There was a time when I would've considered the ACA unnecessary. That I would've been annoyed by it. This was also a time where I had little to no interest in politics. It's funny how life has a way of humbling a person and teaching them something new about themselves on a regular basis. This is a story about how I ended up needing the help in order to make myself better.
"Well why didn't you just get a new inhaler?" I felt a sinking pit in my stomach. I was at a follow up visit to my doctor after ending up in the ER a few weeks before because bronchitis had made my asthma worse and I couldn't breathe. The first thing my doctor asked me was where my inhaler was when this had happened. After all, that was in my plan. I tried to explain to her that I only had one inhaler and it had been stolen the week before when I was riding the bus. Somehow, despite my explanation she didn't understand that since I was uninsured at the time, I just couldn't afford a new one. It was only after the ER trip that a friend of mine had pity on me and bought the inhaler for me.
I lost my insurance in April 2012 because I had been working at a call center that had outsourced its customer service department overseas. This was my fourth lay off in about six years. The whole time I had been trying to go back to school but in playing musical jobs I had never managed to do so. I decided to make school my focus and work secondary and deal with it.
Because I have asthma, I've never been able to get insurance without going through my work before. COBRA would've cost me over six hundred a month, and while my state had opened a high risk pool, it was still too expensive. My NP was awesome and made sure I got refills of my medication before I lost my insurance and gave me a list of community services for when I did lose it, because she knew I wouldn't be able to come back afterwards.
I did everything I could to make sure I would be taken care of. I signed up for a prescription plan at a local pharmacy, I found local clinic that was free, run on community donations. Still there are things that free clinics couldn't handle. Waiting all week to see a doctor because you got sick on Sunday and the free clinic is only open on Saturday isn't helpful when you're so sick you can't breathe. The doctors are volunteers so there's no guarantee of continuous care. In fact, the push is to get you into a local public health or community clinic, but they often were not taking new adult patients or were an hour drive away.
It was about a month after I lost my insurance when I found a lump on my right side, along the edge of the breast tissue. The free clinic provided me a referral but when I called the places they suggested I was turned away. I was told I was too young, that the office no longer provided services, or that they were out of funds for the year. I continued to fight to find a way to access services, but without a referral from a PCP I was getting nowhere. I finally took the time to bus out to one of the few clinics taking patients. They contacted a local imaging center attached to a public hospital to get me in. This started in June, I was finally in for imaging in October. In November I would get a biopsy and find out it was benign. It took me six months from start to finish to find out what was there.
It would be another year before I would get insurance again. In that time I ended up in the ER enough times the doctors started to recognize me. There really wasn't anything either of us could do. I couldn't manage my health without being able to afford regular doctor's visits and medication and they couldn't make a solution appear out of thin air. My wisdom teeth got infected and had to be removed but had to wait two months for a dentist who would help. I was on antibiotics so long I ended up with a GI infection. Bronchitis, allergic reaction, a set of second degree burns from how bad at cooking I can be. They got to deal with it all, despite the fact that most of these things were preventable.
All if this changed in January of last year. I live in one of the states that approved the Medicaid expansion and set up their own healthcare exchange. I was there on day one to shake hands with the Governor, tell him my story, and sign up. I stood up with him to others to encourage them to use the exchange as well. It is the only day of class I've missed since I started back.
Because of the Affordable Care Act I was able to get needed blood work that I had not been able to afford. Reliable access to medication. The first thing my PCP did, remembering how just a few months earlier I had ended up in the ER because I didn't have an inhaler was make sure to get me a prescription for one so I had a backup. One thing I know is I appreciate the opportunity more than I could ever express.
I know there are naysayers out there who will tell me that those things are not really free and that someone has to pay for them. One day I'll graduate and that person will be me. I seriously hope that I am paying to make sure someone gets the care they need with the money I pay into the system. It's saner than paying for what happens when they can't. The system we have isn't perfect, but it can only get better if we put effort into it.
We already pay for medicaid and other social programs with the taxes we pay; free clinics and hospitals here just don't work on what they get because they take everyone nobody wants to pay for so they either offer very limited services or end up closing unless they get an infusion of funding from somewhere else (which happened to a hospital here-the hospital was forced to close and merge with the only other charity hospital here and IT is also having funding problems) so either way we end up paying for indigent care as people with no or inadequate insurance, be it medicaid or private insurance, go to hospital emergency rooms when they become too ill to care for themselves or that small problem with a wound became a massive infection because of the lack of care.
Who are you to judge if a person "needs" more money? That is usually the REWARD you get for being successful. Learn to keep your eyes and hands off of others wallets/purses.
The need for financial assistance with something is generally determined by a person's costs (dependents) in relation to their income. How would you suggest doing it?
Yes but not enough, that's what I lived on when I first became disabled; didn't have 401k when I started working so my pension from my early years won't be available until I'm 65.
But you do agree that most patients have a disease that was preventable, right?
Many patients have diseases that can be minimized with proper preventative care and disease mangament, so you're arguing we should make preventative care and disease management more accessible?
Many patients have diseases that can be minimized with proper preventative care and disease mangament, so you're arguing we should make preventative care and disease management more accessible?
They get a low-interest loan to fund the surgery that they needed because they refused to exercise and stay slim.
How are you possibly under the impression that a bank would willingly give a low interest loan to a 60 year old who now has to cut back to part time and on top of that has a $200k loan to pay off?
Jogging and dieting do not avert coronary disease since the largest single predictor of CAD is genetics. You can alter the risk of acute events and the timeline of the disease's progression slightly but you can't 'cure' CAD with diet and/or exercise.
How are you possibly under the impression that a bank would willingly give a low interest loan to a 60 year old who now has to cut back to part time and on top of that has a $200k loan to pay off?
lol so you have no problem with the government forcing people to get obamacare, but you do have a problem with government loans?
But shouldn't they consult their doctor before starting any new diet or exercise plan? Also, diet is not free, unless of course we want to stick to the fact you seem to be advocating for starving the poor. Then how are they supposed to jog?
AndyB
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Dysfunctional fat cells, lipotoxicity and type 2 diabetes. - PubMed - NCBI