US Healthcare Reform is Important: Two Examples Why

Example One

My family did not have health insurance when I was growing up. My mom was a single mother for the first eight years of my life, and when she remarried, we still didn’t get insurance. She worked what jobs she could on a high school diploma, and my step-father (also with only a high school diploma) worked in the steel mills of Northern Indiana. A unionized position that saw many strikes, I can only guess my parents didn’t get insurance because of the cost of a family plan.

I will tell you, my dental health suffered greatly because of this. At times I’ve argued neglect on the part of my parents, and there is a part of me that will always harbor a resentment towards them for it, but seeing the dentist can be expensive even with insurance and, I understand. All the same, I have spent the last nine years (and thousands of dollars) fixing the damage that was wrought.

When I was 18 and 19 years old, I had health insurance through my then-employer, Walmart, because I was a full-time employee. I did not have to use it for any medical emergencies or sicknesses, but I did use my dental insurance. I quit the job at 19 and began work with a temporary agency, working for the state of Indiana Department of Revenue. As I was a “temporary” worker (I had the job for two years, though), I was not eligible for insurance. I went without.

I contracted pink eye from a coworker and had to go to one of those sliding-scale clinics. I remember the wait time before someone could get around to see me, I remember the rushed exam, and I remember the bill.

Around age 22, I began a job with a hotel and again had health insurance and dental coverage. Luckily, I only had to use the dental insurance. But then the hotel was sold and the new owners took away our insurance benefits. All of them. The COBRA payments were too much to swing on my pay, so I went without.

Turning 30 in a few months, I’ve been without insurance for eight years. I fear breaking a bone or having a health catastrophe that would place me in hospital. I pay out-of-pocket for my dental care, using a medical credit card for the bigger purchases. I have a job that keeps me just at the line between part-time and full-time so I don’t qualify for benefits and am a full-time student. It will probably be another two years before I have a job that will provide health insurance.

Example Two

My aunt, who is 46, was diagnosed with stage IV cervical cancer this past December. Due to complications a few months ago, she could not work and utilized the Family Medical Leave Act and took the maximum time off (a mere 12 weeks, unpaid), for chemotherapy and recuperation. When that ran out she used up her “personal leave of absence”.

She has her health insurance through her employer. Now that her PLoA is up, her job is at stake. She is currently too ill to return to work, and her employer will begin to start counting her missed days and, eventually, fire her. With the end of her job comes the end of her insurance (her health, vision, dental, and life policies).

Her COBRA payments each month will be $885. She and my uncle cannot afford this.

They have applied for Social Security Disability, but that will take at least six months to get set-up. After that, they have to wait two years to become eligible for Medicare.

Her cancer did not go into remission, and another bought of chemo is more than likely. Without insurance, they don’t know what they will do.

I do know this will wreck their family.

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I think my aunt’s case (and thousands of similar cases) shows how extremely fucked the United States’ healthcare system is. I cannot fathom how people think going to a more humane, social system is a bad idea.

Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege for those who can pay.

Families should not have to go bankrupt over medical costs. They should not be expected to pay a thousand dollars a month to continue coverage.

My government may tax the shit out of me, so long as it means folks who need help get it.

Why is preventative healthcare not a given, not expected, not demanded? As a member of this society—of this so-called glorious and free nation, your health and your medical situations should not force you into debt, or to worry over how you’re going to pay for it. You shouldn’t have to think of yourself as becoming a burden on your family. And you shouldn’t think your death would just make it all easier.

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