This evening I watched President Obama's address to Congress about Health Care reform. I wanted to write on this topic NOT to pick a certain side, but to discuss the importance of health care in general. In no way am I saying I have the answers or that I lean to the left or right, all I'm saying is I'm gracious I have health insurance.
I'm so grateful that as I battle cancer, I have great doctors, nurses, and staff helping me along the way. I know I'm still early in my treatment and I haven't received my bills and insurance letters yet, but I can't imagine trying to go through this fight alone. Fighting any disease requires so many different doctor appointments, medicines, surgeries, and lots more, and if you didn't have financial help along the way, it would be a very dire situation. I think facing that fight would be just as hard as fighting the disease that's making you sick.
So my heart and sympathies go out to those people who do have to fight for their life uninsured; I can't imagine what you're going through. My thoughts also go out to those people who have run into problems with their health insurance not covering certain medical issues. I'm learning that this is a problem that has affected so many people in our nation. It is disturbing to hear that many people can quote their own stories with insurance battles in the past. I know for me I had my own insurance battles while I lived in Wyoming and I was battling ITP. Since Wyoming is such a rural state, my insurance company would not cover any of the doctors in the region. Therefore, when I had to have my spleen removed I had to use a doctor that was out of the network and pay more.
However, as I remember that time, about a year and half ago, I'm grateful that I'm no longer in that same situation. It was a time of tears, frustration and anxiety that I hope no one else will ever have to endure.
Danielle
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Danielle,
ReplyDeleteI have been praying for you and for healing of your cancer!
I hear ya on this one...I am 36, a mother of 8, and relocated to SD 10 months ago. When my husband found a job here we chose not to insure me due to how expensive it the monthly premium is,,,now we wish we had! I have had a swollen lymph node for about 8 months. In June I had a fine needle biopsy done and it came back undiagnostic!!! Right back to square one on finding out what exactly is going on in my neck!
Now we wait til January when open enrollment is available for insurance. Some days I cry that I can't even find out what is going on!!! Even if we did have the money to have more tests done to find out what it is, we sure don't have money to go through anything more if needed. And because of pre existing conditions, I really need to just wait it out.
Health care is certainly a hot topic these days. Of course hindsight is 20/20, I wish we would have just insured me!
May God Bless you during this battle! It's a fight no one should have to indure~
Jamie :)
Hi Danielle-
ReplyDeleteI read this in an article a few years ago, about fighting cancer (or any illness, really) and thought it was an interesting perspective on what the role of illness is in this world:
"I find sometimes that I am almost pining for that stretch of time when everyone dropped everything and we all looked right into one another for the first time....I don't know why we can't find this place under ordinary circumstances, why it seems odd to hug your friend extra long or why people would think you were drunk if you got misty listening to good live music. But I do know the role of illness in this world. Those who dare to show up on the doorstep of disease are the ones who get to fill their lungs with that sublime air....Sometimes I choke up, in the best of ways."
Good luck to you.