It's a nightmare

Negotiation and compromise has left us with a bill that doesn't even begin to meet the health-care needs of this nation. Every day many Americans wake up to the nightmare of battling cancer or other critical conditions without health insurance. I am all too familiar with living this nightmare. We had health insurance through my husband's employer when I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. I had only completed two out of six months of chemotherapy after surgery when my husband's job was cut and we lost our health insurance.

We even had to fight to get COBRA. I remember standing at the reception desk of a clinic using the phone to reach someone at my husband's ex-company who could confirm we had COBRA so the radiologist would see me. We had to pay thousands in COBRA payments and still thousands more in co-pays. Fighting for health coverage was as brutal as fighting for my life.

We need health-care reform so this doesn't continue to happen to people who live and work in America. We need the public option so private insurers don't have all the say about our coverage, but the public option has been negotiated away in an effort to pass the bill. The goal, Senator Reid tells us, is to pass the bill. Funny, I thought the goal was to ensure everyone in America had access to health care, just like the senators have. With all of the compromise and negotiation to win 60 votes, the most significant part of health-care reform was lost.

By Kathy-Ellen Kups  |  December 22, 2009; 10:33 PM ET  | Category:  Health Care Reform , Insurance Save & Share:                 
Previous: Older middle-class Americans locked out of reform | Next: Welcome to American politics

The comments to this entry are closed.