I've lived without health care and almost got broken by an ER visit (it cost more than a month's rent, utilities, and food and I was living hand to mouth at the time)... so it can be very hard to do without. Luckily I was young and healthy then and was able to eventually pay it back. I'm very lucky to have good health insurance now when I need it even more, but there are so many who don't and it leaves them in a very bad place. Not being able to afford regular checkups can mean a problem gets super bad before it's treated.
I had recurring strep while I was without health care and had very little money; an EMT friend of mine forced me to go to the doctor (which I knew I couldn't afford) because he knew that if I let it go too long the strep could damage my heart or even kill me; I'd just been waiting for it to go away while it got worse and worse. I went to a cheap doc in the box and paid for the bill out of food money. The doctor took pity on me and gave me a lot of samples of antibiotics so I could kick the infection -- that was probably $200 if I'd gotten a prescription, a very hefty sum for me at the time. I was so happy when I was able to get a full time job with health insurance; then whenever I got strep I could go in and tested for it and get antibiotics. After years it finally went away for good.
I also still have some of my wisdom teeth because they grew in during the "no insurance" phase and by the time I could afford to get them pulled it was more trouble than it was worth getting rid of them; they just took the two uppers which were causing more problems and said to keep an eye on the lowers for infection. The whole time they were growing in I just put up with the pain because I had no other choice; my mouth ached all the time and I had to hope there weren't any real bad impactions or abcesses because I just couldn't do anything about it (I was lucky and there weren't; they were just growing in sideways and pushing on all my other teeth.)
I think everyone deserves the kind of peace of mind you can get from being able to get necessary health care when you need it, and not having to be afraid because you're paying food or rent (or money you don't even have) for it.
Note that I wasn't really poor through even the leanest times -- I was making food and rent and wouldn't have qualified for medicaid. I even had a car for some of it but needed it to get to my jobs, some of which were driving jobs. I was lucky it never broke down when I needed it! I just didn't have any money left over for uninsured health bills, all of which were huge compared to my monthly budget; there was a time during 1989 or 1990 (California recession) that I was eating on $50/month. Mmm, rice and beans. There was a time when I didn't have extra money for food but I traded cooking for all of my housemates for them buying me my share of the food. But I paid for the roof over my head and after I paid off that ER bill I didn't go back into debt. That time really made me appreciate how much better off I was when I was able to get better work and finally get to a doctor and dentist.
Reversal for FIBRO
Flit,You have made me all the more happy that we have health and dental and eye insurance through my DH's job. It was hard coming up with the extra money for my knee surgery two years ago but I shudder to thing about having that $40,000 plus bill without insurance.
I know there needs to be sweeping changes to our health care system but this (DG)is not the place to discuss that.
Ouch, $40,000... I know that what you had to pay must have been incredibly hard too. And I am definitely grateful that we *can* get that kind of complicated treatment now. We're not that long out from a time when we couldn't fix something as fragile as knees and just hoped they'd heal on their own, pretty much.
And you are right, Ponditis. It's very good that a lot of things that just weren't possible even fifteen years ago are now, and we're learning more and more all the time.
edited because I was a bad girl and was discussing stuff that should not be discussed here on DG
This message was edited Jan 26, 2004 11:52 AM
FYI:
Guaifenesen is now over the counter. A few months ago you had to get a prescription for the higher dosages. If you do take it (for whatever reason, I take it for post nasal drip) then you have to drink lots of water as that is what activates it into working.