Donna Smith has braved cancer, battled predatory insurance companies and fought relentlessly for health care reform for more than a decade. But she’s not sure she’ll survive the aftermath of Election Day.
“Every single morning since November 8, I sit and wonder if this will be the day that I have enough guts finally to end my life,” she says.
Smith, a 62-year-old cancer survivor and campaigner for universal health care, is one of millions stuck between the death throes of the Obama administration’s half-baked health care reform plan and the Trump regime’s agenda of ending health insurance for millions. But beyond fighting political havoc in the Republican-led Congress, Smith is mostly racing against time now: If the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is repealed, as Trump and the Republican Congress have promised — possibly in the next few weeks — Smith will be forced to lean on her extended family’s savings to pay for her care. Though she’s satisfied with her Obamacare plan, the costs are already a burden, as is the oxygen tank that keeps her body going.
– Truth Out