On the Brokenness of American Healthcare
When it Becomes Personal
In June 2017, when the fight to save the ACA was in full swing, my father had just been diagnosed six months prior with metatstatic colorectal cancer. He and my mother relocated to the United States — where I have been living since my undergraduate studies — for his treatment: our home country of Malawi had exactly two oncologists for the entire nation, neither of whom felt they could treat his case at the late stage it had been discovered. Originating from a country where people still die of diseases that are either all but extinct or extremely manageable in the United States, it appalled me that Congress was genuinely in a fight over whether or not people’s access to affordable healthcare should be maintained. This is the letter I wrote to one of my Senators, Pat Toomey (R-PA), who intended to — and ultimately did — vote to repeal the Act.
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I remain disbelieving that we are currently inside a reality, in 2017 America, for which it is necessary to be writing letters such as this; but here we are, and so here we go. I am writing to let you know how profoundly troubled I am by the healthcare bill currently being crafted in the Senate. More importantly than that, however — I do not understand under what auspices this bill could claim to be taking care of the lives of the poor and working class…
