“Over the past thirteen years, I have been on six different therapies for the treatment of my MS. My current medication costs $84,000 a year. Without the Affordable Care Act, I would not be able to afford the treatments for both of my conditions. “

My name is Jessica Young and I am from Warwick, RI.

I was born with hydrocephalus, which is an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. The ONLY treatment is brain surgery, by implanting a shunt, which has the HIGHEST failure rate among ALL medical devices leading to a lifetime of surgeries. To date, I have had a total of 9 brain surgeries, with many more to come as there is no cure.

In 2002, I had a staph infection in my shunt after a revision surgery. Which led to my shunt being externalized with a 23-day stay at the hospital and multiple brain surgeries after.  Not long after, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Over the past thirteen years, I have been on six different therapies for the treatment of my MS. My current medication costs $84,000 a year. Without the Affordable Care Act, I would not be able to afford the treatments for both of my conditions. Without the ACA, I would not be able to purchase health insurance on my own.

I am a college-educated woman and I had a good job with health insurance. Even with health insurance, I was still responsible for paying between $8,000-12,000 of my medical expenses, not counting normal co-pays. When I lost my job, because my MS was progressing and not allowing me to complete my duties, I was faced with having to purchase health insurance for over $2,000 a month, putting me further and further into medical debt. Because of my medical debt, I was on the verge of bankruptcy. Because of the ACA, I was able to obtain adequate health insurance and I was also able to get out of medical debt. Because of the ACA, I finally received the help that I so desperately needed.