Humanizing the Health Care Debate

[osodecanela]

Via pgdudda, who got it elsewhere:

I propose a US health care meme which might help put faces on how screwed up the current system is.

If you are a US resident and could never under any circumstances afford private health insurance, copy this meme to your LJ. Even if you have health care through work now, write as if your one-layoff-away-from-losing-it has happened and you're facing the job of getting insurance on your own.

If you have friends or family members who are in the same boat and are not on LJ, feel free to mention them too. I suggest thumbnail descriptions which include no names or identifying information, in the interests of privacy.

There was a 8 year period in my 30's, while I was starting my practice, when I was uncovered. I couldn't find affordable coverage for myself due to pre-existing conditions. I'm covered now, only because I have group coverage for myself and my employees, which makes my own policy moderately affordable, but until my practice was large enough for me to put a group together, there was no option for me to have personal coverage. Had I suffered a serious illness during that time, it likely would have meant losing our home.

Six years after getting covered, I landed in the ICU with a serious infection in my left arm. I was hospitalized on IV antibiotics for 2 weeks, which saved my arm. I've been in-patient 3 times since for recurrent infections in the same arm. The last hospitalization 18 months ago was over $20K for a 4 day hospital stay.

Comments

[elric-dewisant.livejournal.com]

I'll file this one under the "just don't even get me fucking started" department.

[shirtlifterbear.livejournal.com]

My pre-existing stuff makes me uninsurable at anything approaching an affordable cost until/unless the exclusion is eliminated in the hopefully successful reform.

Sigh.

[daddybear57.livejournal.com]

I hear you brother! You are well aware of my various conditions which would probably exclude me from buying my own insurance. Thank the gods that I have insurance through my work; unfortunately, due to my MS, there may very well a time that I am unable to work, and unless we can get the exclusions out, I'm SCREWED!! Meds for MS are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE!