Author

Laura Packard is a stage 4 cancer survivor and Denver-based health care advocate, founder of Voices of Health Care Action and executive director of Health Care Voter. She hosts CareTalk, a weekly consumer call-in show on health care and health insurance issues in America on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Fifty years later, our lives still at risk
By: Laura Packard - January 22, 2023
Fifty years ago, a very different U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Radical right-wing extremists control the Supreme Court and serve in elective office. We have fewer freedoms than we did a generation ago. We suffer, and women die because of it. When the Supreme Court ruled last June to strip away our rights […]
Time is running out. Get covered by January 15.
By: Laura Packard - January 9, 2023
If you don’t have health insurance — or just want to explore your options — go to healthcare.gov on or before Jan. 15 to get covered with affordable health insurance now. Having and keeping good quality affordable health care is personal for me. The Affordable Care Act saved my life. In 2017, I walked into […]
Lives hang in the balance as time runs out for action on health insurance
By: Laura Packard - July 25, 2022
Five years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Yet I’m the lucky one. I could afford to get treatment. Too many people in America don’t have the health care they need, even today. The 2021 American Rescue Plan included subsidies to make health insurance more affordable than ever, resulting in a record-breaking […]
To build a better America, ensure everyone who needs health care can get it
By: Laura Packard - March 14, 2022
Five years ago, I walked into a doctor’s office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The human response to that news is “how can I survive this?” But for too many Americans the question is “how can I pay for this?” I was lucky. As a small business […]
Lauren Boebert cares most about Lauren Boebert, not Coloradans like me
By: Laura Packard - May 22, 2021
As Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado tweeted on Wednesday, “Liz Cheney is the GOP of the past. We are not going back.” So let’s dig in a little more into what the brave new Republican world of 2021 looks like. I’m a blood cancer survivor in Colorado. Four years ago, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s […]
I was blocked on Twitter by the president. But I’m still there, and he is not.
By: Laura Packard - January 20, 2021
Three and a half years ago, President Donald Trump blocked me on Twitter. After the Jan. 6 attack on our democracy, he has been deplatformed by Twitter itself and most other social media sites. Having worked with the Knight First Amendment Institute to get my account unblocked by the president, I recognize both the power […]
The Affordable Care Act saved my life. What happens if it’s gone?
By: Laura Packard - November 13, 2020
Three years ago I walked into a doctor’s office with a nagging cough, and walked out with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. I’m here, today, because the Affordable Care Act saved my life. But now it’s under attack, again. The care I received cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that most of us don’t […]