Thread by @Pixie_Ray

Alright, @GOP, you want to talk about mental illness? Let’s talk!

My sister almost died because she couldn’t access treatment. She had insurance! But it used a loophole allowing coverage of prescriptions through refunds.

The up front cost of her meds was around $1000 MONTHLY.

The refund process was the most complicated B.S. I have ever seen.

You had to go to the insurance website and enter multiple long numbers for each prescription.

They frequently changed the layout of the page so you didn’t know which number went where.

For her to get treatment, she had to:

1. Have some way of paying $1000+ up front every month.

2. Have routine access to a computer.

3. Have the capability to navigate a complex system designed to keep you from succeeding.

How many people have all of those things? How many can do that while battling a debilitating disease?

If she were on her own, as so many people with mental illnesses are, she would have died. My baby sister, the love of my life, would have died of corporate greed.

I brought her to live with me. I drove her to her doctor’s appointments. I had a credit card to put the up front cost of her medication on. I did the paperwork to get the refunds.

I went to battle for her every month so she could access life-saving treatment.

She slowly got healthier, I am thrilled to say. The medications worked. But she was never going to not need them.

She was going to have to fight this battle and beg for treatment every month for the rest of her life.

The mere thought was enough to give up trying.

Before you get worried, this story has a happy ending!

The hero, Medicaid, saved her.

She can get her medication now without having to jump through hoops intended to shame you for not being able to do it. She doesn’t live or die by the decision of an insurance company.

My sister is alive today because of Medicaid.

It saved her from a predatory health care system that was trying its hardest to make her believe she didn’t deserve health care so she would give up trying.

That’s the same Medicaid you keep trying to destroy.

You don’t care about mental health. If you did, you wouldn’t be doing everything in your power to keep pharmaceutical companies powerful and destroy the #ACA and it’s protections.

You helped create the system that keeps people from accessing care. You fight every day to keep it in place.

You. Do. Not. Care. About. Mental. Health.

So don’t you DARE play that card and act like you’ve done something good.

Your cowardly inaction on gun control is what lead to this weekend’s massacre.

Do not confuse that with your greedy defense of pharmaceutical companies that lead to my sister almost dying.

They’re both your fault, but they’re two separate things.

It’s time for you to own up and take responsibility for both.

You want to make this country great? Quit paving the way for people’s deaths.

#ProtectOurCare #TuesdayThoughts #VoteBlueToSaveAmericanLives