Facing a Lifetime of Debt Just Because I Got Sick
Published: October 14, 2009
According to a study by the American Journal of Medicine, more than six in every ten bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. I believe them.
After my emergency appendectomy in July, which was very straight forward, no complications, and for which I spent less than 1 ½ days in the hospital – I now owe more than $25,000 in medical bills. The private insurance, for which we pay nearly $400 each month covered less than 10% of the total costs associated with my hospitalization. I must not have read the fine print, or misunderstood the legal jargon in the contract, because what I thought was a reasonable policy turned out to be a total rip-off.
So now what? Where are we supposed to come up with that much money? Let’s say we could get a $100 a month payment plan. It would still take more than 20 years to pay it off. And the docs and hospital deserve better. I received excellent care.
My experience illustrates the goal of the health insurance reform now being debated in Washington. “Obamacare,” as obstructionists like to call it, is NOT socialized medicine or the first step down that slippery slope. Its aim is simply to ensure that all Americans can purchase insurance at a reasonable price that provides a minimum standard of care. That’s what I thought I was paying for, but obviously wasn’t.
Of course I’ve been researching other insurance options since getting the news from my current provider. The best I’ve been able to come up with for my husband and myself - both over 60, in good health, no pre-existing conditions, and never smoked – requires a premium of $607 per month and a pays 80% of medical costs after I have already spent $7,000 out of pocket. The next best plan has a $455 per month premium, but a $12,000 deductible.
But I can’t afford either one. The monthly premiums are more per month than I spend on food. If I had $7000 laying around, I’d use it towards my existing medical bills. This is an untenable situation – not just for me, but for the nearly one out of six Americans, have no medical coverage, and no money to buy it with.
We need health care insurance reform, and we need it now.
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