Saturday, October 13, 2012

To everybody who is voting in Wisconsin especially: please read this! Whether you agree or not in the end, just read it!!!


As someone who has been through plenty of ordeals with the medical community, I was compelled to write this for an alternative newspaper on campus. The political race is tightening in Wisconsin and I'm registered here to vote for the first time ever. My treatment here has been very lax and frankly ignorant at times in comparison to what I've experienced in Minnesota; my home State (it pains me a little that I won't be able to vote no on proposition 9 there that will deny gay rights if passed). Anyway, I don't expect people to be swayed to change their vote just by reading this but I want them to know what I know. You might be surprised to discover what it's like to be sick and that you must fight for insurance. I am currently awaiting the decision by my health providers for an extension on "temporary disability" so my parents don't have to pay expensive premiums to keep me on their plan. I am 26. I met Biden and I believe in the Obama platform. Thank you for reading!

Obamacare: More than just a policy

                Disease. It can strike at any time regardless of a person's age or financial situation. Also, you don’t have to look sick to be sick. I have learned this time and time again by watching my own family suffer through various ailments. My little sister has an incurable autoimmune disorder called Hypogammaglobulinemia. Beginning as early as her years as a toddler, my sister had to be driven frequently to the emergency room by my mom, due to high fevers. At the same time, my sister's twin has been diagnosed with Autism, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia over the years. Do you know what it’s like to wake up to your sister screaming bloody murder and have no way to comfort her? Suffice to say there has never been a lack of medical bills or stress in our home, yet it used to be manageable. My dad used to have a decent job and we were all covered by a family health plan. Despite our best efforts, the rub remained that the more we grew up, our ailments and debt grew with us.

               Following the trend of most Americans, we went to college, worked over the summers, and took out student loans. I planned just as so many others working toward their degrees at this university do, to graduate after four years. Then, the unexpected happened. I became ill myself. For clarification, I didn’t wake up one day and realize I had a rare underlying illness that would cost my family loads of cash and destroy my ability to do much of anything. In a slow and cruel process, my body and mind deteriorated over the years. What began with "mild Depression”, fatigue, forgetfulness, and insomnia, eventually catapulted my condition into a scenario entailing a loss of both enrollment and employment, while my body gained in pounds. My family made jokes about “chipmunk cheeks” and a “beer belly” at first. On the inside I was reeling. I no longer resembled or felt like myself and couldn't understand why. I wasn't even aware of the full extent of what was happening to me, as my muscles were silently wearing away and my blood pressure skyrocketed.

                It turns out I had Cushing’s Syndrome, which was brought on from an adrenal gland tumor. The tumor was over-secreting Cortisol, a hormone controlling a person's sleep patterns and stress levels. As a result all of the nutrients I ate were stored as fat, instead of rejuvenating my body. My diurnal clock began to run on a Chinese time zone and the other adrenal gland started to shrink; my immune system was on the fritz. By the time we learned of it all, I was already 25. Thankfully, President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, or more affectionately known as "Obamacare," had become law. The surgery my body required was rare, expensive, and performed by specialists who required a person to have some form of health insurance to even apply for it. I would have had to pay out-of-pocket, but since Obamacare allows a child to be covered under their parent's health plan until the age of 26, I received the operation I needed.

                Since the surgery that removed the infected gland, I've continued to rack up medical bills stemming from half a dozen trips to the emergency room due to anemia, fainting, vomiting, a severe prescription drug reaction, and other secondary complications. At those times, I was afraid the pain would never stop, but my fear of affording my bills far outweighs any of my nightmarish experiences. I have spent more on health care than school loans. I feel powerless in the face of the extreme debt I am putting my parents in. My dad, already 61 years-old, works overtime just to get by. With every chance I get to see him, I wonder if that rapidly aging face will ever get the chance to see retirement. From the time I was diagnosed, I continue to struggle finding my own employment. Going to all my classes is a struggle in and of itself.

                The current medical system and health care insurance industry have been frighteningly callous towards my family. I can’t believe someone my age would have to go through what I have in the United States of America. Because I am 26, I am now hanging onto the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by a thread with the mantra of “temporary disability” as my savior. This could be revoked at any time my insurance company decides I’m too much of a liability. One of the secondary complications from the Cushing's Syndrome has resulted in the crippling of my gallbladder, which means I am going to have an additional surgery to dispose of it. My disease even falls into the debate over whether birth control should be affordable and accessible;  with my body unable to maintain proper hormone levels, thankfully, Obamacare requires insurance corporations to provide coverage for birth control and other preventative health care services without being charged for additional co-pays and deductibles.

                I broke into tears of gratitude when I met Vice President Joe Biden last week. This election on November 6th means so much to me, as well as so many other students that are all too familiar with these issues. As far as I’m concerned, President Obama has made steps in the right direction. I'm utterly terrified of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Tommy Thompson's plan to transform Medicare into a voucher system that won't come close to covering the full costs of health care. This is the same health care my autistic sister, unable to work or live on her own, depends on just to stay functional and survive.

                Anyone with a pre-existing condition knows that letting a “free market” of corporate monoliths, prioritizing the need to turn a profit over the quality of a patient's health care, decide who's worth treating and who they should refuse care to will simply lead to an increase in patients needing treatment, while the cost of health care continues its ascent and rising health care premiums. I also don’t see why something such as health care, which is one of the basic rights every human being should have access to according to the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights, should be an issue that's simply left up to individual states to decide on. We need to make it federal. We need to make it the law! I didn't write this because I want showers of praise for our struggles. I want change. Not the kind of back-handed, "shop around" change that Romney is proposing. I simply can’t. An insurmountable pile of medical bills shouldn't be a person's only option.

                Your vote isn’t about what’s in your pocketbook. It’s about what’s right for the country and your fellow American. We all get sick. It can happen anytime and anywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, poor, young, old, black, white, gay, straight, religious, or secular. Even as we strive to persevere, my family and I pay income taxes. Mitt Romney has recently doubled down on an arrogant assertion he made earlier this year, when he suggested 150 million Americans, or roughly half the nation, refuse to "take responsibility and care for their lives,""pay no income tax," and continues to generalize about "47%" of America as "dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them. My job is not to worry about those people." Are seniors, veterans, students, and the disabled unworthy of such elitist goods as quality health care? For clarification, I am not in dependence; I am in need of assistance. If Mitt Romney genuinely cared about me becoming a productive member of society capable of paying more in taxes, while consuming less in governmental services, he'd fight for me in a time when I needed his assistance.

                America has fallen behind the rest of the world in its ability to provide equal access to health security. Dreams are dying along with their dreamers, unable to afford their right to life. But...hope remains.  Since the passing of Obamacare less than two years ago, over three million young adults now have health insurance until the age of 26, a number that will continue to rise as the law's provisions are gradually implemented in different states. What may appear as abstract achievements featured on a graph, really serve to represent the immeasurable difference in the hearts of those who have been given some relief in a time of uncertainty and sacrifice. We don’t leave the sick and poor behind. We the people are not leeches. We are human beings and need a helping hand when push comes to shove. This is a challenge that simply fails to measure up to the richest nation in the world. When you or someone you love experiences a health crisis, your first thought doesn't have to be, “how are we going to pay for this?”

                Students have a choice this fall. You still have a choice. Vote.

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