CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, West Virginia mothers and women are urging U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) to reject the American Health Care Act the U.S. House of Representatives passed last week.
The plan, which would replace the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare, is currently before the U.S. Senate.
“Shelley Capito, vote in favor of the the Affordable Care Act. Don’t let other people die because of your decision,” said Sumer Cave, of Beckley, fighting back tears after losing her mother to cancer.
Women protesters were at the State Capitol Friday to share their stories of how the ACA and Medicaid expansion have benefited their lives.
Cave said her mother died of stage 4 cancer in both her mouth and esophagus. Doctors told her mother she only had a 40 percent survival rate. This was about two years before the ACA was enacted.
“I believe that if the ACA had been enacted a year or two earlier, she would be here telling you this right now,” she said.
In a notebook, Cave said her mother wrote that she was dying, but didn’t know why.
“I found that page where she found out she was dying. She said that she’s scared and she didn’t understand why she was dying, but I know why she did. She didn’t have affordable health care,” she said.
Fast forward years later and Cave said she’s now able to prevent herself from getting the same cancer because she has ACA coverage.
“The importance of the Affordable Care Act has given me an opportunity to be able to get checked for the cancers that she had,” Cave said.
According to West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, more than 150,000 West Virginia women, ages 18-64, rely on Medicaid for health insurance coverage.
About 64,000 women gained Medicaid coverage in the first year of the expansion, which was a 72 percent increase in coverage.
Expanded Medicaid has made a huge difference for Carey Jo Grace, of Charleston. Before the expansion, Grace said she was kicked off her Medicaid for making too much money at her job. Grace needed Medicaid because her employer did not provide insurance.
“That meant that I had to keep putting off taking care of my own health problems, which in turn affected my kids,” she said.
Grace suffers from chronic depression. She was not able to receive treatment until she was back on Medicaid 10 years later.
“Expanded Medicaid has made such a huge difference for moms who are in the financial situation that I was in then who are working, but their employer doesn’t offer insurance,” she said.
Nearly 32 percent of West Virginia women with Medicaid are employed, according to the WVAHC. Of those working women, more than 33,000 gained Medicaid coverage under the expansion.
Low-income or uninsured mothers in West Virginia depend on Medicaid for child births, family planning services, cervical cancer screenings, diagnostic testing and treatment, to name a few.
Children are also at risk. The WVAHC says children with uninsured parents are less likely to receive doctor check ups, preventive care and other health services. Currently, more than 200,000 West Virginia children are enrolled in Medicaid.
For more information on what Medicaid cuts would mean for women, CLICK HERE.