I remember being only 10 or 11 and hearing my mother yelling and crying on the phone to the insurance company. They wanted to deny coverage to me for something I was born with on a genetic level.

I was diagnosed with Becker’s muscular dystrophy at 8 years of age, and at various points in my life have seen multiple specialists: neurologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, orthopedists and physical therapists. I know the medical system pretty well, and the struggles of having subpar insurance coverage. I have been lucky enough to access these services, in part, because my parents never stopped fighting.

Not everyone has access to this type of support system or even coverage; we as individuals largely have to push back and advocate against these for-profit companies on our own, with no one in our corner to back us. This is the reason – I am the reason – why L.D. 120 is needed to establish the Office of Affordable Health Care and make health care truly work for Mainers.

Constituents like me who have pre-existing conditions or diabetes or need specialty prescriptions also need an advocate in government to support us – someone who will implement policies that place people over profits, and individuals over pharmaceutical and health insurance lobbies.

Please, don’t force us to keep fighting for our well-being alone.

If you care about health care access, I urge you to tell your state representatives and senators to support L.D. 120 and an Office of Affordable Healthcare.

Sammy-Ellie MacKinnon
South Portland