Maryland needs Medicare for All, for the sake of my daughter and others like her

Dear Gov. Larry Hogan,

My name is Kirsten Neumann, and I am writing to you today because my family is currently helping my youngest daughter battle childhood cancer. The lack of outside financial support, our broken health care system and the over-inflated costs of chemotherapy drugs is truly weighing on me.

More than just me, seeing other families on this pediatric oncology ward completely ruined over the costs of health care is both heartbreaking and unnecessary. Our state needs Medicare for All.

My daughter Vivian was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma on Sept. 13. She was 20 months old. Currently, she is being treated at Johns Hopkins. I am writing from her hospital room, where she is undergoing her third round of chemo.

I know that there is little chance of our country ever providing health care for all at the federal level because so many federal politicians show so little empathy for their constituents. But, as a lifelong, proud Marylander, I know our state can do better.

I know when we help our residents in need, we help all of Maryland. I know any Marylander facing a cancer diagnosis is in need. I know we can work together to solve every problem facing us - including health care!

So, I decided I had to write to you, Gov. Hogan. This is a problem that can be solved at the state level.

How can you go to work when you are constantly under threat of needing to rush to the hospital if your child gets a fever? You cannot know if it is a normal fever or the onset of organ failure. It is almost impossible to work, even remotely, after watching your child's heart stop only to be brought back with chest compressions.

Having a child fighting cancer takes every ounce of energy a family has, and there is very little left to go to work or to fight with insurance companies about coverage. Parents are constantly worried about losing their jobs and whether their insurance will cover some aspect of their child's care. This is a life or death situation.

The Family Medical Leave Act only provides six weeks of unpaid leave, after which you are subject to termination. On top of that, the process of insurance and gaps in insurance coverage often worsens the situation. We must pay a deductible and the out-of-pocket expense before catastrophic coverage kicks in.

For our family, that is $10,000, which will roll over on Jan. 1, and we will be subject to the payment again. As we are middle class, we fall into a black hole of not being wealthy enough to pay for the out-of-pocket, but not being poor enough to be eligible for Medicaid. This problem applies to a great many Marylanders.

Bear in mind, my family is lucky. We have our community's support and my daughter's GoFundMe page is well-funded. But it sickens me that I had to take charity from my friends and family.

Other families on the 11 South Ward at Johns Hopkins are not so lucky. When I think about the financial disadvantage and burden placed on my family, which would be nearly insurmountable without the support we have, it is impossible to consider the plight of another family who does not have access to the community that I do! Their situation is literally impossible.

It is appalling that in modern America, families are put in this position so often when fighting curable diseases. This has to be fixed. We need state-funded Medicare for All.

Kirsten Neumann lives in Bowie with her husband and two daughters. She graduated from Goucher College and currently works as an executive assistant in Annapolis.

Caption: My daughter Vivian was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma on Sept. 13. She was 20 months old. Currently, she is being treated at Johns Hopkins. I am writing from her hospital room, where she is undergoing her third round of chemo.

Kirsten Neumann/Courtesy