Mom of boy with rare heart condition puts a face on health debate

Nothing can disrupt a political debate like a human face put on the issue.

Alison Chandra did that this week. This face. Her son:

It started on Friday when she tweeted the image of the bill she got from a Boston hospital for her son’s open heart surgery in February.

“My fear is that this bill comes into play and suddenly essential health benefits are no longer covered, like hospitalization, prescription medications,” she told CNN. “He will rely on prescription medications for the rest of his life. He is functionally asplenic and will need to take prophylactic antibiotics the rest of his life to prevent and protect against sepsis, a huge risk of death for our kids in the heterotaxy community.”

Related: Medicaid caps in health care bills could push more special needs costs onto schools (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

From birth to death, Medicaid affects the lives of millions (NPR)