I am one of the millions of uninsured Americans, not by choice but because I can not afford it and Pennsylvania is a republican state so they oppose the affordable care act because it was passed by President Obama. After a very stressful week that almost saw us lose our home and in an attempt to save it I used every penny we had leaving us with no money for food or medicine and having 2 disabled parents I take care of (one a veteran disabled since 2004 one battling cancer since 2012) the stress was finally more than I can handle.
I broke out in hives, it was itchy and painful but I ignored it knowing how much a trip to the ER costs but yesterday my chest felt like it was about to explode. My heart felt like someone put it in a vice and was squeezing as tight as possible. I could no longer ignore the signs so went to the local emergency room (part of the hospital system that left my parents disabled because of their inept doctors and terrible care) and after a 20 minute wait to see a doctor first I got the nurse.
Nurse came in and took my vitals, blood pressure was 150/98 he said "well that's not good". After he left the doctor came in and at no time got withing 2 feet of me, he looked at my rash from a distance and said that looks like hives, I will prescribe a steroid for that. He then started to leave and I said what about my heart and his response was "it's probably acid reflux and not really anything to worry about" and he left. The nurse came back about 10 minutes later with a steroid prescription for the hives and not one word about the chest pains or high blood pressure.
This visit will cost me over 200.00 out of pocket and the doctor didn't do a damn thing and no one looked into my heart issue. So now I'm home with high blood pressure, heart pain and a painfully itchy rash. I can't help but wonder if I had health insurance if the visit would have went different. They didn't even ask if the rash was because something I might be allergic to or anything just called it hives and hoped my heart condition wasn't anything serious.
On the slip they gave me when I left my only 2 problems were listed as
Hives
Being overweight
No mention of my heart issues. The minute they hear you have no insurance it's like you're a leper or have ebola and they want to avoid you like the plague. America may have great healthcare if you can afford it but god forbid you have the nerve to get sick without it. Thank the gods i'm feeling better today as there are people who count on me, the stress is higher than ever but hopefully it doesn't make me any sicker because lord knows I won't get the help I need and will end up just another one of the thousands of Americans who die each year because of lack of insurance or health insurance decisions.
for more information on my situation check out http://www.gofundme.com/...