I'm one of the eleven million chronically ill adults in the United States. What follows is a modified letter I sent to my Congressman, Brian Baird. The contents of my letter detail both what insurance companies put people like myself through in the name of profit and my concerns about the kind of life I'm going to lead if meaningful reform is not acheived soon. I have had the fortune of meeting Representative Baird, and I trust him to act in the best interests of his constituents.
I graduated from high school this past June, and I’m beginning my post-secondary education this fall. I’m not going to be financially independent for a few more years, having to rely on Students in Service and the generosity of my parents to pay for my college education, but that’s not my main concern as I cautiously embrace this next step in my life. Instead, my biggest concern as I become an increasingly independent young adult is finding a job that would ensure excellent health care. My current health insurance is provided for by my father’s work, but the increasing premiums have forced us to change insurance providers three times in ten years.
Unlike my peers, my need for health care is not a “what if” scenario, nor is it a “be prepared“ cautionary move, but rather a matter of being healthy next year, and the year after that. I was born in full renal failure eighteen years ago, and with the miracle of modern medicine I left the hospital with stage three renal function, and I now live with Chronic Renal Disease.
When I was born, and for a small number of years afterwards, my parents were poor. My father was completing a Master’s Degree, and my mother worked as a hairdresser. Because of these circumstances, my family was able to rely on Medicare. In fact, it is Medicare that not only allowed my family to keep me alive, but it prevented my family from becoming financially ruined before they even began to have a chance. Now that we are comfortably upper middle class, we can no longer use Medicare. My family and I must rely on insurance companies who have proven themselves willing to throw people like me under the bus.
Since my birth I’ve been on a plethora of medication, both to stabilize my renal function and retard any further failure. I have had minor changes in medication doseages throughout my eighteen years, and I am doing better than expected. My nephrologist is confident that if I continue my medication therapy I will live a long, happy life. Frankly, if I am unable to get my medication due to insurance company greed I will go into renal failure and die.
Our insurance provider has done everything in their power to absolve themselves from fully paying for my health care needs. I have had my Epogen taken away from me because my numbers were deemed “healthy”. This conclusion was not reached by doctors, but rather insurance company employees who read numbers off of a chart. Our insurance provider does not realize, or fails to care, that each time my Epogen is taken away from me, my Anemia goes unchecked, and drastically decreases my quality of life, because my red blood cell count drastically drops, leaving me lethargic and dim witted. Luckily, every time my Epogen has been taken away I’ve been able to get it back. I don’t know how long my luck will last.
My pre-existing condition prevents me from pursuing my dreams with abandon. I can’t buy into any sort of insurance policy without dire financial consequences. I’m worried that I’ll live a life of poverty and ill health, I’m worried I won’t be able to afford to eat, to dress myself, or wash my hair, my dishes, my kitchen floors, because my premiums will eat my wages. I’m scared I’ll end up one of the one in six chronically ill Americans that forgo medication because they cannot afford it, or worse. A chronic disease I acquired, through no fault of my own, prevents me from being respected as a human being, but rather enables health insurance companies to treat me like an expense. I am not a person in the eyes of insurance companies and those that support them. I am a mere expense, something to be thrown out because I dent profit margins. It is a fact that insurance companies profit from denying those, like myself, health care. Being underwritten, and later denied is the only thing chronically ill people, like myself, are guaranteed under this broken system. It is a fact insurance companies have put a price tag on human life, and everyday they operate more people lose their coverage, go bankrupt, or die.
It is not only companies that regard people like myself as second class citizens, but also those who are against meaningful health care reform. I have been told to leave the country, I have been told that I’m lazy, I have been told that I deserve to be sick, I have been told that it’s my Mother’s fault, I have sat and listened to those against health care reform shout “Socialism!” while being ignorant of its meaning. I have heard tea baggers rationalize the actions of the insurance companies. I have sat and listened to two and a half hours of people supporting a system that kills people like me. They’ve got theirs, Jack, and they don’t give a flying fuck about anybody else. They believe every man is an island, and they refuse to listen to reason. I shouldn’t have to pay taxes for someone else to see a doctor! I’ve got mine, Jack, and I don’t give a flying fuck about you. Their rhetoric is hurtful, and I don’t know if they mean to be evil or if they’re that ignorant. They cheer when they hear of insurance executives making millions a month, and I think they believe they’ll be making millions a month someday soon. They’re wrong.
We, as Americans, have a duty to make sure the next generation is better off than we were. To do that, to begin to shape a better country for our children, we must implement meaningful health care reform. No co-ops. No mandates. Single Payer, Medicare for all, a robust Public Option. No man, no woman, no child should be told in anyway, shape, or form, explicitly or implicitly, they are unworthy of living healthy, productive lives.