Up until this year, I had always belonged to the majority group of Americans that are covered by health insurance. Other than a few co-pays here and there and sometimes having to contest various procedures, I didn’t really have to think about the cost of medical treatment. However, this year I got my first taste of the plight uninsured, and it definitely left a lasting impact on the way I view our health care system.
My wife and I got married in August, she was covered by insurance from her work as a nurse, and I, a graduate student, was still able to be covered under my parent’s insurance at that time. When we moved for my schooling, my wife had to leave her job and therefore her insurance behind (we did have the option of paying a large, $1000-plus fee to continue her insurance but couldn’t afford it). My wife did find a job at another hospital by October, but her insurance wouldn’t kick in until the first of the year. During that time that she was uninsured, she contracted a bladder infection – on a Friday afternoon. Being a nurse, she knew the infection was not a big deal if quickly treated with antibiotics, but could become dangerous if allowed to spread.
Knowing this, we stopped at the local urgent care facility (since it was later on a Friday) and asked for the price without insurance – $175 just for the visit, more for any tests (which we knew would have to be done). Being tight on finances, we did what we never would have considered before – we waited over the weekend to find a community health clinic that provides low-cost care for the uninsured. Thankfully my wife’s condition didn’t get worse, and over the weekend she was informed by the hospital that they ran a free clinic for their employees that would be open on Monday (which wouldn’t have been accessible to her if she wasn’t employed – much like insurance). Monday morning we traveled to the clinic where the doctor reprimanded her for waiting so long, but what other choice did we have? Thankfully, this story does have a happy ending, as she got treated and we are both now fully insured.
However, our short stint struggling with being uninsured open our eyes to the plight of many Americans today. With the cost of a simple doctor’s visit well over $100, average, non-medically trained citizens are required to make what can be very serious judgment calls, weighing the seriousness of the condition with the cost of the treatment. This was an aspect of health care we never had to experience before, and having gone through it, we hope never to have to again.
Because of our time being uninsured, we have definitely become more amicable to those who propose to help insure more Americans for a lower cost, and mind you, whenever I got to go to the voting booth with my parents growing up, I never watched them pull anything but the big Republican lever. It is because we now understand the stress, uncertainty, and the gambling with health and life that goes along with being uninsured. The experience was meaningful enough to make us realize that maybe, just maybe, something may need to change.