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.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
No kidding you don't feel bad. You are getting subsidized by rich people and you won't even thank them. I for one am VERY thankful that the richest people in the country pay the vast majority of taxes.
Why should I? As for being grateful. Most of them have very good accountants and have multiple tax dodges in place and pay mimimal tax. Why should I be grateful to someone who pays less tax than I do. If the rich person needs healthcare, they get it exactly the same as the poor person and as little old me. No insurance co pays, deductables, or insurers trying to dodge the bill
I've 37, have been working since the age of 18 and paying taxes all that time. Its nice to know in event of an acute illness I don't have to take out a second mortgage or sell a vital organ just to pay the bills
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
A nursing student who puts a BSN and RN next to her name?
trouble when jumping to conclusions is often they are wrong. I was refering to the OP, not me. Which may have been quite obvious if you'd bothered to check my profile
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
Chronic problems are caused by people not watching what they eat and becoming obese, illegal drug use, smoking, alcohol use and other unsafe lifestyles.
Yip, however if chronic conditions arent dealt with they can become a whole bunch more complicated.
Far cheaper to ensure the t2 diabetic who needs insulin knows how to monitor their blood sugars, control their diabetes through diet, increase their exercise and ensure they use of insulin or oral hypoglycaemics. Of course we could wait until their foot turns black due to uncontrolled sugars and has to be chopped off because its necrotic but it would cost the tax payer a hell of alot more money
I'm shocked at these insurance prices everyone is paying. These jobs aren't offering any good benefits. Through my husband's job we pay only $120 per month for both of us combined for a really good blue cross blue shield policy. This includes heath, dental, and vision. Only a $1000 deductible.
What you pay as an employee in form of the employee's contribution, and what the total cost is for the plan are two different things. The average employer provided plan costs around $15,000/year for family coverage, of that the employee only typically pays about one-quarter of that as their "contribution".
The hospital will give you the stent/CABG if you are having an active MI. If not they can give you nitrates as people who refuse surgery or have inoperable CAD get.
The hospital will give you the stent/CABG for an active MI in part because they are legally required to do so, do you agree with that? There are ways of treating that which are initially cheaper, but certainly not free and probably not cheaper in the long run: the average cost of treating someone with heart failure is about $75,000, and that's with proper treatment (nitrates are not an equivalent alternative to bypass surgery). When that patient who was sent home with nitrates instead of bypass surgery comes back now s/p cardiac arrest with some resulting anoxic brain injury and now requiring LTACH care, who pays for that?
I get the general complaint that our healthcare system costs a lot of money ($3 trillion annually) and that often people don't realize just how much our system costs until we get the bill for just their share or their family's share, but the fact is that our system costs about $8000 for every man, woman, and child in the US every year. Since not everyone can pay that amount every year we have two choices; limit services to the people who can pay that amount, or shift the costs around so we still cover our yearly bill and everyone gets the services we've long since decided are a legal right (thanks to Reagan).
Specializes in E/R, Med/Surg, PCU, Mom-Baby, ICU, more.
We're in science. Have you ever actually heard the saying "correlation does not equal causation?" How do nurses who sit there passing judgements about how is all the patients fault they are sick survive. I can understand being fustrated with someone you know is jeopardizing their health, but the fat shaming/dieting shaming of patients. .. how does it help?
Obesity is a modifiable risk factor for diabetes, as well as many other conditions. I'm not sure what action your suggesting we should take relating to obesity and insurance coverage.
The problem with Obamacare as I see it is a silly little thing called states rights. As long as every one of the 50 states has the right to manage the the ACA as they see fit this argument will never end. There is no common denominator other than the requirement for every citizen to obtain insurance or be penalized. Unfortunately that does not always make the mandated insurance affordable. It does not require that the insurance offer any kind of comprehensive coverage. There is no law that prevents insurance providers from only offering policies with high premiums and even higher deductibles. I live in a border town and the rates vs coverage in my state [WI] are laughable, but just cross a state line and what is essentially the same policy is maybe a third of the price. The same applies with who qualifies for low cost or even no cost coverage, in WI this is possible for children if the family meets income guidelines but if you are an adult and not blind or pregnant you won't qualify,again just cross that state line and if you meet the income requirements low cost insurance can be found for adults. Instead of blaming the Federal Government for passing the ACA, I blame the states that choose to make affordable health care not so affordable at all.
I like the ACA because I live in a state that bothered to make it work. We have a decent amount of competition on our state run exchange and even the non exchange plans have to be aware of that. Graduating and going full time with my company won't change the fact I like it. Remember, pre ACA, I couldn't get privately held insurance at all, so I was at the whim of employers to have it. Now I'll have options that'll allow me more choices when I graduate. If I get cranky about it, I can always remember the last three years and how someone else is benefiting. We have to stop being a country where people die from being poor.
So we swapping from a country where the people die poor, to the country whose people die from not being able to pay their deductibles, hence, don't go to the doctor and die anyway, while still having to pay high premiums? Good trade off.
Tenebrae, BSN, RN
2,021 Posts
Why should I? As for being grateful. Most of them have very good accountants and have multiple tax dodges in place and pay mimimal tax. Why should I be grateful to someone who pays less tax than I do. If the rich person needs healthcare, they get it exactly the same as the poor person and as little old me. No insurance co pays, deductables, or insurers trying to dodge the bill
I've 37, have been working since the age of 18 and paying taxes all that time. Its nice to know in event of an acute illness I don't have to take out a second mortgage or sell a vital organ just to pay the bills