Howard County Health Officer Goes Public With Diagnosis

Howard County’s health officer announced that he has early onset Parkinson’s disease in a segment on WYPR.

Beilenson said he was going public with the diagnosis, which he's had for at least five years, to shed a light on the importance of the Supreme Court’s June 28 decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

“Five years ago, I was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease. Nobody really knows this,” said Beilenson on WYPR Thursday. "Why don’t they know this? Because I have a great neurologist…in Columbia…I have prescriptions I get filled…I have good insurance.”

Without this insurance, Beilenson said he would not be able to afford the $5,000 medication he needs to treat Parkinson’s annually, reported The Baltimore Sun. With insurance, he can buy three months' worth of pharmaceuticals for $25, according to The Sun.

The degenerative neurological disorder has no known cure but has symptoms that can be treated with medication, according to the Mayo Clinic.

If he didn’t have insurance, “I’d slowly deteriorate, I’d slow down and I’d lose my job. I wouldn’t be a taxpayer," Beilenson told WYPR.

Through the new health care law, all citizens will be required to have health insurance by 2014, according to CNN, which reported that more than 20 million adults have been denied insurance due to preexisting conditions.

The scenario that millions of Americans had to face—being denied care because they had asthma or heart disease—was something Beilenson told ABC 2 News was “outrageous.”

, Beilenson said the nonprofit organization Healthy Howard will take the lead on educating citizens on what the legislation means for them.