Guaranteed Healthcare

As a young adult in my mid-twenties, as well as a small business owner, I have downright fallen through the cracks of the health care system in America. Perhaps I was naive to believe that only a small percentage of Americans -- like the homeless, or families whose breadwinners had lost their jobs -- would be unfortunate enough to be denied appropriate health care, but that's how it always seemed to me.

Through college, my University supplied some -- though very minimal -- health coverage. If I had a cold, they'd sell me cough syrup through the school clinic; if I had a sore throat, they'd take a culture & prescribe antibiotics. Luckily, throughout that time, I was extremely healthy.

Once I graduated, however, I was suddenly flying high without a net: I worked as a full time teacher, but because I was working toward my certificate and was only hired under "substitute" status, I was unable to procure health insurance through the School Board of Palm Beach County. Working as much as every other teacher, with half-pay and no benefits. Not fair. But still, I remained healthy.

My next job was a bit better, but short-lived. I worked for the State University System of Illinois, and their insurance was inexpensive and provided good health care. (I think... I never once was sick the whole time -- and never actually visited a doctor under my coverage!)

From there, I decided to take a leap many people do: I left my office job to start my own business. The American dream, right? Along with my two partners: my grandmother - a retired schoolteacher, and my best friend - just like me, but married, the three of us started a business we've been dreaming of for years.

Unfortunately, soon after moving back to Florida from Illinois, my healthy luck started to waver a bit: I woke in the middle of the night with a kidney stone. In my agony, and no longer insured, I had no choice but to go to the Emergency Room, but when I arrived, there was such a crowd, I was forced to wait - crying in pain - in the lobby for more than SIX HOURS before being seen by a doctor. Once they were able to examine me, it seemed the stone had passed, and there was nothing they could do for me. Without insurance, that 6 hours of misery and 5 minutes with a doctor to tell me what I already knew, cost me more than $500. A representative of the hospital told me that I could apply for assistance with the cost of my hospital bill -- and I did -- but apparently, I wasn't "chosen" to receive any of that assistance.

I guessed that I had made a terrible mistake trying to go to the hospital, and decided that I wouldn't go that route again. A few months later, I came down with a dreadful case of bronchitis -- so terrible I was unable to sleep for 6 days straight. Exhausted and frustrated beyond belief, I had to seek treatment. Without insurance, the only doctor available to me was the local walk-in clinic. I had a similar waiting room experience there: 4 long hours of sitting and coughing, waiting for my doctor to tell me I had bronchitis. After the $150 examination bill, I brought my prescription to my local pharmacy, and I found out that the doctor had prescribed a medication that was no longer being manufactured. The pharmacist waited for 25 minutes on hold for the doctor, who then prescribed two different medications: an antibiotic that cost $85 for 3 doses, and an expensive decongestant that did nothing for my cough. Another expensive mistake, but what other options did I have?

So, guessing that it was time to bite the independent health insurance bullet, I looked into health insurance plans. I needed a REAL doctor -- someone I could count on to just make everything all right, like I had when I was younger and my family was insured. The broker who helped us with our business insurance looked into personal health plans for me, and the only insurance she could find under $500/month was "emergency" coverage -- which would not have helped me in either previous situation. Unfortunately, plans for small businesses are unavailable for groups of "one" -- my grandmother has Medicare and supplemental insurance through her retirement, and my friend is part of her husband's health insurance plan. So, it's just me.

And it seems like a hopeless cycle: with my fledgling business, there is no way that I can afford $500/month for health insurance, but there is also no way I can afford to get treated when I get sick. Over the past year, I have had three more bouts of kidney stones, the last one lasting more than 24 hours -- and I am unable to get the care I need. I cannot afford to go to the hospital, nor would the hospital even offer me the treatment I require. No doctor will see me without insurance. The walk-in clinic is too expensive and staffed with less-than-caring doctors who are, I can only imagine, overworked and underpaid.

I can't complain about my life: I am building a dream-come-true -- I have an incredibly supportive family, I have an amazing, loving, long-term relationship, and a business of my own. I can only imagine that the U.S. Government smiles upon those of us who are brave and ambitious and want to embrace the values of our incredible society: to forge ahead with creativity, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the hope of impacting the world in a positive manner.

When I was younger, I would hear about people without health insurance, and envision a culture of impoverished, unemployed, hopeless people -- and it made me sad to think that there were people in our country who were excluded from receiving appropriate preventative and reactive care for illnesses. I never in a million years would have imagined that I could fall into this group. How very sad I was to discover that it's not only the unfortunate and poor, but such a huge collective of the middle class as well, who are denied the simple benefit of not having to live with unnecessary illness. I had heard of families with children with incurable diseases, and the sort of catastrophic problems that ruin or bankrupt families -- and my situation is certainly easier (at least at this point) than that. However, it is no less a major issue in my life. The simple fact that national health care legislation is being seriously considered by several of our presidential candidates is mind blowing: finally, finally, finally... It seems that the rest of the country is undergoing a similar ideological metamorphoses as I did: an issue I once thought to be somewhat isolated and detached from my own interests (as an insured, healthy teenager) has become a real point of political activism for me, and I hope it becomes so for many others as well.