By Maria Henneberry
NORMAL – A Twin Cities mother wants her twins treated equally when it comes to healthcare.
Elizabeth Kooba showed up at U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood’s office in Normal this morning with other members of the group Voices of Reason and Indivisible IL-18 hoping their presence, signs, and a social media campaign do what their phone calls have not–reach LaHood.
They want him to vote no on the new national healthcare proposal which could replace the current government health care plan.
Kooba said while the current plan might not be perfect, it does allow for pre-existing conditions. She said that’s in jeopardy with this new plan.
Her twins were premature. They are now 15 years old. Her son has been medically healthy since, but her daughter who was diagnosed with cancer at two years old now has scoliosis which makes her potentially uninsurable while her twin brother is not.
“We’re statistics. It’s like we aren’t people. We aren’t human,” said Kooba. “They’re looking at the bottom line. If those numbers and they don’t profit from those numbers. They’re going to be discarded. There are going to be millions and millions of people who are going to be discarded and will be uninsurable.”
Kooba said this issue affects everyone because if you don’t have a pre-existing condition now, you will eventually.
Maria Henneberry can be reached at maria.henneberry@cumulus.com.
