I’m writing about my own positive experience with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

I’ve done farm work and yard work here for 20 years. Prior to 2014, I couldn’t afford health insurance and rarely went to a doctor. When we could first sign up for insurance through the ACA, I did so. Soon after, I made an appointment with my primary care provider to check a lump in my breast that I had felt a few months earlier. She immediately sent me to get a mammogram, then a biopsy. I was diagnosed with cancer that had already spread to my lymph nodes. After finding an oncologist, I went through chemo (lots), surgery and radiation. Treatment lasted a year. Now, one and a half years later, I have no signs of any cancer.

Though I generally prefer natural remedies, I have to admit that this mainstream medical treatment probably saved my life. Prior to Obamacare, I would never have had access to any of these doctors or procedures because I couldn’t have paid for them out-of-pocket. So, thank you to all those who made the ACA a reality. To those who want to dismantle the ACA, I urge you not to because I know there must be others with a story like mine.

I’m sure the ACA could be improved. Those with incomes higher than mine shouldn’t have to pay outrageous premiums every month (that’s not good access to care either). Yet, those with low incomes like mine have benefitted in life and death ways from having access to health care at all. Ultimately, I think we’d all be better off with universal health care that doesn’t rely on the approval or disapproval of insurance companies for the well-being of our bodies. In the meantime, having expanded access to health care through the ACA is better than not having the ACA at all.

— Jamie Froyd