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.
If we want everyone to be able to get healthcare, which has been the law since Reagan signed EMTALA into law, how do we do that without paying for it? We either stop providing healthcare to those who can't afford it, or people who can afford it have to chip in for those who can't, there is no other way of doing it that abides by the basic laws of math. What would you suggest?
You avoided my question. Do you want to force rich people to give poor people houses, cars, food, clothing, and college tuition?
Wrong. The Constitution requires all revenue bills to start in the House, and their health reform plan involves revenue. The Democrats took a passed bill from the house : "Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009" and gutted it while inserting Obamacare. I have a link for the roll call of the Senate and the House after they gutted it and inserted Obamacare. No GOP member in either the Senate or the House voted for it. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr3590#summary/oursummary
Yet Mitt Romney, the republican candidate against Obama way back when. During his time as Governor of Massachusetts signed into law legislation very simlar to what is now the ACA
Completely false. Romneycare is 70 pages long. Obamacare is 906 pages long. Saying they are similar is like saying the US Constitution is similar to War and Peace.
Specializes in E/R, Med/Surg, PCU, Mom-Baby, ICU, more.
The ACA does not fund abortions and actually adds more requirements to keep them from being funded by those who don't want to contribute. If you have evidence to the contrary please provide it.
If you are attacking me for making a helpful suggestion, you either are confused, or have some issues. End of.
You said no one is forcing people to do anything. Are rich people forced to pay income tax? Are Americans forced to pay a fine if they refuse Obamacare????
Specializes in E/R, Med/Surg, PCU, Mom-Baby, ICU, more.
The total cost? About $12 for the antibiotics I needed on discharge.
I dont feel remotely bad that the tax payer carried the cost for that. Its what the system is set up for. To provide healthcare and assistance when people need it
How about showing this magical medical insurance policy that has no co-pays and deductibles! Sounds like medicaid!
I dont feel remotely bad that the tax payer carried the cost for that. Its what the system is set up for. To provide healthcare and assistance when people need it
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.
No they weren't dropping but many of the poor, at least in Tennessee, were not and are still not eligible for medicaid. The eligibility here is ridiculous. It's not based on income so the fact that I was unable to work, had NO income did not make me eligible for medicaid and I know many in the same boat (not nessessarily unemployed but lower income) who are unable to qualify for help
Turtles2
135 Posts
You avoided my question. Do you want to force rich people to give poor people houses, cars, food, clothing, and college tuition?