How "Romney Care" Saved My Life.
At the age of 25, I was working around 35+ hr/wk at $12hr as a Sales Assistant in Portland, Oregon. Additionally, I went to school full-time, on campus, after I got off my shift at 6pm. I paid for everything on my own. Because I did not own a car, I relied on public transportation to get around. Being that my job was in Beaverton, OR and my school in Tigard, OR (both on opposite sides of the city), my days began at 4am and usually ended around midnight. Needless to say, I worked HARD.
One night in November, sorry for the TMI, I was having sex with the man that I was dating and the condom got stuck INSIDE ME. This happens ALL THE TIME to MANY women. Anyway, I freaked, and the next day I went to get the morning after pill. I paid $50 dollars – money out of an already tight budget where I was living paycheck-to-paycheck. Well… the morning after pill didn’t work.
Because I was not a technical ‘full-time’ employee, I was not entitled for health care through my job. My school did not offer health care (which shocked me because the university that I had previously attended in New Hampshire offered health care to all students if you didn’t have any coverage). Naturally, I turned to the State of Oregon for coverage. Turns out that at $12hr and 35+ hrs a week (while paying tuition and all personal expenses including rent, food, transportation, etc) – I MADE TOO MUCH MONEY TO QUALIFY FOR MEDICAID. I WAS TOLD TO QUIT MY JOB. Naturally, I found this to be a ridiculous request. “I live paycheck-to-paycheck, as it is. You’re telling me to go into poverty in order to qualify for health care?” I received a very curt, unfeeling, “Yes.” The social worker explained that due to the overwhelming homeless population and people uninsured, the funding is basically not available to people who have a job and the only way I’ll qualify for anything is to quit my job. I at least appreciated her honesty.
Let me be clear – there is A CULTURE of homelessness in Portland. It’s like a counter-culture movement and it is made up of people my age who are able to work but choose not to. They harassed me daily for money on my way to and from work and school. I received threats if I told them no. Others were clearly addicts or alcoholics of sorts, MANY were mentally ill or war veterans. I do not criminalize the poor, addicts or the mentally ill for the position they are in – everyone has their story, including the kids that were in that very counter-culture who harassed me daily. They are humans first, and I don’t place value on people based on how much they contribute, economically, to our society. Portland treats their homeless population with more dignity than I’ve seen elsewhere. The homeless population is generally covered with free medical care at clinics and there are shelter and rehab clinics everywhere. Yes, there are systemic issues and a very corrupt police force, racism seems alive and well – it’s not all City of Roses. But the point I’m trying make is that Portland is an example of the way this country, at best, treats the poor. It’s also an example of how the working poor are treated, at worst.
Being that I couldn’t quit my job simply for health care coverage, I decided to buy my own policy. Endless hours of applications and questionnaires led me to the same result – DENIED, PREGNANCY IS CONSIDERED A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION. This was the first time I truly, to my core, realized that misogyny is also alive and well. I wasn’t aware that my uterus’s ability to incubate a fetus meant that I had a 'pre-existing condition.’ I wasn’t aware that pregnancy was a 'condition’, as if to say it’s some preventable disease. Why aren’t men denied based on the fact that their sperm, also, creates babies? At this point, I started to feel defeated. I was a 25-year-old woman doing everything 'right,’ working hard towards a life I’ve always wanted to live. I did not want an abortion, something deep within me told me to keep the pregnancy. However, I felt the cards were stacked against me and that this was my only choice…. How’s that for CHOICE, ladies?
I called my mother, living in New Hampshire, crying hysterically. She, being the bad ass that she is, got on the phone and personally called the governor’s office and sent scathing emails. I got an email from the governor’s secretary the day after, stating that I could qualify to put my name in a 'pool’ of applicants that are denied health care coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Based on the information mailed to me, I would be eligible for coverage in August, when I was due. Prenatal care would have to be out of pocket. Ok, so I did the math on those out-of-pocket expenses and decided that if I quit school and make some other changes, I could afford out-of-pocket expenses IF I GOT PRENATAL CARE THROUGH A CLINIC. I called every clinic within a 100-mile radius and ALL, I REPEAT, ALL, were booked through due to high demand. The earliest I could get any care would be at 7 months pregnant. I decided to go to the emergency room to see if I could get any help – I just wanted to know if I and the fetus were safe enough to carry to term. I WAS DENIED CARE. I thought that you could not be denied care in an emergency room? Apparently, this was not an emergency.
This WAS an emergency. I had severe morning sickness that lasted throughout the entire day and night. I was vomiting constantly, unable to keep food down. I ended up having to quit my job due to debilitating illness and fatigue. My bosses were extremely gracious and I was able to leave with a bit of dignity… And so now I had a choice. Become officially homeless… or move back to the East Coast. Again, how’s that for choice, ladies?
My sister lived in Massachusetts. They had recently passed universal mandates in the state and she PROMISED me that I would get care and FAST. Naturally, with everything I had been through, I was skeptical… but with nothing left to lose, I took what final money I had left and went home. I left behind an entire life that I had worked hard for, a dream of living on the West Coast that I had as a child and had finally realized, against all the odds. I left behind friends that I loved DESPERATELY. I left behind the child’s father – who, if you haven’t figured it out yet, dissapeared after I told him I was pregnant. I cried so hard the night before that I was vomiting and barely able to breathe. I cried for the entire 4 hr plane ride home, in front of strangers. I felt incredibly ashamed and robbed of my personhood.
Upon my arrival in Massachusetts, I made it my first priority to get into the system. After living there for about a month, I showed up at the government office strapped with as much paperwork as I had, expecting unending bureaucracy. The only thing they needed was my I.D. and a piece of mail with my name on it sent to an address in Mass. I was covered immediately. It felt too easy. It was too easy. I felt that in a way, I was being a scam artist since I hadn’t lived in that region for the year prior, but I also told myself that I was being an *amazing* mother and doing whatever it took – like any good mother would probably do if she were in my position. I was also within the law – it required only that you live there for a month before receiving coverage.
At nearly 6 months pregnant, I received my FIRST prenatal exam. Thank god, the baby was healthy and so was I. My spirit, however, was broken. I had looked a paternalistic and discriminatory system straight in the eye while it told me that I, a woman, and my unborn child, were simply not valuable enough.This experience taught me that I was inferior. It taught me a lot about inequality, systemic hate, sexism, civil rights, women’s health and the value of socialist principles… just to name a few. Believe me when I say that my politics and worldview followed a funny route after that. I DO NOT trust that any 'invisible hand of the free market’ is there to help you out. If it is, well it was slacking in 2008/09 (or, you know, doesn’t care about inequality). I also do not trust an extremely liberal government, such as Oregon’s, whose intentions might be good but are impractical and bureaucratic. I have a hard time trusting any person or system now. I believe only in love and compassion (which can – unbelievably – make its way into politics. Back to that in a minute).
I delivered my daughter on the night of August 13, 2008 with the NICU in the delivery room. She was suffering from meconium in her fluid. If the NICU was not in the room, the danger could have escalated and this story would have had a very, very bad ending. Fortunately, they were able to aspirate the meconium from her lungs and she was able to breathe on her own and was given a stellar Apgar score. I remember the look on the doctor’s face as she let out her first cry – it was a connection that requires no words, it was a man who loved, purely and deeply, what he did for a job. If only our politicians, legislators and fellow citizens would act the same. I never got the bill from the hospital and I’m glad I didn’t. Had I not had coverage, I’m quite sure that I would have been slapped with a $1 million dollar bill that would put me in debt for the rest of my life… because my birth control failed, twice, and because our country does not value women’s health and that of the unborn. Does my story not lend support to the pro-lifers/anti-choice crowd for universal health care? Does my story not illustrate to you how much money and debt is thrown around due to lack of health insurance coverage? If you disagree with that sentiment after reading this story, you must be without foresight and compassion.
Our country is the only post-industrial nation without universal health care and yet we SPEND MORE than any other country on our health care system. Being without health care is the number one cause of bankruptcy. Thousands of people die every day from diseases and conditions that would have been preventable with adequate health coverage. Thousands of people chose, daily, to forfeit medicine for eating, or vice versa. May I ask – why is this okay? Are we not embarrassed? Can’t we do better? SHOULDN’T we do better? If you cannot give me a 'yes’, then I am willing to look you straight in the eye and tell you – YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS.
My story has a happy ending. I’m a fantastic mother and my daughter is incredibly healthy and happy. I’m about to become a teacher and I plan to open my own school one day. My daughter’s father came back into her life.
…But there are MILLIONS of stories similar to mine that DO NOT end happily. They end tragically, unnecessarily. The hate, ignorance, vitriolic rhetoric that is dividing the people in this country needs to stop BEFORE IT DESTROYS US ALL. Let’s start with love and compassion and go from there. To be honest, I’m looking to expatriate but because I care about humanity, I implore the rest of you who are staying behind to fight the good fight. STOP targeting universal health care and the very small, incremental changes to our health care system made by President Obama. Understand that the way our system is set up now, the premium that you pay (if you’re lucky) depends on inequality, suffering and funky math equations betting against your own health. The people benefiting from this are the lucky ones – and realize that you, even with health insurance, are one health crisis away from poverty.
***THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
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