Morning Nuggetiers, it's Friday.. woot! And what does Friday mean here at The Nuggets? FIT PITCHIN'! I know one of my typical fits runs more along the line of frazzled mom on the edge of sanity. This fit isn't going to be, "typical". I've decided to put on my grown up hat and get serious. I was lucky to meet so many amazing people at SITScation in Las Vegas last month. One of them was Melissa Smallwood who blogs at Organized Life By Design.
I was so impressed by Melissa, she really asked thought provoking questions and had great advice for other bloggers. What got me about Melissa, even beyond her charm, was the story she told about her struggles to pay for medication she needs in order to BE ALIVE!I know that politics isn't really something I get into here. The thing is the more I talked with Melissa the more I came to understand that this wasn't a political issue. I asked Melissa to come guest post for us today. I think hearing her story is important. No matter your party affiliation, no matter what you think you know about the subject, Melissa puts a face on this topic and I encourage you to hear her. I now turn my blog over to Melissa... (sorry for the font thing, blogger hates me today)
HEALTH CARE REFORM
There I said it. The three little words that incite anger, misinformation, partisan politics and even hate mail. Because of my experiences I feel obligated to share my story, in the hopes of opening a genuine discussion about how truly necessary health care reform is in our country. Sadly, unless you have personally experienced a health care crisis in your life or witnessed it in someone else’s you may be misinformed about what is at stake. I hope my story helps you understand a little better:
- In 1999 my husband and I got custody of (and I adopted) his son, who had just turned six (an expensive process in and of itself). Jason came to us from a very abusive home and had (and still has) severe emotional and behavioral issues as a result. We knew that he would need extensive counseling (little did we truly know) and my husband did not have health insurance available through his employer. Jason went to a counselor two times a week for three years before we got insurance (I went to work full-time in 2002 when our youngest went to kindergarten). For those three years, I worked nights cleaning at the race track, worked at a daycare (so the kids could come with me) and watched other people’s kiddos to afford those appointments.
- In 2001 (while we were still uninsured) I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The biopsies leading up to the diagnosis and the surgery required put us in debt to the tune of $25,ooo. My husband worked as much overtime as he could and we made payments to anesthesiologists, the hospital, the doctor, the lab and every other possible medical entity known to man for years. As a matter of fact in 2007, we still had a $1,500 balance with surgeon and she sent me a letter that since I had so faithfully made payments she was forgiving the rest of our debt! What a blessing- We had been paying her monthly for almost seven years. While friends were driving cars that didn’t break down and living in houses with more than one bathroom, every “extra” penny we made was going to medical bills.
- In 2003, Jason’s behavior deteriorated beyond what could be managed on an out-patient basis. We now had health insurance through my employer but mental health benefits leave SO MUCH to be desired. Between February 2003 and November 2004 Jason would be admitted as a psychiatric inpatient three times (twice in Towson, MD, an hour and a half away from our home) and would be in numerous partial hospitalization programs. In 2004 our OOP (out of pocket) medical expenses for his care were in excess of $17,000 WITH INSURANCE. Can you imagine what we would have been facing if my employer did not offer a health benefit (that I paid $124/every two weeks for as well)?
- Then (mind you this is the very abbreviated version) a judge ordered Jason to be remanded to a residential treatment facility to the tune of $60,000/year. Do you know how much our insurance company authorized for that? ZERO, ZILCH, NADA. Know why? Because Jason had exceeded his mental health benefit (he was 11). His dad and I had to make the gut wrenching choice to sign physical custody of him to the state of West Virginia so that he could get the treatment he needed. (That was the only way he could be covered by Medicaid, to not be in our custody) You can never know what that was like if you have not experienced it.
- You would think our story would be over by then but no. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in January of 2008. My hubby has great insurance through his employer now but our 20% of my EXORBITANT drug costs, hospitalizations, IV treatments, physical therapy and co-pays to the general practitioner, MS specialist, neuropsychiatrist (yes, all of this has left me a little depressed), urologist, hematologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist and pretty much every other “ologist” known to man came to over $13,000 in 2008 (and I can no longer work full time).
- The bulk of my social security disability check (that I only began receiving in April of 09) each month goes to paying said EXORBITANT medical costs, which will likely continue to escalate as I was just diagnosed with systemic lupus last month.
Don’t get me wrong, God has provided for us time and time again. I am constantly amazed, looking at the $ amount going out compared to coming in, how we are not bankrupt. We haven’t lost our home, our vehicles, or our sanity. But we are fortunate.
So many people have lost everything. People that didn’t deserve to have to choose between their medicine and groceries. People that shouldn’t have to wonder if they should see a doctor or not, because they can’t afford it. People that have died because they waited too long to get medical attention.
So, what are you saying, Melissa? I am saying that reform is necessary, whether we like it or not. Both Presidential candidates agreed on that in the last election. Yes, I have read the 1000+ pages of the proposed bill, and while I do not agree with every thing in it, I am glad that the President has the courage to introduce it. Because it is necessary!
Yet still, there are some gross misrepresentations being made and fear mongering to distract people from the real issue. Which is: REFORM IS NECESSARY.
Why is it necessary? Accessibility! Affordability! Ability to have options! Eliminate pre-existing condition clauses! Not have to worry about the cost of being sick for the rest of my life- I can’t even imagine!
I urge you to educate yourself about health care reform, listen to those of us who truly know what it means to have medical expenses take over your life and stop the partisan rhetoric that is distracting the nation from the true issue at hand- people need adequate and quality health care coverage. AARP and the AMA have even endorsed the current bill. Is the health care reform bill perfect? No! But it would be such an improvement… For me…for all those out there like me and those much worse off. I know this is a polarizing topic, heck my own mother (stark raving conservative lunatic, I say that with love and a giggle) believes that death panels will be part of the plan. My family and I are lucky enough to have great coverage. I can't even wrap my mind around having to make the choices Melissa talks about. I'm not hear to tell anybody what to do, I'd just like to hear people talk.. CIVILLY about this. If you have a story like Melissa's and you'd like to share I've wrangled Mr. Linky into this post. Link up your stories. We might not all agree on how to do things but I think we can all agree that something NEEDS to be DONE! (you can also find Melissa at Multitasking Mama and on twitter as @multitaskingme)
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11 comments:
Wow!! I live in Canada, and heer, EVERYONE gets health care 95% of people without paying for it. Our taxes and other programs cover it, and you can go to the Dr's even specialists without wondering if you can withstand the pain till Payday. In my move to the states, this is something I am TERRIFIED of!! I am trying to get every possible ailment checked before we go down, because I can't bare the thought of going into debt if my son (or I) get sick. I know its a topic of much debate in the states right now... where to turn from here, what program to undertake... and I am watching with bated breath.
Thank you for sharing your story. The pain you went through during these trials is truly heart wrenching.
I agree reform is needed.
I feel sorry for Melissa's situation, which is an emotion I'm not familiar with.
However, as a Government employee, I can tell you that having the Fed run it is the worst possible option.
I am sure Washingtons hearts are in the right place. Unfortunately, their minds are as screwed up as ever.
A Government run healthcare system would be worse that medicare is now, which is bankrupt.
And even more prone to fraud, which is hard to imagine something being more prone to fraud than medicare, but it would.
There has to be a better way.
Sheeesh. Yup. I was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer last year and because I'm up here in Canada it was just taken care of for me. Free of charge. It's all gone. Looking around on the internet for women who were going through the same experience I ran into mostly Americans who were all completely stressed about the financial implications and sounded really really misinformed to me about their disease probably because they didn't have an excellent specialist who would answer and question they had any time free of charge. It was an eye opener to think how very very very much more stressful this very very very stressful situation would be for me without health care. I have no clue what whacko ideology is going on down there to make some Americans think that some people should go without health care -- you are one of the richest nations in the world! And to here that an honest working mom and dad like Melissa and her hubby can't access the care they need just makes me go WHAAAA????
After hearing this story at SITS I have been pondering my own version of it with our year of medical maladies. Besides Michaels two weeks in the ICU and subsequent brain surgery (not to mention that I have to pay an HUGE helicopter bill because we used an out of network helicopter service. Can you say WTF?!). My big example is the kidney stone surgery I had in September.
I was in the hospital for four hours. My bill from the hospital...not including my doctor and the anesthiologist...was $17,500. The insurance negotiated rate? $2400. Of which, I had to pay $240. So...they expect someone without insurance to pay that huge number??! Are they trying to bankrupt people?
Or I could go off on another tangent. Our max out of pocket for the family is $2500 a year. You would think with our year, we would have reached that. But no. We have only gotten to about $1400. In actuality, we have spent about $8000 oop. So what is the deal? Well...deductibles and co-pays don't count towards the family max. The helicopter bill is a seperate max oop. My husband had to do a month of cognitive theapy with his brain surgery. Therapy is a seperate oop max.
It's crazy. And reform is so necessary.
WOW - thank you for sharing your story. My DS was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and associated depression/anxiety issues. Insurance does not cover him as Asperger's Syndrome is a DEVELOPMENTAL disorder which insurance companies have deemed NOT a health issue. His depression and anxiety are SECONDARY to the Asperger's Syndrome - which means they aren't covered either. In order to get him coverage (because we could not afford the $50,000/yr treatments he needed), we had to put our house up for sale during the worst economic climate our country has seen in decades. We left our brand new house (everything we worked so hard for), our friends, family, and jobs to move to a state that REQUIRES insurance companies to cover these diagnoses. 1 year later - we STILL cannot sell our house and may have to move back or risk having no money to afford housing. NO ONE should have to choose between housing or healthcare.
Is the healthcare system messed up? Absolutely! It is inhumane, unfair, and out of control? Yup. Do I trust the government to run it/offer a better choice? Nope.
As one who has had $25K+ in medical expenses in one year alone, I'm all for change...but not the change the government is currently offering. I don't like the way they currently run Medicare; I don't like how they run education, social security, etc. The red tape is bad enough with our own system...I doubt the government with it's current red-tape issues will be any better.
I do want to know why hospitals/doctors charge more for people without insurance than people with insurance (with a company that strong-armed a discount.) Because they can? Look, I'm all for a free-market economy, but this gives me pause.
But already we are seeing doctors opt out of Medicaid because they can't make enough to cover malpractice insurance and overhead and pay back student loans...although I haven't yet met a doctor who isn't still living rather well, if not luxuriously. (I have doctors who are friends...and frustrated with the system...but they're not destitute. I'm not suggesting they should be and give their time/education/treatment away for free...but at what point is enough enough?)
Okay, just rambling out loud here. Bottom line: this whole thing is a mess.
No argument here girlfriend! We are fortunate to not have any serious health problems in our family, but I agree with our President that health care reforms is one of the most necessary issues facing this country today and it absolutely must be fixed if we are to move forward. I think it is positively uncivilized that we don't have a better healthcare system. We spend more money on MAKEUP every year than it would cost to provide basic healthcare to every man, woman and child in our country.
It would seem to me that this country could figure out what works in other countrys and what does not. They (congress) SHOULD be able to figure out a good plan.
I doubt if they can though because they are too involved in what their own interests are, which lobbyist is giving them money and what their party wants...rather than the people they are elected to represent.
I pay horrible monthly payments for a horrible insurance plan. That's almost as bad as those like the lady that wrote the story here...only of course hers is worse.
Our elected officials do not care what is happening. It's all about money and party. Admin after admin has FAILED to do anything. And it behooves me to hear NOW that 'oh yes, we KNOW we need change'...when it's been allowed to get out of hand for so long without a whisper of reform.
Holy crap, dude. At first I thought this was about you! And then I remembered that I was familar (not intimately) with this story. Even still, it's a tragic story to hear and I know there are millions of other hardworking, normal, non-crack sniffing, non-drug seeking moms and dads and kids in this position. This is who the health reform is designed to help.
Good post. Thank you for sharing.
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