The Romney campaign is out with a new ad talking about Ann Romney’s Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis and her ‘soul mate’ Mitt’s reaction and subsequent handling of her chronic illness.
Their children weigh in. There is a link to donate to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and for those of us like Ann, with chronic auto-immune diseases, it’s all very touching and nice.
Unfortunately it doesn’t say a word about what ‘President’ Romney would do for people like Ann and I. Not one. Single. Word.
Since Mitt isn’t my soul mate I’m going to guess he won’t be there to hold my hand or see me through to the other side. Or to make sure he’ll stand by me since I too can’t do the things I once did.
My husband has done the same as Mitt Romney thus far, but he’s not running for President. So as of right now, Aaron has done just as much for me (politically) if not more than Mitt Romney.
What we do know is candidate Mitt would repeal the Affordable Care Act– the groundbreaking legislation that would make sure my and Ann’s disease would not mean we’d lose our insurance coverage, or making sure there is an end to lifetime limits of benefits.
I’m sure Ann and Mitt understand how expensive a chronic auto-immune disorder is…right? They know that those of us who have worked (be it as stay-at-home moms or in the traditional work force- I have done both) now can not bring home that paycheck. They get that, right? I mean…what with this sweet video showing me their love, they surely understand how hard it is financially.
My doctor has told me I have a choice: I can go back to work and get sicker, lose more organs and potentially my life…or I can accept that my illness has rendered me disabled and become content with taking care of my young children as best I can while receiving IV infusions several times per month.
Ann and Mitt get that, I am sure…because they live it. I mean, that’s what the video tells me. Certainly they understand the loss of my paycheck because of my disease has been a terrible burden on my family. And certainly they understand, given Ann’s condition, that the medical bills piling up (with our very good insurance) and the loss of income means families like ours need things like long-term disability programs – be they social security or private insurance through our former jobs.
They SURELY understand that, right? So Mitt would CERTAINLY, given his love of his soul mate and total understanding for what a chronic auto-immune disease does to a family, endorse what the National MS Society endorses in ‘Obamacare’ – right? Because he and Ann GET IT. They GET how hard it is. They GET how much we suffer. THEY GET IT… because their new VIDEO TELLS ME SO.
Oh wait. The new video doesn’t say that. So let’s try and figure out what Mitt would do..since he understands.
As it turns out his ideas for health care would leave people like Ann and I out in the cold. Compared with the Affordable Care Act, Romney’s plan would leave millions of people dropped from their employer plans. Wow. What a plan for his soul mate and those of us like her! How …caring?
I applaud the Romney campaign for releasing a campaign video giving people information on how to donate to an auto-immune disease organization that endorsed ‘Obamacare.’ But I would clap a whole lot louder if the candidate himself would stand up for people like his wife and myself and support policies that wouldn’t leave us on the street.
Perhaps the Romneys don’t understand because they live in a different world than the rest of us. The one where it actually matters if your spouse loses her paycheck and has to fight to get disability (my fight is going on eight months now) in order to pay the mortgage.
You see Mitt and Ann, after Aaron and I cried together at my diagnosis, and did the same things you two did- we then had to do something else: we had to figure out how in the hell we were going to keep a roof over our heads and food in the mouths of our children and ourselves. Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of dollars in medical costs for my treatment.
So you can take your new ad and get all teary while viewing it in your screening room at your ocean view mansion with its car elevators, while we continue to fight for my disability payments and send in paperwork and documentation to hopefully be approved for a home loan modification. A part of the process you seem to leave out of that touching video.
You also seem to leave out how a chronic illness financially destroys a family, bankrupts millions, leaves many of us wondering how in the hell we are going to pay for treatment and the bills. If I sound a bit upset, it’s because I am. Your video just slapped me in the face, hard.
Do not relive with me and my family how hard it is to get a devastating diagnosis and show me what a stand up husband you are and then offer me NOTHING about what you would do as President for those of us like you and your soul mate.
That’s why we will be fighting for President Obama who has actually outlined and enacted policies endorsed by not only the charity you promote at the end of that video, but almost every other auto-immune organization in existence. Because his policies will HELP families like mine.
It takes more than a soul mate to get through multiple sclerosis or lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. For those of us fighting the battle, like Ann, it is a daily struggle you seem to not fully grasp.
I’m sure glad President Obama does.
I really am glad that you posted this. Well said and spoken.
Yup, this is really great… thank you for writing this and speaking out for MILLIONS of sick people in the USA.
I was denied disability three times for the very reason I applied… I hope you fare better than that. I had Fibromyalgia and now osteoarthritis, on my own, no hubby, no soul mate, just a dog… we were without a home for two years. And I just started collecting the pittance of SS retirement benefits and am on food stamps, not enough to live on nor pay rent, nor health care, but better than nada.
thankfully I do alt. medicine, changing diet, taking herbs, but if I had the $$$/resources I could do MUCH more to heal… eat better, get regular massages,swim, other treatments.
I relieved 98% of fibro symptoms and now relieving pain in knees… getting better without drugs. no side effects.
anyway, good fortune !
Hi, was just sent your blog by my SIL Gayle and just wanted to say that you rock! If only the powers that be would read it and take it to heart! Like you, I struggle with a chronic disease, a form of leukemia. While I’m blessed that I have excellent medical coverage (while I’m able to work), I live on the edge, knowing that a loss of my job will send me over the edge into . . . what? Homelessness, loss of medical coverage, loss of everything in really a relatively short period of time. I applaud you speaking up and my prayers are with you and your family. Please know, you do not struggle alone, though I’m sure it feels that way.
Suzanne
Thank you. I hope that NONE of us struggle alone. Ever. It takes a village, right?
Right on sister.
You know my opinion on this, Erin. I was reading this with Ash and this was our conversation.
Me: Man, Mitt Romney’s a douche.
Ash: He’s the “best” kind of douche. He’s such a douche he doesn’t even know he’s one.
I think that pretty much sums it up. He is SO CLUELESS as to what the majority of Americans go through. He laughs at us from his sky high mansion because he thinks he can feed us bullshit and we’re not smart enough to get it. Meanwhile, we’re laughing at him for being so dumb as to think those of us with a modicum of intelligence do not get it.
I was talking to my neighbor yesterday, and it turns out that she worked for Romney a few years back when a friend of hers needed to take a leave of absence. “If he gets elected, people like us won’t have a chance,” she told me. He DOES live in a different world. She told me she would run to McDonald’s for a quick lunch… he and his buddies would run to Tiffany’s for a bite. And while you or I might pick something up from Target or the grocery store on our lunch break, these people would make a quick stop at Tiffany’s or Nieman Marcus for a bauble to wear for the afternoon. He can demonize “Obamacare” because he can afford to pay for his wife’s medical care out of pocket. And the simple truth is that he doesn’t care about anyone who can’t do the same.
This is where we are with Parker. He gets kicked off our private insurance and we are left with Medicaid in a state determined to follow Illinois and totally do away with any sort of medically fragile technology dependent waivers.
Out here they tell us to host a BBQ to cover our kids health care needs. Of course THEY never even take the time to show up.
Tammy and Parker
http://www.prayingforparker.com
YES. YES. YES.
One thing the video also apparently leaves out was the recent NYTimes piece about Mrs Romney’s MS and her dressage lesson therapy which says she spent 2006-2007 out in California to be near her horses. So where was the soul mate? #justasking
Erin is right. It does take more than just love and good intentions to get through an illness. We live in a world where people can lose their jobs and thousands of dollars just from a simple,recoverable injury. When it comes to something like chronic illnesses we must have a safety net in place to make sure that people don’t have to deal with the decision of either dying because they can’t pay for treatment or trying to pay for treatment,becoming homeless in the process and then dying because they still can’t pay for treatment. We can bitch and moan all day about Obamacare not being perfect but at the end of the day it’s 1000 times better than the alternative of being dropped from your insurance as soon as you actually need to use your insurance.
Wow. Sharing this right now!
Thank you so much for writing this!!!
I never understood what illness could do to a family. And then my dad had a stroke… Everything changed.
a FUCKING men to this. Like usual.
Nancy a chronic illness affects a marriage and a family in ways I wouldn’t dare judge. If Ann wanted to be with her horses…so be it. If that helped her get better, good for her. Horse therapy can be good for many illnesses – and frankly should be offered as covered under insurance programs. But like many things if you are not privileged you don’t get the things the ‘other half’ does. I can’t even get my insurance to cover acupuncture, even though it was helping my pain. Sure they will give me all the pain pills in the world, but heaven forbid I try anything else.
As U.S. taxpayers, how do you propose we pay for Obamacare? I, for one, do not wish to live with socialism and it is not up to the Government to provide for everyone. Obamacare makes slaves of doctors and costs more money for taxpayers in this country and essentially makes us all slaves to pay for healthcare. While I empathies with your situation, it is not the solution. Obama has driven this country into further debt and we need someone who can manage money to help pull us out of it, bottom line. Socialism is not the answer. But I would love to hear your solution, since you are so good with words.
First of all Amy, the Affordable Care Act is not socialism. It is not anything like the single payer plans they provide in Canada or the UK. It is unique, because our country is unique. Our country also seems to have an identity crisis. It wants to be the first and best at everything, yet it can’t even provide education or health care to make sure it’s citizens are the most well trained or fit to even compete with other countries. But… I digress.
The ACA is paid for from several resources all spelled out in the legislation. The reason MOST of the act is not being implemented immediately is because we couldn’t afford it- so most of it was delayed until 2014, that we would not go into further debt ot pay for it. Here is a handy pie chart showing where the funds come from to pay for ACA http://taxfoundation.org/article/how-938-billion-health-care-bill-financed
The Republican idea to fund student loans by taking money from the ACA or the other way around is just pure evil.
Also, Obama has not driven this country into further debt, nor will this law make anyone ‘slaves’ to health care. Did paying taxes to your local school system make you a slave to education? Did it paying for roads and firefighters and police make you a slave to those as well?
Here is yet another chart to just show you how much Obama has ‘spent’ as compared to other Presidents. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/federal-deficit-barack-obama-spending-stimulus-budget-historic-trends.php as you can see, he has not been given a blank check, nor has he just taken taxpayer dollars and gone crazy with them.
I do agree with you that the Affordable Care Act is not the solution – it is one step forward in helping the overall problem.
While you may not agree that health care is a basic right of a citizen, I do. In a civilized society we take care of our own. If only rich people can afford to be treated by doctors, should only the rich survive? That is what you are saying, correct? If you can’t pay for it, tax payers shouldn’t have to… because, after all, it’s not their fault you got sick and it’s certainly not their fault you didn’t plan for the worst… right? And if you DO, as a taxpayer, have to foot the bill, that is horribly unfair…after all, you are healthy! You saved for a rainy day and you certainly would never want the government involved, because that would make it a nanny state!!!!!
Yet the other solution would be to rely on charities, churches, the ‘private’ sector. A private sector that can pick and choose who they wish to help and how. THey certainly wouldn’t turn away the families not like them, right? These charities and churches have enough to take care of everyone, right? And they would do so without discriminating, right?
Somehow I have a hard time believing that.
Survival of the fittest is a lovely concept until it’s your family. Your child. Your mother. Who, by the way, DID save for that rainy day and did do everything possible – including have money taken out of every paycheck for long term disability and short term disability and social security – JUST IN CASE.
But in America that isn’t enough. In America is one breadwinner of an average American family gets sick, it means you can you lose your home. It means you can go bankrupt. It means people like you will cal you a socialist for believing in a civilized society government can step him to help those in need.
Let’s go ahead and imagine what happens if government didn’t educate our young. If it didn’t pave our roads. If it didn’t at least try to take the profit out of healing the sick – because just for once, helping our fellow man need not come with making a few more billionaires.
Fantastic response to Ann. LOVED it and your original piece. How do you feel about flying to Ohio and conversing with my in-laws about chronic illness, healthcare and Mitt? My husband, their favored son, also has Lupus, mixed with a bit of Rheumatoid arthrithis. He’s had heart, neck, lung and carpal tunnel repair surgery. All before he was 40. Luckily, he could take time off to heal as I carry the insurance. He does do acupuncture (out of pocket) and takes Chinese herbs, both which help tremendously. I wish I could afford more acupuncture. He tries to avoid meds as the side affects are so awful. He’d like to have retinas and a liver in 10 years! I try daily not to worry myself to death over my job and our finances. My in-laws and his siblings act like we’re over dramatic. Democrats are evil! Whatever. Walk in our shoes. Or, gee, how about visiting your son/brother and see the pain he is in daily? I somehow don’t think they’ll send us money if we ever need it. I’ll keep working my rear end off at home, at work, wherever, whatever it takes to help him.
I’d pick horses over Mitt any day. Heck, I’ll vote for a horse over Mitt.
Great post. Truly awesome.
Hell to the yes. Tweeting.