Guaranteed Healthcare

My husband is self-employed and in the car business, and we faithfully pay a $400 premium every month for major medical coverage. We have three children. This coverage doesn't cover much. Each of us has a $5000 deductible, which we never meet. Our policy also has no preventative healthcare. In the past five years, I had to have a breast biopsy. Each of my children has needed care, which has included four broken bones and tissue trauma from a car accident, not to mention visits for sinus, ear and respiratory infections.

Our insurance maybe paid for 5% of those bills. We now have over $10,000 in outstanding bills which we are unable to pay. This doesn't even include all our dental bills. My husband hasn't even had a physical exam in 10 years. He refuses due to the lack of being able to pay the bills we even have. He has signs of emphysema and a history of heart disease. I haven't had a pelvic in years, and am supposed to get yearly mammograms due to my history of breast cancer, which my Mom died of at 38. So...I live in constant fear that one of my kids or my husband and I will need to go to the doctor or, God forbid the hospital.

Thank God clinics have never refused our care, which I'm still surprised when I register to have my kids be seen they don't refuse knowing we have so many outstanding bills. My husband has been living with a temporary crown for the past two years, because we can't afford to get a permanent one. I have a serious case of GERD, and am treating myself with over the counter medication. We also get at least two phone calls a day from collection agencies wanting us to pay our bills, but we are not in a position right now to pay them, and our credit has suffered because of the bills so a loan to pay them off isn't an option either.

I am currently in nursing school. My date for graduation is in May '09. My hope is when I graduate I'll be able to pay off our medical bills and get us a good insurance policy, and that we'll be able to get the treatments we need, as well as the preventative health care we should be getting. My hope is that we all stay healthy and don't need any medical attention before then.