These stories come from the real people who live with a broken health care system. Some have health insurance and some do not. Many of these stories suggest potential solutions* that lead to quality, affordable health care we can count on. One thing we all agree on is that the we cannot trust the insurance industry to fix themselves. To learn more about what Health Care for America Now stands for read our Statement of Common Purpose.
We wanted to give you a chance to speak for yourself, in your own voice, about the need for Health Care for America Now. Do you have something to say? Tell us your story.
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C Roebuck
Burbank, CA
For more than 25 years my husband worked primarily as an editor in television. He was not a member of the union, though, as he worked for production companies that create product for cable network shows. Those shows utilize directors that they call "producers" in order to evade Directors' Guild requirements. The editors they hire are not union members either. They are well paid, but raising a family in Los Angeles takes a lot of money, especially if you're a one income family trying to maintain a position in the middle class (fancy car, no - small rented house in a good school area, yes). Everything was manageable until he was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 47. Through a string of fortunate circumstances, he was able to receive treatment at Cedars Sinai - surgery that saved his life. MediCal (state funded) paid the bills. But there was no possibility of follow up treatment. If he was able to work, the MediCal would stop. If he couldn't work, we'd lose our place to live. So he returned to work, unable to purchase insurance (except for a state-funded program that cost well over $1,000 a month, which we couldn't afford). And so it went, until he started feeling less than well in the summer of '07. At the time, he was editing a social issue documentary that we had spent years producing. We had a grant to support us at a minimal level while he worked on the project, but we went many thousands of dollars in the hole. The film was finished in October and at the beginning of December my husband collapsed from the cancer that had metastacized to his brain. He was treated at the county hospital (not an experience anyone or their family ever wants to have - trust me!), and though the staff was willing, they had few resources and less time. For weeks he lay in an ICU ward, before being discharged to our home, where he died in March. Could he have been saved? Perhaps if he had been diagnosed 2 years ago, when the tremors started. But that would have required a MRI scan, at a cost of a couple thousand dollars, and we were trying to dig out from under the debt we acquired during his initial illness. Perhaps if we'd had insurance before his initial diagnosis. But I also hear about many people with non-group policies who pay their premiums faithfully for years, only to be dumped or denied treatment when they fall ill. The system we have forces people into the position of wage slaves, chained to their jobs for the sake of an illusory security. To exist outside the system requires nerves of steel - and occasionally the ultimate sacrifice. Count me in for reform.
*Health Care for America Now is not responsible for the content of these stories. These stories are submitted by individuals in the online audience and have been edited in some cases. Health Care For America Now does not endorse any of the solutions or policy positions suggested in the content of these stories. Health Care for America Now is a coalition of organizations that agree to the Statement of Common Purpose.
See our coalition partner list.
Read the Statement of Common Purpose.
