I voted for President Obama because I wanted change. In retrospect it sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it? But I believed that with a pull of a lever on Election Day, poof, I would see an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an improvement in the economy and medical insurance being made available for people like myself. None of this happened. I regret my decision. Now I must deal with thinking about two of my twenty three year old son’s friends fighting in a third war, gas back up at $4.45 a gallon and hoping money falls from the sky to pay for doctor appointments.
I’m an bespectacled, educated forty something divorced woman who knows better than to really believe that the dollars just appear. I can list my employment interchangeably as either a writer or unemployed after a television fell on my wrist on the job moments before I was to leave it. I’m not lucky enough to have the possibility of medical insurance through an employer. And I’ve found out that I’m not considered sufficiently lacking in resources to qualify for Medicaid or any other government assisted program.
I guess I shouldn’t whine because I’m fortunate for one thing. Although I‘ve slipped through the social service cracks, “Obamacare” has helped my adult child. He works as an independent contractor and gets medical insurance through his father’s coverage that his dad pays extra for. .
I found out that I couldn’t be approved for Medicaid because I have no lease for the apartment I rent. My landlord wanted it that way. At the time, I didn’t think anything wrong with that. He, also, asked that I get a post office box for my mail. He said he had many tenants through the years and that it would be better that way. Again, I had no problem with that. Anyway, a post office box gave me privacy. The other renters on the property wouldn’t see my bills. But I soon found out without proof of a street address, no Medicaid. It’s like I don’t exist.
I struggle without medical insurance. At the same time, I’ve been lucky. One hospital was nice enough to offer me financial assistance from the institution when I needed a mammography and breast surgery. I received favorable news. I’ll be all right. This same facility continues to cover emergency room visits for me. One such time, as I was coughing up post nasal drip I was told, “Honey, don’t worry about the bill. You’re a charity case.“ But that does not replace a primary care physician (remember when those were called internists?) or a specialist for a chronic pre existing condition, asthma. Nor does it substitute for the dermatologist the breast surgeon said I need to see for a spot on my back next to my Tinkerbelle tattoo.
Again, I attempted to get Medicaid. This time I found out that it wouldn’t matter if I could show a street address because my income is too high. From what paychecks I asked? The economic assistance I receive from relatives who, themselves, are struggling is added up by the government. My “rent is too damn high” to qualify.
So I asked a clinic what could be done. Their dermatologist was one hour away from me. I worried about the price of gas for my eighteen year old car with a failing transmission and a limping starter. I didn’t want the clunker to die on the road. The mini medical center said I would need to see a primary care physician closer to my home. In just one phone call, they believed that the breast surgeon may have been too obsessed with an unnecessary surgery. I thought ok, fine. Except, although with only a couple of postage stamps in my wallet, I was told I would have to pay for the office visit. They said they bill everyone, “even the undocumented.”
I was stunned into believing I would have to go to the emergency room for health care. They would’ve referred me to a dermatologist, anyway. At that point, a bookkeeper at the hospital sent me to someone who would direct me to a social worker who helped me get an appointment with a private doctor, for free.
Two and a half years later, I’m waiting for the American involvement in these now three wars to end, the economy to pick up and for me, along with so many others, to have the ability, either through being employed or by a government program to get medical insurance.
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Melissa Noble
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Comments
How can anyone think that we should not have national healthcare?
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I am so sorry you got caught in the cracks..and are slipping. My brother is as well. But the cracks are not nearly as wide now as they could be in the future. So now my hope is different--it is placed on different shoulders for different reasons. Now my hope rests on those who need to vote once more--to keep what we DO have and to hopefully give this country ONE MORE chance to turn around. The nation needs to look to the state of Vermont. THERE is an example of change we can believe in!.
Sorry, didn't mean to blog in your comment box.
I signed up for it as soon as it became available and I have nothing but praise for it.
Thanks Erdek
It's not just you. It's anyone. It's everyone.
Good luck to you. Congrats on the EP and I hope your story is read far and wide.
As for Obama, I do think he was left with quite a bit of mess to clean up after the horrible Bush years. Two of the three wars were started then to quench America's thirst for oil. I can't wait for an end to these wars, and for the administration to get back to doing what's needed in our homeland. But whenever that may be, I would vote again for Obama over anyone else from the Republican party.
so i invented a third choice, organized non-voting. you'd be surprised to learn that almost every american who has read it will not join a plan that might bring democracy to america, and with it a better share of justice.
actually, you wouldn't be surprised at all. almost everyone hopes for nothing but a kinder master. they, and you, will be disappointed. your fairy godmother doesn't get involved with politics. the people who do are not in the mercy business.
i despise american society. i pity the people caught in it, many like you struggling to stay afloat. but i wonder why no one will take the first step to change things.
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I am so sorry to hear of your situation. I am not a supporter of ObamaCare, however; I do believe there is a need for healthcare reform in this country, I do not believe Universal Healthcare is the answer. What is unfortunate is the people who truly need help, can't get it and there are many others who take advantage of the system. I've been in healthcare over 15 yrs. and it is disheartening. A patient was recently dismissed from our clinic due to non-compliance. She has been in the emergency room 60+ times in 8 months for unexplainable issues but her demand, as soon as she walks in the door, is narcotics. Drug tests have revealed a myriad of drugs in her system. She is able to abuse the system and Medicaid continues to pick up the tab. Patients take residence in ICU's across the country but refuse to make lifestyle changes that put them there in the first place. They continue to show up and Medicaid/Medicare continues to pay. My concern with Universal Healthcare is it will give people an excuse to continue with unhealthy lifestyles and this overshadows those who are truly in need.
I live in Kansas City and there are free clinics, throughout the city. Doctors and nurses volunteer there time to help those who are in similar situations. Perhaps, there such services in your community?
My prayers are with you. Sincerely, Chelle
I have not had medical insurance for 12 years because I am no longer working and I have a pre-existing condition.
You are lucky to have a hospital work with you as I have had a certain hospital here in Texas send my less than $500. balance to a collector.
It's humilating.
The health care situation will take years to restructure and it is not a simple task and there are no simple answers.
I have filled out medicare, medicaid forms for my mother and feel like I have gone to hell and back doing so. Mom is 89 and thankfully was approved for Medicaid assisted living last week.
People have been going to emergency rooms for health care for years and years. I know as I am a former health care worker. Total health care I fear will be a hard sell to the younger generation now paying taxes.
Thank you for sharing your experience and best of health.
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So, we're scrambling around for some kind of health insurance, which is going to be impossible in the US, since we're pushing 50. We live overseas, so we can probably get foreign insurance. The catch is, most of these policies exclude the US, unless there is an expensive additional clause, because the costs of healthcare in the US are so screwy.
The funny thing is, we're wealthy. The people that all the rest of you seem to think are insulated from this kind of problem. However, one bit of bad luck, the development of one expensive and chronic disease and we could be bankrupted -- just the thing insurance is supposed to prevent.
Oh yes, in our great health care system, healthy adults can't get insurance, get their insurance cancelled and the cost of care is so high every other developed and underdeveloped country puts an expensive rider on their policy to deal with care in the US.
I voted for Obama, too. The war, healthcare, and Guantanamo being my chief criteria in the election.
With the financial collapse and a marginal majority in congress I knew he wouldn't be able to accomplish much in the first two years of his administration and I knew that the "dog whistle" racist backlash of the Tea Party wingnuts would bring us a Republican House majority after the 2010 mid-term election.
I've got my own Obamacare story not that dissimilar to yours; but I also know that Obamacare is doomed not just because it is an inadequate compromise, but because the mandate and other elements of the legislation are unconstitutional on their face.
When he was elected in 2000, I told my Republican brother that I felt kind of sorry for Bush because I knew that the dot.com bubble was about to burst. I voted for Obama in 2008 despite the fact that I knew he was walking into a hall of knives. Still I hope he survives to serve a second term.