GRATITUDE: I知 With Hillary Because Obamacare Saved My Life [View all]
GRATITUDE: Im With Hillary Because Obamacare Saved My Life
By Susan Madrak
http://bluenationreview.com/im-with-hillary-because-obamacare-saved-my-life/
I remember the exact moment when I first started loving Hillary. It was because she cared about my teeth. It was during Bill Clintons first term, and I was reading about the ongoing political fight over Hillarycare. The newspaper story said insurance company bigwigs were angry with Hillary because she had insisted that dental coverage be included. I dont have the exact quote, but it was words to the effect of: Your teeth are part of your body, arent they? You cant separate them. She pointed out that children with bad teeth couldnt eat healthy food, or concentrate on their schoolwork. And I thought, Wow. I love her.
When youre a member of the working poor, teeth are a big problem. Chances are, you need at least some work you cant afford; you probably live with some pain when you eat. (In Pennsylvania, where I live, if youre eligible for Medicaid, you can get dental work. But if youre a member of the working poor, well, good luck.) I was in my twenties before I even knew you could get a shot of Novocaine before a filling; the free city health center only used it when they yanked a tooth. And braces? In a family of five kids, that was just a dream. Even though Hillarycare didnt succeed, it deeply impressed me that someone in the White House actually cared about people like me. And Hillary started the national discussion that finally came to fruition after the 2008 presidential election. Obama was elected, and the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) passed by a hair. At first I thought it could have been a better plan, that it was cobbled together by competing interests. But I also knew it was just the beginning, because you cant improve something that doesnt exist.
Then, along with millions of others, I lost a good job during the Great Recession. I managed to pay my very expensive COBRA coverage until that option finally ran out. And thats when I started to get frequent bouts of acute pancreatitis from gallstones. Each time I showed up in the ER, the doctors told me I needed immediate gallbladder surgery or I might die; every time I told them I had no insurance, it was no longer an emergency and they sent me home. It was still two years until Obamacare kicked in, and I resigned myself me, this smart, talented, witty person who still intended to write the Great American Novel to being just another anonymous statistic who died from lack of medical care. God, that was depressing.
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