When Donald Trump became president, his chief domestic policy priority was repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would have ripped health care away from tens of millions of Americans, increased the cost of health insurance, and allowed insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. While he famously came up one vote short in successfully repealing the health care law, he's increasingly defining his presidential priorities in events like his recent town hall, and in a speech in Iowa, he notably vowed to attack the ACA again if elected.
In the spring of 2017, I graduated from college and moved to Washington, D.C., to start what I hoped would be a successful, purpose-driven career. I had secured a position as a national organizing intern at Planned Parenthood, which was facing one of its greatest challenges to date—then-President Trump and the Republican controlled-Congress' efforts to repeal the ACA. For months, I put my whole self into this fight—organizing advocates and building campaigns with rallies, phone banks, marches, and testimonies. Little did I know that my advocacy would be about much more than a snapshot of job experience—it would also save my life.
As we packed up our summer and sighed relief at the razor-thin defeat of Republican efforts to repeal the ACA, my internship transitioned into a temporary position on the campaigns team. Amid the work that summer, my body had not registered a crisis of its own—one weekend night during this eventful summer, I had survived a rape. I had suppressed the memory for as long as I could, and busied myself with advocacy. But soon into my new position, the flashbacks started. I would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I was a walking haze at work. I pulled away from family and friends. I was unable to function in my daily life.
One night, I reached such a dark place that I nearly ended my life. I knew then I needed help, but my health insurance through college was ending, my parents could not afford to add me to theirs, and my insurance offered through my temp agency was too expensive. Because of the very legislation I had fought to protect, I was able to get affordable health insurance through the marketplace. I saw a health professional who diagnosed me with post-traumatic stress disorder, got me the medication I needed, and ultimately saved my life.
If the ACA had been successfully repealed that summer, I genuinely do not know if I would still be here today. Receiving a diagnosis and beginning a medication regimen enabled me to get back on my feet and build a career here, establish a community, find a partner, adopt a dog, and become the director of a team that helps Americans across the nation advocate through their stories.
Health care is the foundation of what it truly means to be able to live freely. Cutting off access or affordability to health care threatens lives and Americans' economic security. This is why I find recent promises from former president Donald Trump to repeal the ACA with no replacement, so alarming. He fought relentlessly to rip it away in 2017, and we cannot forget the persistence, resources, and advocacy it took to fight back. Every week was a new battle. When Trump says he would fight against the ACA again if elected, he means it.
Sage Warner is the director of stories at Center for American Progress Action Fund. Learn more about the Stories program here.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
