I just published a diary about moving my money away from BofA and it got me to thinking about how incredibly lucky I am. My intent isn't to boast, but rather to talk about how much I wish I could give this luck to everyone else who is in such desperate need of it.
18 months ago I published a diary about becoming unemployed and then employed again in a short space of time. I've given thanks every single day for the job I have, and given as much as I can of my time & money to try and provide for people not so fortunate. What keeps me up at night is thinking about how easy it would be for me to be on the opposite side of this. Simply losing health insurance would do it.
My husband is disabled. He has a neuro-muscular disease that requires an incredible amount of medication to keep him going. Even with the health insurance I get from my job, it's half of a low-priced new car per year in copays. Thankfully, I manage to pay it and we keep going.
The thing is, I look at my salary and can't help but wonder how the vast majority of people actually manage to keep it together. While I'm not anywhere near the 1%, I make a damn good amount per year. But all it would take to make us homeless is a single medical emergency. Not even a really major one, or one that would require long term care. If I don't work we're done. I will never be able to work at a non-corporate job and risk having to pay individual rates for health insurance. Never.
I suddenly feel like I'm whining and I really don't want to do that. I'm blessed to be where I am, do what I do, and have a job that lets my family stay relatively healthy. My hope is that everyone can be as fortunate and I'll keep working to make that happen.