... Cause they've got you by the you-know-what.
Natalie Miller-Moore contests that health insurance is not just an issue for the elderly or the poor -- we young and unpredictably-employed are every bit as much at the mercy of the HMOs and PPOs.
By Natalie Miller
210 west Content Editor [send email]
As medical insurance becomes a political issue yet again, I’d like to put it my two cents.
It was always something I’d taken for granted – both of my parents worked hospitals, and we got free health care. Granted, we had to go to the Primary Care department, where there was a group of doctors, rather than one single physician and we saw whoever was available. Since I never saw the same physician regularly, I still don’t have that demand to see whatever physician I want, damn the HMOs.
When I was restricted geographically to the health center at college is when the expense and the bureaucracy became apparent. Every year I had to get my annual gynecological exam twice because my hospital at home wouldn’t accept the results from the health center and vice versa. I had to charge the health center fees to my bursar account; it wasn’t covered because it wasn’t at a satellite hospital and wasn’t an emergency. I would be covered by my parents insurance until I turned 22.
As I graduated, many of my peers were worried about getting jobs, and getting health insurance with them or until they were gainfully employed. I was off to Ireland – not only was I covered out of the country by my parents’ insurance, Ireland has free socialized health care for its residents. So two paradoxes there – I was not covered by my parents insurance 2 hours away at Bowling Green, but was 2,000 miles away, and the socialized health care was great for everyone, but not me. As a non-national, I had to pay by the visit. I only had one occasion where I might have needed it – when I got a tiny piece of glass stuck in my finger at the bar where I worked. The skin had grown over it, and my 3 American roommates performed surgery the old fashioned way. Meaning, after I had drank a bottle of wine, one of them distracted me while the other two went at it with tweezers. It worked – old-timey medicine at its best. But admittedly, a risky thing to do to avoid paying 60 quid. Being young makes it seem easy to take risks with your health.
Finally I got a grown-up job back in Cleveland after being home for four months. Besides dismal wages as a reporter, I had to wait for 6 months to be covered by the company’s health plan. The COBRA plan would have cost me a week’s wages, and I was barely scraping by, so I forewent that “luxury.” The six months turned to seven because it was the first of the month after your six month anniversary. The benefits woman seemed to have no sympathy.
About four months into the job, I had severe pain in my left foot. I thought maybe I had sprained it somehow. I wondered if it was broken. The pain continued for a week. I asked at a paramedic at the firehouse to look at it – he said, “Go get it checked out.” I said “Thanks.” And didn’t – I absolutely couldn’t afford it. It began to dawn on me that not being able to afford it now could have serious consequences. I looked it up in medical books. I hopped around at work trying to avoid putting pressure on it. I called a friend of a friend who was in podiatry school and described my symptoms. He said he thought it was a bunion developing, which is the bone pushing outward, and once it stopped, it would hurt less. That’s what it was. It was resolved eventually, but I spent a lot of time being angry about being outside the system, and feeling helpless.
Then in a life-changing move, my husband and I relocated to Virginia. I was trapped by my contract in a temp job for four months, again with no insurance. And my husband’s insurance was either individual or family, a steep price again. More insurance limbo. Then I got hired on at my work, with health insurance but no sick days. I tried to be grateful, but wound up edgy about that, too. Is it that wild to think that staying home for one day might help you rebound? That staying home might prevent the rest of the office from being sick? Does no one have respect for health? Does it have to be about production and efficiency and restriction?
So, one thing I am sure of in all this: I do not believe medicine should be practiced for profit. People should be paid what they are worth, and the equipment and facilities upgraded. Profit squeezes things that aren’t meant to be squeezed, and I think we are all worse for it. There need to be ways that people are encourage to be healthy and promote wellness rather than only using medical care for extreme sickness. All the plans and insurance and restrictions complicate a simple matter – people need health care.
Until our society makes moves toward equitable and affordable health care for everyone, how can we rage about worker loyalty or productivity? It’s hard to think about doing your job when your foot hurts, or you can’t take your medication because you can’t buy it. It’s not just an issue for the elderly. And from my experiences in the past few years, I can see it’s not just an issue for the poor. It’s an issue for the full-time employee as well. Until we fix that, what costs will mount and what will be lost?