I'll admit that the health care reform debate is personal to me. Someone very close to me had just started full-time hours at her new job when intense stomach pain caused her to be rushed to the emergency room. It turned out she had an inflamed tumor and, after emergency surgery, it was determined that her stomach was riddled with peritoneal carcinoma - a type of cancer related to ovarian cancer which can be very deadly. Luckily, it was caught in very early stages and we were assured that she was going to be okay after another surgery and a few chemotherapy sessions. Today she is doing well, although the chemotherapy has caused the long-term problem of anemia. Regardless, almost a year-and-a-half later, we are very thankful that she has made an almost full recovery.
The medical care my friend received was excellent but unfortunately her health problem began just a week before her employer-provided health insurance was to begin covering her. Not only did we suddenly have to face this daunting battle with cancer and the long recovery from two surgeries, but also how these outrageously expensive medical bills would be paid for. Thankfully, charity took care of a bulk of the costs, but not all of them. That meant my friend will have to declare bankruptcy or be in debt for the rest of her life just because she got sick a week before her health insurance kicked in. Without charity it is very possible that she would have been denied treatment and eventually died from cancer. Even with charitable help she is facing a desperate financial situation.
It is clear from our experience that costs are simply out of control. Recently, when she was having trouble sleeping and her doctor prescribed her Ambien, we were unable to afford the price of a bottle of pills which was over one-hunderd dollars. This price for a few pills is simply ridiculous, but it is a good indicator of what the broken health insurance system has done to prescription costs. Without insurance, medical treatment and prescriptions are simply not affordable to the average person so never let anybody try to tell you that health care reform is unnecessary.
That's not the whole story and how it relates to why we desperately need health care reform in this country. During her recovery period, my friend was still working when she could at her new job. This was very difficult and she ended up occasionally having to miss a day of work or two due to complications. Even with her recent medical history her employer did not think this was appropriate and they refused to give her full time hours. If fact, to this day, she has yet to get full-time work from her employer. They keep her just under full-time hours so they don't have to supply her health insurance. It is obvious the reason why this is happening. They don't want to pay for her health care because they are afraid she will get sick again which would cost them money. Her employer even went as far as to basically tell her that if she missed just one more day of work she would never get full-time hours from them again. This has caused a great deal of stress as she feels that she must go to work no matter how sick she actually is, and frankly, I find their treatment of her despicable! Now, after a year-and-a-half since her original surgery, they have finally promised that she will get full-time hours, so we'll see what actually happens. I am worried that if she even gets a cold or the flu and has to miss work that they will then take away her full-time hours and she will be without insurance once again. Is this how the American worker is treated these days? It seems that compassion has been replaced with greed and workers are treated as if they are disposable unless they are in perfect health. That doesn't sound like the America I know and love, and those problems are a direct result of a faulty health care system that is desperately in need of reform.
As for me personally, I own my own business and can't afford health insurance due to the high premiums and lack of steady work in a weak economy. I've had my own health problems of late, albeit much less serious than my friend as described above. Recently, I suffered a dog bite while trying to break up a scuffle between our pets and the first thing that went through my mind was: "How much will this cost me?" I had the exact same thought when I also recently came down with gout in my foot, and in both cases I did not go to the doctor because I simply cannot afford it and refuse to be in so much debt for getting hurt or sick. Last month I suffered intense pain daily simply because I couldn't afford health care or medication. It has to make me wonder how many other people are in the same situation or worse off than me. The prospect is frightening and I try not to think of the suffering and death caused by our current broken health care system.
Regardless of the facts, those on the 'right' will continue to try to argue that there is no need for health care reform, or that the answer is simply 'personal responsibility' and in my opinion they are completely delusional. I've seen firsthand how the system is defective and how employer-based healthcare is being held over workers to control them as practically slaves. Frankly, I am disgusted with the status-quo of the health insurance system in our country. This is suppose to be the greatest nation on earth, but our citizens have to worry about going broke just because they get sick. That's just not right. We can do better, and we MUST do better. If our government can spend a trillion dollars fighting an unnecessary war in Iraq, why can't they spend our tax dollars on something that will positively affect the American people on a daily basis? Keeping things the way they are now with an insurance industry that is making record profits off of the pain and suffering of people by denying them health care benefits is just plain disgusting, and we need real change NOW.
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