Guaranteed Healthcare

We lost our health insurance while I was pregnant with my daughter...over twenty one years ago. Our COBRA payments at that time amounted to $650.00/month. Imagine that, unemployed with a pregnant wife and a three year old. That was that situation my husband found himself in. I told him not to worry. Our daughter was born a healthy a beautiful baby about 5 months later. I was in labor for a total of 45 minutes. We cancelled our COBRA before our daughter cut her first tooth.

Back then, we were in the minority. It seemed liked everyone had insurance and not a month went by without someone telling me I was being irresponsible for not being insured. Little did they know that for people who were self-employed (and my husband quickly became self-employed and still is; so am I) obtaining insurance was virtually impossible. I remember shortly after canceling COBRA being told I was not eligible to join an HMO because I didn't belong to a group. I found out rather quickly that my options would require that we could have health insurance and have less money available for housing OR stay uninsured and remain able to rent in a nice town with a good school system. We decided to stay put and saved enough money over the years to purchase a home.

By now about 8 years had passed and we were not the only uninsured folks we knew. I still got dirty looks from the staff at my children's pediatrician's office, but I was no longer bothered by their passing judgement about the state of my insurance status. I had learned how to keep my children healthy and rarely needed their services. My husband and I received medical care when needed and always paid for services as we needed them. I became used to doctors not sending yearly reminders for check-ups because of their fears about treating an uninsured patient. Time passed and over the years, I began to notice that the blank looks we would receive when asked for an insurance card were beginning to be replaced with the question of how do you wish to pay. I no longer was made to feel like a second class citizen in any particular doctor's office. In time, my children no longer felt "poor" because we were uninsured... we made too much money to qualify for state coverage for our children, even though our insurance premiums would have cost us over $14,000/year! 

I have learned alot about staying healthy over the years, motivated by the realization that I had no one to rely on for my family's health other than myself. I have learned that most people take more medicine than they need and are less  healthy for it. I have learned how nutrition can positively affect your health to the point of cure. I have learned how to handle stress and anxiety without a pill. I have developed the discipline to stay fit. I have learned how to live with aches and pains and have even learned how to make some of them disappear. I have also learned to ignore the marketing of the pharmaceutical companies. In short, I have refused to succumb to medical paranoia. 

During this past year and a half I have come to learn that 75% of all medical bankruptcies occur to folks who had insurance when they became ill. That reconfirms my opinion that we did the right thing all these years by not buying  expensive insurance that most likely would have under served our needs. A few years ago, my husband had two hospitalizations for a "fever of unknown origin". Yep, $20,000 and no diagnosis. Finally did manage to find a doctor who knows what is going on and have managed to avoid any more costly hospital visits. The way I figure, that $20,000 is about two years worth of premiums which makes us ahead of the game.

Well, we're not getting any younger and you know I still haven't had any of those over age 50 medical tests, neither has my husband. I have no idea what kind of crap may be growing in my veins and arteries or whether I'm at risk for DVT. I do get headaches, and I'm not sure if I suffer from migraines, sinus allergies, or gee, maybe I have a brain tumor. Sometimes my hip hurts so I guess I should be concerned about arthritis. I'm not sure how my husband's "flow" is but no news is good news. Can't sleep sometimes, so I guess I'm a candidate for either an Ambien or an antidepressant, take your pick. Would I like to find out a bit more about my health? Of course I would, but what's the point if it's going to label me with a pre-existing condition and cost too much to treat?  Sometimes what you don't know really doesn't hurt you. 

To those of you thinking I am tempting fate, perhaps I am, which is why I am advocating for reform. I prefer to look at it this way. I may have been one of the first of the millions now uninsured. I continued to boycott insurance even when I might have been able to afford it. I am proud to be uninsured and not participate in a system that is wasteful and corrupt. I feel a solidarity with over 46 million other people. I am healthy and strong enough to try to do something about it. I am confident that reform will come because if true reform doesn't happen the problem will only worsen. In my heart, I know a Single Payer reform will come. And until it does I will still remain a proud  uninsured American.