- Piedmont Rising
NC Advocates, New Bern Community Members Share Health Care Stories and Discuss Concerns
New Bern N.C. — Piedmont Rising, a North Carolina grassroots organization advocating for access to safe and affordable health care, and concerned North Carolinians gathered at the Jasper G. Hayes Omega Center in New Bern on Tuesday to address access to care, drug prices, and the latest response to the coronavirus.
The Health Care Town Hall is the latest in a series of successful health care town halls, hosted in towns across the state, including Asheville and Morganton.
(March 10, 2020) -- Piedmont Rising Executive Director, Casey Wilkinson, took questions and listened to the concerns of local residents who shared stories of how access to health care has impacted their lives during the meeting in New Bern on Tuesday evening.
(March 10, 2020) – During the meeting, New Bern-area residents shared personal health care stories of how they and their families have struggled to afford life-saving medical care and prescription drugs.
During the meeting, local resident, Antoinette Boskey, lovingly referred to her daughter as her “miracle child” as she shared her health care story with the group. Her daughter, who developed hydrocephalus as an infant, relies on annual visits to a neurologist and has had multiple surgeries to manage the fluid that builds up around her brain. In the past, with employer-sponsored health insurance Antoinette, a single mom, collected steep medical bills. Today, she relies on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and said that if the health care law were repealed, she would no longer be able to afford insurance.
"If I do not have health care insurance, my daughter does not get the care she needs. If you repeal the ACA, you kill my child," Boskey said.
Piedmont Rising Executive Director, Casey Wilkinson, shared why hosting events like this are an important step in protecting the health care of North Carolina families.
“We’re coming up on the ten-year anniversary of the ACA which has made such a big difference in so many lives,” said Wilkinson. “Sadly, the health care law is under attack, so we’re working to ensure that the protections afforded to families under the law are safeguarded by helping communities organize and tell their leaders how voting to cut health care will impact their lives.”
BACKGROUND: Spotlight on New Bern Health Care
Media Inquiries:
Jessica Coscia
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About Piedmont Rising
Piedmont Rising is an issue advocacy organization built by and for North Carolinians to advocate for lower insurance premiums and prescription drug costs and to ensure that more people have access to safe and affordable health care. Through grassroots organizing, education, and engagement, we are amplifying our health care stories and holding our elected officials accountable to the people, and issues, they were elected to represent. www.piedmontrising.org