Tell your health care crisis that is personally happening RIGHT NOW

[zulchzulu]

With all the discussion on health care and what needs to be done, what can be done and what won't be done, it would be interesting to see others share what health care crisis they or their loved ones are going through right now and what is happening for better or worse.

For me, I have my mother who was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Her first doctor wanted to remove the bladder and have her using a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. The second opinion provided a more holistic approach and the doctor was irate that a doctor wanted to rip put an organ and even endanger the patient (my mother) with the very strong possibility that the cancer would spread sooner and quicker.

After a lot of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, my mother was given a good bill of health and feels very lucky she made it through the storm.

On the other hand, I have a niece who has been fighting cancer for a couple years and the treatment has essentially stopped due to her being too weak to go through the rigorous chemotherapy and other treatments to stop the cancer, which has spread throughout her body. She may die next week, next month or sometime in the near future. Her parents have tried everything they could to stop what appears to be the inevitable. It's sad as hell and I'm a wreck and cannot even imagine the heartbreak that my sister and her family are going through.

Both my mother and my niece have what would be considered "cadillac" plans and both have gotten top-drawer advisement and medical treatment.

If they were more middle-class or didn't have coverage from being in the military, I can only imagine the lack of coverage or the lack of money to get good treatment that would have made the story even more tragic.

[Skink]

1. I'd like to go to the doctor but I can't afford the 400 to walk in the door.

I have very affordable quality health insurance from my employer which I have used in a dire situation. Auto accident. It covered 90 percent of a bill that was in the thousands. I had to use it then but now a few years later I'm looking at the deductible and saying I can't just go to the doctor.
I've had an ear infection for about three months. My dentist just prescribed antibiotics for a ruptured wisdom tooth that was removed, this probably was the cause of the infection, if it turns out I needed that prescription all along it would have been nice to go to the doctor.

[zulchzulu]

2. A perfect reason for the Public Option....

....or Single Payer....

I wish you well, my friend.

[annabanana]

3. My son "fell off" our family plan.

He graduated from college last Spring, and has yet to find a job with ANY kind of bennies. He's asthmatic and has developed an eating disorder that is breaking his (and our) hearts. If this health care bill passes, we can get him re-covered and treated properly.

[JTFrog]

4. I have three sons in this position.

All working temporary type positions that offer no benefits. My youngest fell off my insurance in January. All three could be put back on my insurance if the health bill passes, without it costing me a penny more in premiums as our plan costs the same to cover all dependents whether just spouse or spouse and children.

My granddaughter was born into the world without insurance. The pregnancy and delivery were covered but that was it. My daughter had to purchase a separate policy for her because her employer didn't offer family coverage. Thankfully she just got a new job that covers her entire family at the employers expense. She left a really good paying upwardly mobile job to take the other one so her family would be covered.

*sigh*

[annabanana]

5. This must pass. . . . n/t