Health Care Summit Vigil Rally

This is the text of the speech I gave at the Health Care Summit Vigil Rally that was held at the Chicago Temple on February, 24, 2010.

Eight years ago I went to see the doctor for a routine check up. Even though I’d never experienced anything more than a cold or a bad case of the flu, I received the worst news any of us can ever hear. I was told that I had AIDS and that my immune system was operating at less than two percent. Almost immediately I began the treatment necessary to combat the virus, grateful that I had insurance to help me through the challenge. I very quickly discovered that was not the case. To begin with, my drug coverage maxed out at $1500 annually and paid only for generics. Unfortunately, then as now, U.S. law does not allow generic versions of HIV drugs. When I began treatment my monthly prescription bill was slightly more than $2,000, these days it’s over $3,000 monthly. A short time later my insurance company began to deny payment for the bloodwork which would ascertain the efficacy of the treatment I was receiving. In retrospect, I foolishly continued paying my insurance premiums for another eighteen months while also paying out of pocket for those items my insurance didn’t cover. Two years into this journey I was unemployed due to the side effects of the drug regimen I was on, nearly $100,000 in debt, and homeless.

It was then that I learned of the Ryan White CARE Act. Ryan White, funded with federal as well as state funds, is a payor of last resort for those of us living with HIV/AIDS. It covers both medical care as well as prescription drugs through the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). For the past six years this is how I’ve received my medical care and treatment. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? There is one small catch. In order to receive Ryan White CARE benefits you are limited as to how much you can earn annually. This amount is tied directly to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) which is slightly more than $10,000 annually for individuals and barely more than $22,000 annually for a family of four. If you think today’s economy is tough, try living on that kind of income while dealing with a potentially life ending disease. It ain’t easy.

Now, what will health care reform do for me? First, it will allow me to re-enter the job market to take a well-paying job because it will eliminate the insurance industry’s right to deny me coverage based on a pre-existing condition. Secondly, while I personally would prefer a public option, even without that, reform will guarantee a competitive health insurance market offering me and millions of other uninsured Americans the exact same choices that our elected officials will have. Third, it will remove private insurers anti-trust exemption, meaning that insurers will no longer be able to monopolize the market and manipulate fees for their benefit, i.e., their profit margin. Lastly, it will put our national budget and economy on a more sustainable path which will contain the seeds of potential growth for each and every one of us.

We do not live in Eden. The United States has been, is, and will be, an evolving experiment of human growth and development. This is not the first time that we, as a nation and society, have faced major challenges. The day after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, African-Americans did not wake up on equal footing with their white sisters and brothers. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 101 years later, that we effected a true paradigm shift, and we’re still working at it. Women received the right to vote in 1920, ostensibly giving them the same status as men, and yet, 90 years later a woman earns only $.75 for every $1 her male counterpart earns. A major topic of societal discussion right now, apart from health care reform, is whether or not we’re going to allow openly gay men and women the distinction of serving in our military.

As Americans, we are not always known for choosing the easy path. We are, however, known for ending up in the proper place. Let’s not waste this opportunity.

Thank you.