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Ann Serafin (Facebook photo)
Talk about cutting programs like Medicaid and Medicare have real results.
Ann Serafin of Ferndale knows that better than most.
Diagnosed 26 years ago with multiple sclerosis, has lived the struggle of balancing her own health care costs on top of the health care costs of her parents, reports John Turk of The Oakland Press.
On Thursday, Serafin was one of six people who spoke in Washington where senators, including Sen. Debbie Stabbenow, hosted a forum on how taxpayers would be harmed by healthcare healthcare repeal and the policies supported by U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He supports cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
“Without Medicare, I would have had to decide: do I eat or do I get my meds?," she said.
She testified that she the government programs have helped her manage rising medication costs for her, and financially help out her aging parents.
“This is what they wanted, to age with dignity,” she said to the panel, the paper reports.. “We’re Greek, and Greeks take care of their own.”
Serafin also experienced how Medicaid helped her mother — who relied on the program for the last three years of her life — after Serafin’s father died.
“Without Medicare and Medicaid, things would have been very different for my family. I don’t know how I could have cared for my mother on top of managing my own care. My family would have lost our home and all our savings trying to keep up with their bills,” says Serafin.
