Mom Shares Son’s Surgery Bill and Warns of the Disaster TrumpCare Could Be

ByPriscilla Blossom

Right now, all of America is holding its breath as we wait to find out whether or not the new healthcare bill (the ironically named the Better Care Reconciliation Act or TrumpCare) will pass. For those who rely on the Affordable Care Act, as well as Medicaid, it could spell everything from lower-quality and less-accessible care to financial ruin and even death. One such person is Ali Chandra, a mother who tweeted her son’s most recent surgery bill””which could prove to be disastrous for her family under TrumpCare. The New Jersey-based mom crunches the numbers for us and shares her little boy’s health struggles in a moving thread on Twitter.

Chandra’s son, Ethan, was born with heterotaxy syndrome, a rare birth defect that can cause numerous heart defects (Ethan himself has 9). Children born with this syndrome might also develop certain organs in abnormal parts of the body. Chandra told CNN that her son has “two left lungs, five or so spleens of dubious function.” She also shared that his stomach is on the right side of his body (versus the left), and that his gallbladder and liver are both in the middle of his body “along with his heart.” As you might imagine, Ethan has required a lot of serious medical care over the course of his short life, and that care adds up.

Chandra fears that her son will lose his medical coverage should the BCRA pass, which is currently in the Senate. While Ethan is doing well given his condition, he will still be requiring more surgeries in the future. The young boy currently takes 5 different prescription medications daily, and rarely goes more than a month without a doctor’s appointment. As Chandra says in her Twitter thread, none of that would be possible without health insurance, which could easily be taken away from him thanks to Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan.

Chandra, who used to work on a volunteer hospital ship as a nurse, hopes that her story and others like it are enough to prompt Americans to fight for a better health care system, and to oppose the current bill.

The response to her thread has been mostly positive, though some folks have also come out of the woodwork to try and accuse her of making it up (seriously, how twisted does one have to be to name call a woman who is pleading for the life of her child?)

The mom asks that those who wish to donate to her cause make their donations to the Heterotaxy Connection:

 Are you feeling any feelings about TrumpCare? Let us know in the comments!

(Image: Twitter / @aliranger29)

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