As is so often the case, so many of those who vote for Republican policies and candidates are doing so against their best interest, either due to a lack of education or due to direct misinformation from the Republican party.
One such individual is a small-town Kentucky woman who was interviewed by Vox as part of a larger story about why those enrolled in Obamacare voted for Trump.
Debbie Mills shared a heartbreaking story about her husband who is on the waiting list for a new liver after being diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Mills and her husband keep a bag packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice if a liver is made available, but they also rely fully on Obamacare to pay their medical bills.
During a conversation with Vox’s Sarah Kliff, Mills shared her anxiety about losing Obamacare, and explains why she and her family voted Trump despite his promise to repeal Obamacare.
Mills explained that before the Affordable Care act was put into place, her family lived without health insurance for years due to skyrocketing insurance costs. Mills’ husband did not get his blood tested as often as his doctor recommended, and his cirrhosis was not detected as soon as it could have been.
After the ACA, Mills and her husband have been able to get all of the check-ups, tests, and procedures they require, and her husband’s condition is being actively treated. If the ACA is repealed, Mills and her husband may lose their coverage, unable to pay the steep prices. If a liver transplant is made available, it would cost the couple more than a million dollars out of pocket for the procedure – money they couldn’t dream of having.
Like so many others, Mills said that she didn’t think Trump would truly go through with his promise to repeal Obamacare, especially since he said he would take care of everyone. Mills also said that she really didn’t think much about the possibility of losing Obamacare, and that she thought it wasn’t even possible to do so now that it was a law.
When it was made clear to the Kentucky woman that the healthcare her husband desperately needs is in jeopardy because of the man she voted for, Mills said that she was frightened and wondered how her family would survive.
Speaking with Kliff at the conclusion of the interview, Mills said,
“I don’t know. I guess the next four years is going to be different. I don’t know what to look for. You’re scaring me now, on the insurance part ’cause I have been in a panic, so I’m afraid now that the insurance is going to go away and we’re going to be up a creek.”
It is tragic that voters like Mills and her husband could have acted so detrimentally against their own interests.
It seems that if the Democratic party had done more to make it clear just how serious Republicans were about repealing Obamacare, as well as telling voters like Mills and her husband exactly what that meant, we could have avoided these tragedies.
