No one should be punished for getting sick, yet in our current health care system that is exactly what is happening. I am a 32 year old wife and mother of two, and a little over a month ago I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. As devastating as the diagnosis was, it pales in comparison to life living with MS. Every day I’ve had to endure pain, numbness, a lost of motor control, dizziness, and the worst part I’ve had to suffer hasn’t even been the MS; it’s been fighting with my insurance company.
Multiple Sclerosis, as it turns out, is an expensive diagnosis. Not only are the tests involved in determining MS, extensive, they are costly, and so are the treatments that are available. I need medication in order to suppress pain, combat fatigue, manage anxiety, not to mention the disease modifying drugs which are not cures but could slow the progression of the illness to the point where I may still be able to walk in ten, fifteen, or twenty years from now. These medications are my ticket to being able to live a normal life, to wake up in the morning pain free, and to go about my day feeling–– human.
However my insurance company doesn’t seem to care about that, it’s the bottom line that matters. The medications I need are expensive, and they don’t want to have to pay. They’ve even gone so far as to fish around for other reasons why I might have needed such costly medical exams and treatments. Did I have an accident? If so, who was the other person? What was their information? They do that because they are looking for other people to blame, and then hand over the bill.
Where does the punishment come in to play? Every day I’ve had to spend in pain because I couldn’t get my medication. The time spent on the phone fighting the bureaucracy to get approval for what I needed. The feeling of guilt as the bills started pouring in, knowing the strain it’s putting on my family’s finances. Spending $100 on a thirty day supply of medication, knowing that next month I will have to find a way to pay for the next $100. I didn’t ask to get sick. My life has been turned upside down ever since the diagnosis, but instead of being given the tools I need to start living with MS, I feel like I’m being punished. How dare I come down with an, incurable, autoimmune disease. How dare I turn to the insurance company who’s been taking my money for years without having to pay out what I’ve put in, and ask them to step up and provide the services they agreed to cover. How dare I moan and groan about the cost of my medication. Didn't I realize there's a recession going on?
The point is, nobody should have to feel guilty for being sick. No one should have seriously consider going without the treatment they need in order to be less of a financial burden to their family. Finally, no one should have to fight bureaucrats to get what they need.
This is why we need health care reform, and why bipartisan arguing needs to end so we can come up with real solutions.
