Guaranteed Healthcare

In 1988, I was diagnosed with M.S. I had no insurance then, but it hadn't gotten bad yet. Luckily for me, I was seeing a wonderful man who shortly afterward got a job with Microsoft Corp. He asked me to marry him, and we moved to Seattle. Bill Gates was very generous with benefits to his employees, so I was covered under my husband's insurance.

After five years, my husband was diagnosed with a virulent brain tumor. He died two years and three months later. I began looking for more insurance, after my COBRA extension ran out. After many attempts and phone calls, I heard a lot of dead silence on the phone line as soon as I mentioned MS.

Fortunately for me, I got Social Security and Medicare soon after the COBRA ran out. Seven years after Lee's death, I finally was able to get myself together and return to Illinois. The MS made it harder, but at least Lee left me with life insurance, stock options, and the house, which I was lucky enough to sell before the economy imploded. I am not desperate as yet, but I am alone, and not able to get out much.

I have few friends, and not much family left. My medicine for MS costs as much as $2,116 a month, when I'm in "Part D's" donut hole. Some months, it's as 'low' as $700/mo. This is for just one prescription, a weekly shot. If every other Industrialized country on Earth can afford free, Universal Health care for all its citizens, why can't (won't) the world's richest country?? This is shameful, and crazy.