ReShonda Young: Surviving Cancer With Help From ACA Tax Credits

ReShonda Young runs a health food store in Waterloo, Iowa and relies on coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace. “The Affordable Care Act and the premium tax credits have been really important to me,” she said. A widow and cancer survivor, she depends on affordable insurance to stay protected. “The premium tax credit had taken my payment out of my pocket down to $94 a month. The same policy would be $592 a month without that premium tax credit.”

Balancing business expenses and personal needs leaves little room in her budget. “It’s just me trying to take care of all the things, and to add additional $500 into my monthly budget is definitely an impediment,” she said. “That’s enough to cover my food for the month.”

ReShonda knows skipping coverage is not an option. “You just never know what may come up and or an accident or anything,” she said. “So, you’ve got to have the coverage. It’s not like it’s one of those things that you can just say, oh, I’ll just do without it. That’s way too risky as well.”

She also knows many people share her struggle. “My story is very similar, I’m sure, to many others, where you will just have to figure out how do you pay for this and still pay for everything else that you need to pay for in life.”

ReShonda hopes lawmakers will maintain the advanced premium tax credits that make her health care affordable. “I just really hope that advanced premium tax credit does not go away and that there is something that happens that … would just give those of us a break who are working and trying to do all the right things,” she said. “[To] have something so important just pulled from underneath you. It’s devastating, to be honest.”

ReShonda was diagnosed with breast cancer at 48. Her diagnosis inspired her to open T&K Health and Nutrition. “One of the things that prompted me to purchase this store and do this was the cancer diagnosis that I had gotten and just wanting to make sure that I was spreading knowledge to other people also about ways to stay healthy,” she said. “A diagnosis of cancer or anything else is not the end of your story.” A contributing member of her community and local economy, ReShonda shared, ” “[I am] just here, wanting to do well by other people, and hoping that the government and our elected officials will do well by me and the rest of the American people.”

ReShonda wants her elected representatives to understand what is at stake. “It is not just about illegal immigrants or legal immigrants coming in,” she said. “It is about hardworking American people who are employing other people. I’ve got employees who I’m also responsible for and taking care of. And so, just know that there are your real life constituents who are here making the communities that you were elected to represent a much better place, making sure that jobs are created, yet the owners are suffering when you don’t stand up for the things like the premium tax credit that really benefit us and have a profound effect on our day-to-day lives.”