31-Year-Old's Tragic Death Puts GOP's Whole Health Care Bill Into Perspective

A 31-year-old woman in Knoxville, Tennessee, died in her home in February from an epileptic seizure after she stopped receiving government benefits that covered the cost of her medication.

Her heartbreaking story speaks volumes about the potential consequences of the GOP health care plan, which is meant to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.

The woman, Amy Schnelle, was a factory worker who suffered from severe seizures and was on disability.

But in September of last year, she was suddenly taken off of disability, and the government informed her she was no longer sick.

I don't think my Amy would have died if there wasn't a cut in her medicine.

In the process, she stopped receiving her anti-seizure medication that was paid for by her Medicaid coverage. This was essentially a death sentence.

Speaking with WATE-TV, Schnelle's mother, Sylvia, said,

She had a whole lot of seizures because one of the medicines didn't come through. Once you stop your medicine so abruptly you go into a tailspin of seizures and you don't come out of it.

Schnelle was once again placed on disability by the Social Security Administration in January of this year after writing to Congressman Jimmy Duncan and appealing the decision that denied her of vital medication.

But, one day, in February, Amy contacted her mother and told hr she'd had a bad seizure and asked her to "please come."

By the time her mother arrived at her apartment, she was dead,

Amy was on her stomach and she had already died. She died from a seizure.

Her mother also said,

I don't think my Amy would have died if there wasn't a cut in her medicine.

This story is not only tragic, it also goes to show the devastating impact the health care plan the GOP has proposed to replace Obamacare — the American Health Care Act (AHCA) — could have on millions of individuals.

A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office found that this plan would increase the number of people without health insurance by 14 million within a year and 24 million by 2026.

The GOP plan will cut $370 billion in federal funding for Medicaid over the next decade, which is terrible for poor and disabled Americans.

Meanwhile, the plan provides a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.

This plan is literally taking money from the poor and giving it to the very rich.

Under the new plan, Americans with the top 1 percent of incomes will receive an average tax break of roughly $33,000, while those in the top 0.1 percent will get an average tax cut of roughly $197,000, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Health care is no joke.

As Schnelle's story reveals, decisions the government makes surrounding people's health can literally mean life or death.

Her tragic tale is a major reminder the GOP health care plan is threatening the lives of thousands of Americans.

Citations: Woman dies from seizure 6 months after government cut Medicaid (Raw Story)