I am the mother of a strong, beautiful, intelligent 2-year-old.
My daughter, Olive, was born with hearing loss, and she was unable to hear most sounds, including my voice. Thanks to the miracle of hearing aids, she can hear my voice, speak and play with other kids. She will need hearing aids the rest of her life, unless she loses all hearing capabilities and requires a cochlear implant. As Olive’s speech therapist would tell you, she is bright, playful and eager to speak.
But hearing aids are expensive. When people usually think about hearing aids, we think about our grandmothers’ or grandfathers’ devices: one may last for years and years, with only the batteries changing. Hearing aids for children, however, are different. As my daughter has grown, so have her ear canals, necessitating new sizes for her hearing aids and new molds for her ears. Parts need to be replaced every few months, upping the costs.
As any parent would, I will move heaven and earth to help Olive succeed, no matter how difficult. In past years, I spent nearly all of my savings on hearing aids for Olive. There is nothing I wouldn’t do, and if that meant a little less money in my pocket at the end of the month, so be it.
But after a while, things start to add up, and without a savings there’s no safety net. If my car broke down or the house needed repairs, that would need to go on credit cards. But as the bills pile higher and higher, I will run out of money and credit. Then what? Would I be able to afford her hearing aids when she starts kindergarten? What about middle school? The idea of not being able to afford speech therapy broke my heart: I know how important it is to Olive, and I know how important it is for her education. Without speech therapy, she would be behind the other kids her age, and she would require special education in the public schools.
Luckily, I was able to find health insurance under the Affordable Care Act that doesn’t exclude Olive for her pre-existing condition. I am so thankful the insurance covers her hearing aids and everything else that goes along with them. Knowing I will always be able to get Olive her next set of hearing aids — no matter the circumstances — is a tremendous weight off my shoulders. Having the Affordable Care Act in place for families like us, and kids with hearing loss like my daughter, tells me that the government does care and wants her to succeed just as much as I do.
But now Congress wants to rip up the Affordable Care Act without a plan in place yet to replace it. To me, it seems like a mad rush to repeal something that touches so many lives, without considering the consequences for the children like Olive across the country. If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, we’ll lose our health insurance coverage, plain and simple. Olive will lose her speech therapy and her hearing aids, and she won’t be able to hear or learn how to speak. That is unimaginable, heartbreaking and unconscionable.
Before our representatives and senators vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want them to explain to me how they’ll ensure Olive gets the coverage she needs. I want them to explain to Olive why something so important to her isn’t important to them. And I want her to be able to hear their explanation.
Please, don’t repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Katie Sherman owns and operates Keep it Clean auto detailing, and she is the executive director for the Gorham Business Exchange, a local nonprofit. She lives in Buxton.