't even be something I could pay, not just 'not very affordable'. I hope we still make major progress, by the end of it, insurance companies as we know them now shouldn't even exist which will make it much harder than it needs to be to get to where we should be. They're going to fight tooth and fucking nail to keep squeezing money out of sick people. But at least we've begun the fight, it's amazing that we've actually had a real victory with the ACA considering what we're up against.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Slayven said:
ACA will looked back on as one of the greatest actions by a sitting president.
Click to expand...

And the republicans have done as much as was physically possible to make sure that everyone remembers the GOP didn't want it and that it is called OBAMAcare and associates it with the democrats.

God that's going to burn them up inside in the future.
 
G

GnawtyDog

Banned
Better than nothing but insurance companies will play around with it and start hemorrhaging it with high deductible-useless plans as a floor while sucking all of the subsidies of what would otherwise be a solid plan.

We need the public option - the ACA needs it. Otherwise it will get worse and worse.
 
A

adj_noun

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
And the republicans have done as much as was physically possible to make sure that everyone remembers the GOP didn't want it and that it is called OBAMAcare and associates it with the democrats.

God that's going to burn them up inside in the future.
Click to expand...

Obamacare, as you all know, was a conservative idea first. The success of this plan proves what we already know: only through conservative values and principals can this country move forward!

Basically on a countdown.
 
U

ugaboga232

Member
Slayven said:
ACA will looked back on as one of the greatest actions by a sitting president.
Click to expand...

I think this is a bit of hyperbole and its a great bill but the other side is that some people get trapped in not being able to afford healthcare but making too much to get subsidies so they have to take the tax/fine hit and still don't get healthcare. So it helps a lot of people, hurts some, and still a lot of people are lacking. Still a great move forward and if some public options come out of this like hillary is pushing, I think it could be elevated to one of the bigger actions ever but it really depends.
 
T

titiklabingapat

Member
Whenever I hear someone about how Obama is the Worst. President. Ever.™ I just flat out told them how wrong they are and how it saved my parents from bankruptcy and possibly saved my mom's lifebecause of the pre-existing condition part of Obamacare. I tell them that under the old system, my mom's insurance company dropped her off once she needed an emergency hysterectomy because of her asthma, which was considered as pre-existing condition. That usually shuts them up.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
titiklabingapat said:
Whenever I hear someone about how Obama is the Worst. President. Ever.™ I just flat out told them how wrong they are and how it saved my parents from bankruptcy and possibly saved my mom's life. because of the pre-existing condition part of Obamacare. That usually shuts them up.
Click to expand...

Obamacare has good ideas, and removing refusal because of a pre-existing condition is the best of them.
 
T

The Albatross

Member
Awesome story and glad he took the time to write it.

Nelo Ice said:
Touching story. Would be nice if more people were for everyone getting healthcare. It's absurd that you have to decide between dying or going broke because of our healthcare costs.
Click to expand...

While Obamacare eliminated pre-existing condition clauses, it didn't really solve the "dying on the streets" (vox) or "dying or going broke" situation. My fiance bought insurance through the health connector when she was between steady employment, and it was still expensive ($300/mo) and didn't cover much, like her daily Rx, which went from $30/mo (her parent's insurance) to $90/mo (her health connector insurance).

And then there was one month where she didn't have insurance, August, because she had a contract through a new employer but didn't start until the end of the month and insurance didn't start until Sept 1... and there was a mixup in when it started, so we paid the tax penalty this year. She's a school teacher so $300/mo or the ~$400 penalty (or whatever it was) was a sizeable chunk of change for a given month.

Still, an improvement none the less, but the whole "dying on the streets" or "going broke or dying" stuff still exists under the ACA if you're middle class... Wealthy enough to not qualify for the low/no-cost health insurance, but still not wealthy enough for $300/mo to be easy to manage.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
The Albatross said:
While Obamacare eliminated pre-existing condition clauses, it didn't really solve the "dying on the streets" (vox) or "dying or going broke" situation. My fiance bought insurance through the health connector when she was between steady employment, and it was still expensive ($300/mo) and didn't cover much, like her daily Rx, which went from $30/mo (her parent's insurance) to $90/mo (her health connector insurance).

And then there was one month where she didn't have insurance, August, because she had a contract through a new employer but didn't start until the end of the month and insurance didn't start until Sept 1... and there was a mixup in when it started, so we paid the tax penalty this year. She's a school teacher so $300/mo or the ~$400 penalty (or whatever it was) was a sizeable chunk of change for a given month.

Still, an improvement none the less, but the whole "dying on the streets" or "going broke or dying" stuff still exists under the ACA if you're middle class... Wealthy enough to not qualify for the low/no-cost health insurance, but still not wealthy enough for $300/mo to be easy to manage.
Click to expand...

No lies detected.
 
G

GloveSlap

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
And the republicans have done as much as was physically possible to make sure that everyone remembers the GOP didn't want it and that it is called OBAMAcare and associates it with the democrats.

God that's going to burn them up inside in the future.
Click to expand...

I don't even believe they think the ACA is bad. I think the Republican party has gotten so toxic that they actively try to block anything that will make the Democrats look good, even if its clearly in the best interest of the country.

Look at how flustered Romney got during the debates when Obama called him out on the ACA being the same as his plan. He had nothing to say.But he still parrots his puppet masters garbage about it,its completely transparent.
 
Flying Toaster

Flying Toaster

Member
ACA has a lot of flaws. I wish we had the balls to go all the way with single payer but Obama and getting the ACA passed is some of the single best legislation of the forever.

Good letter.
 
T

TheFrza

Member
This is a great story and one that makes me see some good from the ACA. I still believe that it did not fix, or even start to fix, the root problem: which is the high cost of healthcare.


If our system wasn't as broken as it is, this story wouldn't even exist.

I'm not trying to be negative, I just feel that the ACA isn't the real answer to America's healthcare issues.
 
E

ezrarh

Member
Next step will be single payer healthcare at the state level. If Colorado can pass it and make it work this year, expect to see other states follow suit in the future.
 
beat

beat

Member
Sutton Dagger said:
How does one reach the point of the 'fuck you I've got mine' mentality?
Click to expand...

Even more perplexing was that this guy didn't even have his. He had a pre-existing condition that would have prevented him from ever getting private coverage. "Fuck you and me, the rich got theirs."
 
O

oti

Banned
I'm glad he's alright. At the same time I just can not understand how someone has to go through this stuff first to see why healthcare is a good thing. Like, don't you care about others at all?
 
W

watershed

Banned
Good stuff. Poor people and the previously uninsured benefit most (duh) and over time people will realize that it has only helped their lives. They might divorce their health insurance from the democratic president and party that helped provide it (like social security or medicare) or they'll embrace it and the politics that got it done.
 
S

Strike

Member
That's what a lot of these clowns running don't get. When you're in office, especially when it's the presidency, you have to try to help everyone; not just the ones who voted for you.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
USA still doesn't have universal care, so waiting for Americans to get there and not be looked at as a third world country in this aspect.
 
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