Ann Romney and MS

[JaneFordA]

The hard-working stay-at-mommy flap aside (but boy oh boy, what a flap), I got my feathers seriously ruffled over Romney's "I'm suffering with MS" message and how difficult that's been for her.

Well, kiddo, I have MS, too. So do a few others on these very boards.

So I wondered if Ann ever experienced a twinge or two of anxiety wondering what a definitive diagnosis would do for insurance status had the principal breadwinner in her family needed a new job. I deal with a "pre-existing condition" scenario a lot more often than is probably good for me. So do most others here, I bet!

I have no idea what (if any) therapy Ann uses for her MS. I know what mine cost when I used it (rather, what the cost would have been without insurance). All the CRABs (some medical lingo here for the three interferon regimens and one amino) would price out about $1000 per month.

The one approved "biologic" used to run about twice that much but I haven't run those numbers in awhile.

So has Ann ever had some worry about choosing medicine instead of making a house payment? Or knocking down some student loan debt?

Has she ever worried that her insurance might be cancelled at anytime?

Probably not.

And finally, my point.

If she DID, at the time of her diagnosis, she and Mitt should have had an epiphany SO large they would have been the first people on board for universal health care.

90 years ago, FDR was almost side-lined by polio. When he became president, he used the bully pulpit to educate the public AND became the leading proponent for a vaccine.

What sort of proponents for MS awareness and cure are the Romneys?

I think this underscores one of the greatest differences between the GOP and Democrats.

It's up to drive this sort of a point home, relentlessly, until we get some answers.

Or better yet, RESULTS for universal health care.

[Kalidurga]

1. Two of my daughters have asthma...

My middle child with it only gets flair ups when she has a cold or bronchial infection. She gets insurance through work and it isn't incredibly expensive. My youngest is 18 and still covered under her father's insurance. So, she will be able to if AHCA is not repealed or struck down to be able to afford insurance, maybe someday. Her medication is still fairly expensive even with insurance. Not as expensive as MS medication though.

I think Ann despite all the GOP bluster about her being attacked is doing Mittens a lot more harm than good.

[3waygeek]

2. Mom has had MS for about 20 years now...

She takes Copaxone daily; the cost is about $3000 per month, which is picked up by Medicare & supplemental insurance. Dad's retired from a good job, and managed to save quite a bit of money for their retirement, so they're pretty well covered. She also has heart disease & COPD, so that's another $1000 or so per month in meds.

I have a cousin in her early 40s -- she also has MS & takes Copaxone. However, she works at WalMart, so she doesn't have any insurance to speak of. She was getting her meds through a state program, which only paid for 11 months' worth of medication per year, so she had to cover the 12th month herself.

However, she lives in Scott Walker's Wisconsin, so that program is probably on the chopping block. And you know that Wally World isn't going to pick up any of those costs, and would probably let her go if her MS were to get worse from the lack of meds.

[Raven]

3. Another Jane weighing in...

Will's wife has MS and the medicine required to control it is very expensive. Fortunately, she works for a good company with decent insurance but I think, without Obamacare, she would never be able to change jobs. I wonder if her premiums and co-pays would get to a point where they could not afford the treatments. I have been expecting Ann Romney to speak out about how important MS research is...she certainly has the bully pulpit...be she hasn't. I have been expecting that someone like her would empathize with others with this disease or with breast cancer, but she hasn't. This tells me that she is as empty as her husband. These two people are not even subtly empty, they are screamingly empty.

Jane pitt

[riverbendviewgal]

4. I wonder if she would response to you

if you write her a letter with the same questions?

Why not try writing her...and cc your congress person and hometown newspaper.

[Bluerthanblue]

6. great idea-

she may ignore you, but your impotant message would get out there.

[rurallib]

8. I concur - great idea

and use this question you posed
"
What sort of proponents for MS awareness and cure are the Romneys? "

[JaneFordA]

12. Great idea! :-)

Y'all have convinced me. I WILL write that letter with all the copies and will let you know how it turns out. Promises to be fun!

[kestrel91316]

5. My assistant was recently diagnosed with MS and nearly had a breakdown over

how much her treatment was going to cost her even though SHE HAS INSURANCE. She was going to be stuck with $1700/mo co-pay for medication and that's more than her take-home pay.

Fortunately they agreed to put her on some program where it cost almost nothing, and then it turns out she can't take that medication anyway. But the medication they now want to put her on, it's the same BS, and insurance sticks her with huge costs uncovered.......

No wonder Ann Rmoney still looks so nice and has such a smile on her face. She doesn't have to go through this sort of hell.

[demgrrrll]

7. Good questions someone should write and ask for a response from the campaign, I don't think that

would be out of line at all, if she does not want to answer directly and that is her right, perhaps someone could make a general statement from the campaign.

[maddiemom]

9. MS

My mother had MS, diagnosed in her mid-thirties. Actually it might have been another neurological problem never otherwise diagnosed, as it did not progress in the normal way for MS. Her balance was increasingly bad, and she needed a cane, but was nearly eighty when she was confined to a wheelchair and died at 91. She always had a lot of care, including a stay at Johns Hopkins, through my Dad's very normal health insurance at his job. The fact that health care was never a concern in the fifties and sixties is my point.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

10. How many MS patients can afford Dressage "therapy" on $250,000 horses? n/t

[CountAllVotes]

11. Ann Romney rides horses

As for other treatments who the hell knows what she does?

The cause of MS is unknown and they are no closer to a cure for it than they were 100 years ago sadly.

You must know the cause of a problem before a cure can ever be found.

[Pryderi]

15. Didn't Catherine the Great ride horses? n/t

[sense]

13. another solution

I know this is a political thread and the point isn't to help people with MS...... but.... I'm not selling anything and you can get the info free.

Dr. Terry Wahls has a protocol for MS that doesn't require those expensive medications that the pharmaceutical companies are selling and it works better. Medicine is just one more area we've been mislead about.... and nutrition. Here is her web site and perhaps even easier to digest, her TED talk. And of course, we need Universal Health care on one payer or whatever we want to call it.

http://www.thewahlsfoundation.com/dr-wahls-gives-tedx-talk-on-overcoming-multiple-sclerosis/

http://www.terrywahls.com/

[rgbecker]

14. Say what you want about Romney and healthcare....

He did help draft and sign into law the Massachusetts healthcare system which does just about everything Obamacare is going to do for every state in the union. Insurance for pre-existing conditions and no limits on life time care. Maybe he was thinking of Ann when he was working on this. Massachusetts now has the highest rate of insured citizens in the country.

That said, he now says he is going to repeal Obamacare if elected.

He is a jerk who apparently will say anything to get into the whitehouse. How he would behave if he could beat Obama I hope we never find out.