Folks, something you might not know about me is that I was diagnosed with a serious illness as a child.

Fortunately, after spending three months in the hospital, I was able to recover. After I got better, my grandparents, who raised me, began to search for an insurance policy to make sure I was protected in case I ever got sick again.

But they couldn’t find one. At any price. From any insurer. All because of my previous illness, and these two words: “pre-existing condition.”

I got into public service because I watched my grandparents make enormous sacrifices to pay for my health care out of pocket. I’ll never forget what it was like to watch them stay up late at night, worrying that if I fell ill again, they wouldn’t be able to afford the care to help me get better. No one should ever have to worry about things like that.

But I know that I’m not alone in this experience. 133 million Americans know what it's like to live with the label "pre-existing condition" attached to our care — and before the Affordable Care Act was passed, many of us could be denied coverage for that exact reason.

That’s why I’ve championed health care reform and fought to allow young people to stay on their parent’s insurance plan up to age 26. Now, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against someone based on their pre-existing condition — and these policy changes have helped millions more Americans access the insurance they need.

But our work is far from over.

Donald Trump has signed into law a policy passed by Republicans in both the House and Senate that will make people sicker, make health care less affordable, and hand a tax break to the wealthiest people in the country.

Trump and Republicans’ cuts are going to cause more than 250,000 Wisconsinites to lose their health care in the next 10 years, and that's just not right. It's more important than ever that we defend Wisconsin and take back the Democratic majority in the Senate.

I’ll never stop fighting to defend affordable health care, but I can’t do this work alone. Will you make a contribution to help me take back our Senate majority and undo the chaos caused by extreme Republicans?

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Thank you,

Tammy