On behalf of Marylanders with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PI), the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) applauds the MedChi CEO Gene Ransom for standing up to insurance companies looking to take advantage of our state's Health Benefits Exchange patients ("The high cost of health care reform," March 9).
In his piece, Mr. Ransom mentioned that when patients face increasing cost-sharing for medical care creating an inability to afford their treatment, they are often forced to slow or stop their prescribed course of treatment. For patients with PI, the results are serious illnesses requiring increased doctor's visits, costly ER and hospital admissions and loss of quality of life.
When the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, patients were promised that their chronic conditions would no longer be grounds for discriminatory insurance practices that put their lives at risk. The legislation Mr. Ransom cites in his op-ed, HB 990 and SB 834, will finally ensure that Marylanders on the Health Exchange will see that promise enacted. IDF wants all Maryland delegates and senators to know that a vote for this measure is a vote for the health of countless Marylanders.
Lawrence A. La Motte, Towson
The writer is vice president for public policy at the Immune Deficiency Foundation.