Senator Maggie Hassan met with constituents in Concord Monday to hear about their concerns over health care.
Participants in the round-table discussion brought up coordination of care and prescription drug costs as issues they're dealing with in the day-to-day.
At five months old, Laura Beaudoin’s son was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer.
“The post-chemo drug that he took -- Neulasta -- was covered for us for the most part,” Beaudoin said. “But that drug costs about $6,000 for a very small dose.”
Beaudoin said her son is doing better now, but she’s concerned for other families who may not have access to the same resources.
“I have witnessed parents on the phone with insurers begging them to authorize the release of a chemo drug and that is unacceptable in a first-world nation,” Beaudoin said.
Several participants also said they were worried protections for pre-existing conditions mandated under the Affordable Care Act were in danger.
"Our daughter with a chronic disease has a pre-existing condition,” said Kris van Bergen, whose six-year-old daughter has type one diabetes. “ So, you know, if I switch to a different job and portions of the ACA are actually repealed, I may not be able to get insurance coverage for her."
Hassan says it's less likely Congress will repeal the ACA, now that Democrats will control the House.
"But what we've seen at the state level and through the court system is a group of republican attorneys general suing to say that the protection for pre-existing conditions is unconstitutional in the current law," Hassan said.
Currently 20 states -- not including New Hampshire -- are involved in a lawsuit which questions the constitutionality of the ACA.
“I think we just really need to have some real conversations about how complex the delivery of healthcare is and whether we really want to commit to being people who see health care as a right or people who look at it as a privilege,” van Bergen said.
