Category: Daily Life

For 14 years, I lived a healthy life. I was healthy because I did not know any better. For those 14 years, I was uninsured and avoided the doctor. Since I avoided the doctor, I had no reason to believe I was anything but healthy.

Today I go to the doctor as an insured person to receive a physical complete with EKG. I suspect that I will have very good results with the exception of high blood pressure; none the less, I sit in the waiting room with butterflies in my stomach. See, nothing makes an uninsured person more ill than visiting the doctor and after nearly a decade and a half, more than a third of my life, without insurance, my mind cannot help but think of worse case scenarios and how they, no matter how minor, could devastate my life and finances.

I have good insurance now. However, I have walked the walk and am acutely aware of how desperately this country, the United States of America, needs healthcare reform. The Obama administration made a start but gave in to too many concessions. Were I still uninsured, the healthcare “reform” would be doing nothing for me.