The consequences of the GOP health bill are already horrifying. My girlfriend's brother Nick, is 25 and is on the more high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, but still struggles with certain everyday tasks, and has trouble reading and writing. If Obamacare is replaced, her family will not be able to afford to continue his education and emotional therapy. She told me this last night and it broke my heart. I've been a part of her life for so long her family has grown on me, I've come to love them like I love my own, and I've seen Nick grow exponentially in the few years he's been in his program. He loves it,he takes genuine joy in his own learning (he takes some high school and college level classes) and looks up to both his sister and I as college students. His program gives him something to take pride in, something to look foreword to day to day, as well as It has also helped him control his anger and sadness which would sometimes manifest itself in self harm or other violence. Through counseling and social interaction with other young adults on the spectrum, he's been as calm as I've ever seen him, and simply because of what can be boiled down to as partisan contrarianism, he may lose the ability to go to his program. Because of this bill, Nick may lose the ability to learn at his own pace, to interact with his peers in a low-stress, welcoming environment, and the right to have a say in the overarching quality of his own life. Because of his autism, his education and counseling are funded by Medicaid, and the GOP's greatest concerns since Trump's inauguration have been gross military posturing , and complete contrarianism towards anything introduced under Barrack Obama, my buddy, my good buddy Nick, is going to have to stop going to his program, and the only explanation we're going to be able to give him is that a certain group of very wealthy, very powerful people care more about nationalism and party standing than they do about the implications their actions have on ALL members of the US citizenry.