mary orangeosaurus🍊🦕

I have been holding my tongue about something that happened during the Ohio gubernatorial race. I refused to speak while the election was underway because I did not want my words mistaken for an attempt to influence anyone’s vote. But now that the election is over, I have something to say. For nearly twenty years, my ministry has taken me among the homeless, the abused, the exploited, and the forgotten. I have sat with victims of sexual violence and witnessed the lifelong wounds of childhood trauma. What Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign did to Amy Acton was among the most morally repulsive things I have witnessed in American politics. They took a woman whose stepfather was indicted for raping her when she was twelve years old and featured her mother, from whom she had been estranged for nearly fifty years, in a political advertisement attacking her credibility. The advertisement challenged Acton’s account of her childhood without mentioning the sexual abuse allegations or the circumstances of that estrangement. When people expressed their horror, the campaign defended it. Imagine examining another person’s childhood suffering and fractured family relationships, then deciding those wounds might help win an election. Anyone who has worked with survivors of childhood sexual abuse understands the painful realities of denial, betrayal, shame, and estrangement. A child growing into a successful adult does not erase what happened. Nor does a parent’s denial make that suffering disappear. I find it equally disturbing that an elderly mother, whom Acton herself described as unwell, was brought into this spectacle. Whatever her own struggles or responsibility for the past, exploiting that fractured relationship was grotesque. To everyone who defended this, consider the message you sent to survivors. To the young woman whose family refuses to believe her. To the man who has carried the shame of childhood abuse for forty years. To the frightened child who has yet to tell anyone. What did you teach them about the value of their suffering? I am a priest. I believe in repentance, forgiveness, and redemption. But none of those things requires me to pretend that deliberate cruelty is anything less than a grave moral failure. Your political allegiance does not absolve you of moral responsibility. You do not get to set aside your conscience during an election and retrieve it afterward. If your loyalty requires you to defend the exploitation of a childhood sexual abuse survivor, your loyalty has become an idol. And if your conscience cannot recognize the wrong here, examine what political tribalism has done to it. This is not about Republicans or Democrats. We have a choice as a people: continue excusing cruelty from our preferred political camp, or summon the courage to condemn it wherever it appears. Amy Acton deserved better. Every survivor who watched this unfold deserved better. And God help us if we have reached the point where winning an election matters more than protecting the dignity of a wounded human being.

🚨 ANTHEM HAS DECIDED IT’S MY DOCTOR AGAIN Earlier this year, @AnthemBCBS denied an MRI ordered to determine whether my CANCER HAD SPREAD, calling it “not medically necessary.” I publicly called them out. The post went viral. Anthem suddenly contacted me, apologized—and approved the scan. Now they’re doing it again. In August, I severely injured my left foot. I’ve been in acute pain ever since and am walking around Brooklyn in a giant medical boot. After two weeks of fighting just to get access to an in-network podiatrist, I finally saw a specialist. She examined me, ordered an X-ray, saw a hairline fracture and damage around the Achilles/heel area, and ordered an MRI so she can determine exactly what I injured and how to treat it. My podiatrist says the MRI is medically necessary and needs to happen ASAP. Anthem denied it. “Not medically necessary.” Let me make sure I understand this. The specialist who actually examined my foot, reviewed my X-ray and is responsible for treating me says she needs an MRI. Anthem — the insurance company that has to PAY for the MRI — says she doesn’t. Apparently Anthem is my podiatrist now. My MRI is scheduled for Tuesday, October 20 at 5 PM. Instead of simply getting the medical care my doctor ordered, I am now spending my time calling the provider, the imaging center and Anthem’s appeals department trying to persuade an insurance company to let my doctor practice medicine. And yes, there is an appeal process. There is always an appeal process. Because apparently being injured isn’t enough. You also need a second job as your own insurance claims attorney. Here is what makes me angriest: If Anthem refuses to approve the scan, I can pay for it myself. Millions of Americans cannot. What happens when someone living paycheck to paycheck is told the MRI their doctor ordered isn’t “medically necessary”? What happens when it isn’t a foot? What happens when it’s cancer? What happens when the patient simply gives up because they don’t have the money, time, energy or platform to fight a massive insurance company? I have already learned what happens when you publicly embarrass Anthem. A scan that wasn’t “medically necessary” suddenly became medically necessary. Nothing about my condition changed. The public attention did. Access to healthcare should not depend on your ability to make an insurance company uncomfortable on social media. My doctor ordered the MRI. Anthem denied it. The scan is Tuesday at 5 PM. Let’s see who blinks. And if you’ve had an insurance company deny care your doctor said you needed, tell me your story. I have a feeling there are a lot of us.

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