Guaranteed Healthcare

I inherited Polycystic Kidney Disease from my father. Upon discovering that I was afflicted with the disease, he warned me that I should do everything in my power to keep from losing my health insurance, as I would not be able to get coverage once I had lost what I had. Unfortunately, I was not employed by a large corporation. I spent 20 years working in bicycle shops as a mechanic/manager.

I always negotiated my health insurance as part of my pay package. In most cases, the options open to me, and all other employees of the shops as a result of MY condition, were very limited, and very expensive. As I had a wife and two children, we really needed health insurance, in spite of the fact that my kidney disease wasn't progressing to the point of needing to take any action other than controlling my blood pressure and seeing my doctor four times each year to monitor kidney function. My deductible was always three times what the deductible was for any other member of my family.

That meant that if I broke my leg, I would be expected to pay more out-of-pocket than if my son broke HIS leg...simply because my kidneys were afflicted with a disease that has no bearing on broken legs. Eventually, due to the high cost of health insurance, my wife and I were forced to place our children onto the Connecticut State Children's Health Insurance Program. We could only afford to pay for our own health insurance, so, since the children qualified for state coverage, we discontinued our private insurance for the children.

At one point, I was unemployed for over a year. My unemployment insurance provided enough to pay for our insurance under the COBRA program, but those COBRA payments consumed the entirety of my unemployment benefits. We only survived because my wife was able to find work as a nanny for that year. Luckily for our family, after my children were in high school, my wife was able to complete her studies to become a high-school mathematics teacher, and now we have very good health insurance through her employer.

I know there are many people who are in similar situations to the one we were in, though, so I continue to fight for health insurance, and quality health care, for all people.