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 Rehab, Hospital, Travel Nurse, VNA,.
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.
I am sorry everyone I really thought I was replying to Apr.21 by jay cam
I am new to this allnurses, I didn't mean to bore you to pieces with my bio, what an idiot, lol. I should have checked things out, but wow I thought this was a nice little chat line- NOT!
Specializes in Rehab, Hospital, Travel Nurse, VNA,.
Just wanted you to know, you aren't alone. We all have our trials and tribulations and some how we get by. I live by " THIS TOO SHALL PASS" and before you know; it has and the sun comes back out.
My parents are great, now that I am finished with school and will hopefully find a job, they will feel free to but a little condo for themselves- I know they are only trying to help me.
Given that Obamacare was never about providing affordable healthcare and even more importantly guaranteeing access to healthcare tied to Obamacare being 100% partisan and sold 100% on lies, it will continue to be a controversial matter that anyone being a person of integrity (where truth matters) and character (which includes understanding the end rarely justifies the means) will stand up against.
I have no interest in politics. However, I think part of the reason people may not like the affordable care act is disinformation like this that is prevalent. Deductibles, co pays and medication costs have been rising exponentially for the last 15 years due to health insurance company policies, not a relatively new affordable care act. We pay more because companies want to make billions in profit--plain and simple. And I agree with others that there are still a lot of changes to make but it IS a start.
THIS x 1,000. When something happens that people don't like, such as losing their health insurance because their employer pushes them to part time to save money, they blame it on Obama or the ACA and then SYMPATHIZE with the corporate fat cats who are responsible for it because they don't want to pay the extra pocket change it would cost them.
"I have no interest in politics. However, I think part of the reason people may not like the affordable care act is disinformation like this that is prevalent. Deductibles, co pays and medication costs have been rising exponentially for the last 15 years due to health insurance company policies, not a relatively new affordable care act.
We pay more because companies want to make billions in profit--plain and simple
. And I agree with others that there are still a lot of changes to make but it IS a start."
Yes co pays, policies etc have been going up for years that is not news, but if a company provides a service they should be entitled to make a profit. Nobody wants to work for free!!
I think what folks get upset about is the amount of money some of these big companies are worth...and that includes banks, insurers etc.
MatrixRN - you're right, as far as you go. But I remember the for-profit take-over, first of the health insurance then the health care industry. Their shtick was that the profit motive would clamp down on cost while competition would improve services.
As far as I can tell, it's been an epic fail. What we have actually had for decades is steadily increasing prices for steadily deteriorating services.
Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.
MatrixRN - you're right, as far as you go. But I remember the for-profit take-over, first of the health insurance then the health care industry. Their shtick was that the profit motive would clamp down on cost while competition would improve services.
As far as I can tell, it's been an epic fail. What we have actually had for decades is steadily increasing prices for steadily deteriorating services.
Time for a different paradigm.
I think for a time there was competition in the market place, but then the inevitable happened clinics and hospitals got larger and larger. They gobbled up the small guys and now they are running the show.
It is not uncommon now to see provide practices with 10 or 20 MDs. In the past a single provider was the norm.
If we look at healthcare insurers United, Humana, Wellpoint and Anthem dominate the market. They insure millions of people and rake in a lot of cash. The ACA state plans are administered, for the most part, under these four.
A few pages back someone made the comment they wished the docs would stop taking the ACA plans. Well that is not going to happen, as stated above the ACA plans are administered, mostly, by the above top 4 so they will get paid.
A few pages back someone made the comment they wished the docs would stop taking the ACA plans. Well that is not going to happen, as stated above the ACA plans are administered, mostly, by the above top 4 so they will get paid.
More Doctors Refusing ObamaCare Patients and it continues to grow in number. A growing number of hospitals are doing the same; and even many who aren't are setting tiers for what they will accept (i.e. only top Obamacare plan).
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Good day:
More Doctors Refusing ObamaCare Patients and it continues to grow in number. A growing number of hospitals are doing the same; and even many who aren't are setting tiers for what they will accept (i.e. only top Obamacare plan).
Thank you.
From the link you provided;
Welcome, Miranda, to the world of socialized medicine, a world where doctors are struggling to keep their offices open, where insurance companies are cutting reimbursements under pressure from the federal government to keep their premiums affordable," and where the supply of physicians and other medical service providers is shrinking while the demand (thanks to newly insureds entering the market needing medical attention for problems that have festered for years) is increasing.
I suppose there is nothing wrong with this paragraph in your view?
I find trouble the opening notion that the ACA represents a form of "socialized medicine". While that is a really good propaganda tool which succeeds in alarming the poorly informed and willfully ignorant, it has nothing to do with reality. Are you aware that the government does not own and operate the medical facilities which provide the country's health care?
Do you find it alarming that the notion that scores of people with health conditions requiring intervention are flocking to practitioners now that they finally have access would cause health professionals to run the other way? Don't you find it odd that the insurance companies have been forced to spend more money than they prefer on actual health care, and when they want to cut reimbursement to actual providers of the care (people who add value to the health care system) so that they can preserve multimillion dollar compensation packages for their executive suite (people who add ZERO value to the health care system) and yet sympathizers give them a pass because now they can blame "Obamacare" while ignoring the greed. You would rather all those pesky citizens with no other options just go without so as not to cost the insurers more I suppose, those fat cats are really addicted to their huge salaries and big bonuses.
Damn our poor sick people for creating demand that our wealthy insurers don't want to spend money on.
marina4303
13 Posts
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.
I am sorry everyone I really thought I was replying to Apr.21 by jay cam
I am new to this allnurses, I didn't mean to bore you to pieces with my bio, what an idiot, lol. I should have checked things out, but wow I thought this was a nice little chat line- NOT!