Don’t deny healthcare to those with pre-existing conditions

Back in college, I blacked out while jogging.

I was lucky enough to wake up from my blackout in an ambulance.

Days later, doctors discovered a congenital heart defect that had been undetected for 23 years.

It’s not my fault that I was born with a congenital heart defect, but it’s the situation I found myself in.

If you support the latest incarnation of the American Health Care Act, you’ll be robbing me and many less fortunate than me of health insurance by allowing insurers to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions who have had a lapse in coverage.

My heart was surgically repaired and I’m annually cleared by a cardiologist.

Yet high-risk pools are not a feasible option for someone with my condition.

Don’t deny healthcare to those with pre-existing conditions by supporting the AHCA.

— Kendrick Arnett, Fort Worth Originally Published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram