Barbara is 52 years old, a college graduate who has worked since she was 14 years old at one job or another. In her entire life she's been without a paying job three times that she can recall: once, when her children were babies and she was lucky enough to be able to be a full-time at-home parent, then twice briefly in the last decade due to layoffs.
Barb was a math major in college who planned to be a math teacher, but in her senior year she took a computer science class and discovered she had a knack for programming and her professor, who was also a manager with a local technology firm, encouraged her to pursue the field. So she did and for twenty years she had no regrets. Her career moved along nicely, she was able to take a two year break to start her family and return without a hitch, and all was well.
Then the software jobs started to disappear, being moved first to contracting firms within the country but out of the company, then to firms outside of the country. It wasn't just Barb's employer, it was happening in other companies, too. Barb wasn't worried, she'd been with her employer a long time and everyone in management knew and respected her. But then the company was sold and management changed and before Barb could update her resume she was jobless. She got a good severance package, though, and was sure she'd be fine.
It hasn't worked quite as Barb expected.
The first bump in the road was that Barb had a hard time finding a job. She found work through a staffing firm, doing contract assignments for less than half of her previous salary. Less than half was better than zero and better than unemployment, so she did her best, kept looking for something better, and carried on.
The second bump in the road was that there was a miscommunication with Barb's former employer in how the COBRA payments would be handled, the result of which was that the first payment Barb made was received by the insurance company one day late. Under COBRA laws, there is absolutely no grace period, so Barb's health insurance was terminated on the day payment was due. Barb didn't find out she was without insurance until three months later – more miscommunication – by which time Barb had incurred thousands of dollars in medical expenses which she thought were covered by insurance.
The third bump in the road had also come along – Barb had developed some serious medical problems. So serious, in fact, that she had to undergo emergency open heart surgery with valve replacement.
The loss of insurance, decrease in income, and large medical bills forced Barb to make drastic life changes. Her savings were wiped out to pay her medical bills and she couldn't maintain her home with her decreased earnings, so she was forced to sell it. She moved into a smaller (rental) home and scaled back her life tremendously. Even so, she can't afford the doctor visits required for even routine checkups. The costs are too high.
Barb is convinced "Medicare for All" is the healthcare model this country needs. We were talking about her job search recently and she said she has applied for a job with the company she's been assigned to for the last few years but believes her health history might be the only reason they wouldn't hire her. She said:
They have great health insurance. But they know my story; I was there when I went through the whole valve thing. If they hire me they've got to know I'm high risk and I could drive up the cost of their health care. It's stupid, really. Why does the employer have to pay for insurance? I do good work but I don't know if I can do enough good work to offset what my medical costs might be. Maybe I should just be shot because I might cost too much to keep alive? How sad is that?
I hear Barb's question: If it costs too much to medically insure some people, then does it cost too much to employ some people?
Maybe that is the argument for shifting the burden of healthcare from the employer to the federal or state government. I don't know. All I know is that I believe everyone should be entitled to basic healthcare – it should not be considered a luxury for the rich or the properly employed. People who have worked hard their entire lives should not have to lose everything they have to pay for healthcare.
Cross-posted at Newsvine