Mike Rogers’ leaked health care plan will lead to more preventable deaths

I live with multiple sclerosis, and I’m a breast cancer survivor. I rely on the Affordable Care Act to live with dignity, to manage my chronic condition and to get the care I need without facing financial ruin. But right now, my ability to afford that care is under attack — and depending on the outcome of Michigan’s U.S. Senate election, it could get even worse.

My monthly premium has more than doubled since Republicans in Congress allowed ACA subsidies to expire, jumping from $124 to $252 a month. For someone living with a chronic condition, that cost increase is a massive burden.

I already knew Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers opposes extending the subsidies that made my health care more affordable — but Rogers’ newly leaked health care plan is even more dangerous than I feared.

At a recent campaign event, Rogers complained that “the sickest part of our society ends up consuming the most” health care, and that his solution is to separate us into a “catastrophic fund.”

To translate, Rogers is saying he wants to segregate older and sicker patients into separate plans, which leads to massive premium increases for people with pre-existing conditions. As a result, those with medical concerns are priced out of coverage entirely or left with plans with such high deductibles they were essentially uninsured when they actually needed care.

I would almost certainly be shunted into one of these high-risk pools under Rogers’ plan. My premiums, already doubled, could skyrocket even further, and I could face coverage limits on the treatments I need to manage my condition.

And I’m far from alone. More than 6 million Michiganders, over 60% of the adult population, live with chronic conditions — and many could face the same impossible choice under Rogers’ plan.

But it gets worse. Rogers’ plan would also create new out-of-pocket costs for preventive care.

Right now, most private insurance plans are required to cover preventive services at no cost to patients. That includes annual physicals, blood pressure screenings, diabetes tests, and cancer screenings — services that catch diseases early, when they’re most treatable and least expensive to manage.

But Mike Rogers wants to end no-cost preventive care. He said it’s “probably ok” if you have to pay “$50 for your annual physical,” and that Michiganders should be fine having to bear those new out-of-pocket costs.

As a cancer survivor, Rogers’ proposal is infuriating. Cancer caught early is often treatable, but cancer caught late can be a death sentence. If people have to pay more for cancer screenings, many won’t do it, especially those already struggling with rising costs. Then, by the time symptoms appear, the cancer will likely have progressed to a more difficult and costly stage to treat.

Creting new financial barriers to preventive care like cancer screenings, which Mike Rogers supports, would be a public health disaster that leads to more late-stage diagnoses, higher costs, and more preventable deaths.

Mike Rogers’ health care plan is a moral failure. It would take health care away from those who need it most, forcing Michiganders with pre-existing conditions into a system that treats us like our health and our lives are worth less. It reveals that Rogers doesn’t think we deserve the same access to affordable care as everyone else.

We are in the middle of an affordability crisis, and Rogers is on the side of the policies that are driving up costs, from supporting Trump’s cost-hiking tariffs to backing the costly foreign war that’s driving up gas prices. His health care plan only promises to make it worse.

This election is too crucial for people like me with chronic conditions who need access to affordable health care. We can’t afford to let Mike Rogers anywhere near our health care in the U.S. Senate.

Diane Holland is an Okemos resident, a breast cancer survivor, and lives with multiple sclerosis.