Letter: Reject changes to Medicare Part D

To the Editor:

In November 2017, after years of watching the most competent and graceful person continue to fall, I wheeled my dad into a doctor’s appointment that would forever change our family’s lives. My mom, brother and I sat there as one of the most reputable neurologists in the city of Chicago looked at my dad and told him that he had ALS.

Currently, ALS is a terminal disease in which every muscle starts to deteriorate until the person’s demise. It is a disease where you, unfortunately, watch your loved one’s body break down in front of you and use technology and machines to help make that person comfortable for the life they have left.

To use technology and machines to keep your loved one comfortable is a small portion of what it takes to be a caregiver for someone with ALS. There is so much work placed on doctors, patients and families, and that is why I am here asking lawmakers not to add stress and please reject any changes to Medicare Part D.

Patients need to be able to continue to access quality treatments. I want everyone to be able to continue to take the right medications that their doctors chose for them. The government does not need to get involved in those private decisions.

I ask our leaders in Washington to keep families and patients in mind when voting to reject Medicare negotiation policies.

Sabrina Johnson

Antioch