Today I was listening to the radio, yes, liberal and progressive radio, when a caller of conservative leanings called into to say he didn't mind the high cost of health insurance, that his deductible would probably, on top of payments, be around 15k per year BEFORE he got any care of anyone of his family. He has the money; he doesn't care.
The host was shocked at the cost and I was almost ready to call in and say, hey, you ain't heard anything yet.
We too had one of the "new" policies, which cost the two of us 450 payments per month together for two years. Then payments skyrocketed to 585 than to 650. We never thought what might happen if we did get sick and have to pay, on top of these payments, the deductible. Which for our Assurant policy was 10k out of pocket. This meant that in order to get one dollar of health care, we had to pay almost 22k. Monthyly payments of say 600 X 12 months = 7200 per year plus 10k totally 17, 200 before any care.
Then I got ovarian cancer and the monthly rate went to close to 800 for the two of us plus the 10k deductible bringing us to 19. 600. Throw in drugs and physicians not in the network and 22k per year smacked us in the face BEFORE any kind of "health insurance" paid.
If I had not had this insurance, I would be dead. My cancer was a bad one and with insurance I was able to go through two major surgeries including one Stanford University. (I wonder what I would do now.)
The recession hit just as I was recovering. My husband and I are both self employed and older, I just turned 60, even with years of training and experience, I have found no work. He occasionally, due to his excellent skills, finds work. But much of this last year he has not had income. So of course health insurance had to go.
Now I am not able to get the follow up I could use. I am gratefully on some charity services from our local hospital although I still can't afford the CT scan that is recommended. Never in my life did I, a doctor's daughter, with my own doctoral work, expect to be unemployed and uninsured.
Obama is trying now to finally get the message out after being too naive to the right wing. When you think of one of the major sources of the uninsured, think of us, those who have worked hard but had no shelter of a company to pay our insurance. Small businesses, the self employed, have been destroyed by the insurance industry. It is time to change this NOW. Health insurance is an important step towards restoring the middle class. Let's get it done now.
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