Lisa Vorse: Affordable Care Act saves lives, hopefully Jeff Denham knows this

As a volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, I hear many stories from cancer patients and caregivers, including my high school coach’s son. He was starting a new job and didn’t have insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer. Before the Affordable Care Act, he would have been denied insurance coverage due to a pre-existing condition and left on his own to finance an expensive fight against cancer. He recently had surgery to remove part of his spine, the rest of three ribs and will travel to undergo proton radiation therapy – none of which could have happened without insurance.

Access to affordable, adequate health care coverage is life-saving. Insurance needs to cover pre-existing conditions and have no annual lifetime caps.

In Congressional District 10, Rep. Jeff Denham has over 25,000 constituents who buy health insurance through Covered California. I understand the current law could be better on high out-of-pocket costs and limited insurer options, but what will come of all those people if their health care coverage disappears?

I hope Rep. Denham will think of the many cancer patients relying on the ACA when he votes on any bill.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Lisa Vorse: Affordable Care Act saves lives, hopefully Jeff Denham knows this."