It’s hard to overstate how important good health insurance is for our overall health and well being. I would know as a cancer patient. Comprehensive, affordable health insurance means being able to get annual checkups and cancer screenings, chemotherapy or radiation, prescriptions, and the follow-up care needed for life as a cancer survivor. It can mean the difference between life and death.
Congress must act to extend the enhanced health care tax credits that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans who access their coverage through the health insurance marketplaces, including 282,000 Coloradans who get insurance through Connect for Health Colorado. If these tax credits expire at the end of 2025 as they’re currently set to do, individuals who right now rely on these credits to be able to afford health insurance may lose their coverage and with it their access to the health care they need. We all know what this would mean for a cancer patient in active treatment. And we can’t let this happen.
With Open Enrollment underway, Coloradans are already seeing skyrocketing premiums for next year’s plans. That’s why I’m advocating with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) to urge Representative Hurd to work with his fellow members of Congress to extend these tax credits before it’s too late.
Jamie Vigil
Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Pueblo
