#socialized healthcare
I want to start off by acknowledging how fortunate I am. On top of being in a good place financially, I also have top notch insurance.
But I’d like to tell you a story about how that doesn’t make one shit of a difference in today’s America.
I have a chronic illness (rheumatoid arthritis), and coupled with the asthma I’ve had since childhood, this pair makes getting a cold or the flu a combination of pretty fucking terrible and terrifying. There are times when I’m sick that I worry at any given moment I suddenly won’t be able to breathe. Everywhere I’ve ever lived, the first thing I do is map out hospitals that take my insurance in case I have to rush there for emergency breathing treatments. Sometimes I wake up at 3am with a heavy, congested chest and wonder if I need to wake up my boyfriend to drive me to the emergency room.
Because of these issues, I applied for a nebulizer from my insurance company. A nebulizer is a heavy-duty air compressing unit for asthmatics that delivers an intense dose of medication. From the age of 7 to 24, I used one of these units. I used it so much that I wore out the motor. Getting this nebulizer cut my emergency room visits in half. It was a godsend for my family.
When I was diagnosed with RA, I applied for another unit. I was getting sick all the time due to my compromised immune system, and I wanted to have a nebulizer on hand in case an issue with my asthma arose. Since the age of 28, I’ve applied for a nebulizer 4 times. I have not once been able to get it approved.
Last year, I tried one more time. Why not?! I had brand new insurance! And happily, I managed to get the medicine that goes inside the nebulizer approved! A box of 150 doses of albuterol shipped to my house the same day I got a notice that the nebulizer had NOT been approved.
What. The. Ever. Loving. Fuck.
Why? I have a history of asthma. I have autoimmune. I have 150 vials of albuterol sitting on my front fucking porch! Why?!
The explanation I received was that it wasn’t deemed critical because I could receive a nebulizer treatment at a nearby EMERGENCY ROOM. An emergency room nebulizer treatment would cost me upwards of $300; an at-home nebulizer treatment would cost me 10¢.
Today, I’m sitting here with in the midst of a terrible flu, having finally broken through a 100° fever, and I found myself wondering if I should go to the emergency room for a nebulizer treatment because I’m having trouble breathing. And then, in a desperate daze, I find myself cleaning out my old essential oil diffuser and filling it with liquid albuterol doses and saline solution and sitting in the mist it’s spewing out while I do deep meditation breaths and try to inhale this weird patch of medication provided by a discount Amazon product because the insurance I PAY FOR won’t approve a life-saving machine I need.
This is part of why I care about socialized medicine more than anything else. The number one cause of bankruptcy in America is a bad medical diagnosis. But like I said, I’m fortunate. Unfortunately diagnosed, but fortunate. In a state of frustration and anger, I spent the rest of evening searching for a nebulizer, which I just paid for out of pocket - no problem. But that’s me.
But sure, tell me more about how we need tax cuts for the rich.
