Bryce Dixon, a 24-year old dairy farmer in Cosby, Missouri near the Kansas border, suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that primarily affects the spine. This condition causes debilitating swelling of the joints and feet, as well as autoimmune deficiencies.

Bryce requires twice monthly injections of a drug that costs more than $1,400 per dose. When he was recently about to age off his parents’ insurance plan and be forced into an untenable situation of finding affordable insurance that would accept him with his pre-existing condition and cover his expensive medical needs, the Affordable Care Act kicked in with a provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ plan through age 26.

Bryce is one of several people profiled in videos produced by the Catholic Health Association to highlight benefits of the Affordable Care Act. In his video, Bryce says that farming is the only work he can imagine doing, and that if his condition couldn’t be managed he would be immobile and miserable. He said the health reform law was a “big help” because without it, he would have to find the money for his injections–or face the prospect of serious pain and the inability to work. For Bryce, that is simply not an option.

Bryce is one of the many people across the country who now has achieved health security as a result of the reform law. We hope that his story and others like it help show Americans that reform was the right thing to do for Bryce and his family but also for the common good of our nation and the long-term sustainability of its health care system.

We encourage you to learn more about Bryce’s story–as well as the stories of a child cancer survivor, a small business owner and a senior citizen, all of whom have fewer worries as a result of the Affordable Care Act.  The videos are available at www.YouTube.com/HealthReformWorks — please share the link with friends and family!

While not perfect, the Act was a major step in the direction of ensuring universal access to health care in the U.S. The Catholic Health Association is dedicated to demonstrating how the new law is at work helping people by collecting their personal stories. If you know of someone who has benefited from the Affordable Care Act, please let me know at jtieman@chausa.org.