6-17-05,9:42am
In America today there are literally millions of human beings who are not covered by any medical insurance at all. Many are children of parents who work at low-income jobs and are not offered medical or the cost is to high. However, even the middle class are finding it hard to pay for medical insurance because it has become very costly.
It is hard to believe but the issue of medical insurance has been debated to death or placed on a back burner while millions suffer everyday praying for a miracle. When you are ill you need to see a doctor and if you find yourself without insurance or cash in hand then you will do without even in America.
It was not so long ago when my youngest daughter became ill with a cold that grew worse just over night. Quickly I began calling doctor after doctor trying to get one who would see my child. The first doctor I called, the very nice receptionist asked my name and phone number the usual information. Then the question was asked,” Do you have insurance.”
“No, I don’t,” I replied, “but my child is very sick.
“If you have no insurance,” she said, and not as nice as she was in the beginning, “you will be required to pay up front for all services.”
I took a deep breath and asked if there was any way at all that I could make payments.
“No, no, we don’t do that,” she replied, showing little or no interest at my problem.
“If the doctor could just see her this once,” I pleaded, when she interrupted me to inform me that the doctor was not really seeing any new patience at this time.
Moving on to doctor number two, I tried again to get my child in to see a doctor. The results were always the same.
I think I called about 11 doctors when I realized that unless I had insurance or a pocketful of money, there was no way my child would be seen by a doctor.
I searched through the yellow pages calling social agencies to find out if they new of any place I could take my child. I learned of a clinic that only charged what you could afford to pay and was delighted beyond words. At last a break, I said to myself.
I called and no one answered. A recording informed me that their medical clinic was only open the first Monday of the month. I slammed the phone down and just started crying.
That’s great if this was the first Monday of the month but it was not, I yelled. Angry, I looked around the shack that we called home to see what I had that I could pawn in order to get cash to pay a doctor. It did not take me long to realize that their was nothing at all that was worth anything. My husband was working for seven dollars an hour, and eight of us were trying to survive on that meager income. We had blankets up over our windows because we had no curtains. Our couch was a couch that had been set out in the trash by a neighbor, and we asked if we could have it. Our beds were mattress on the floor and our dressers were boxes and garbage bags. Now, who in the world would want this junk?
I am not a violent person, yet I wanted to hit someone or scream as loud as I could, “You can’t deny people medical help because they’re poor!”
It started to get dark and in spite of all my efforts I new that if my daughter was to receive help that I would have to do something drastic. I took her to the hospital and lied up a storm in order to get her seen. When asked about my insurance, I said, yes I have it but I don’t remember the name of it and my husband is not here. Well, the clerk said, “We have to have it.”
“My husband is working out of town, but I called him and he should be here in an hour or so.”
She was not happy to say the least, but I got in to see a doctor. The doctor gave me some medicine for her and said to run a vaporizer all night. He said if she was not better in a couple of days to take her to our doctor. Yeah right, like we have our own doctor. It is just assumed that every person would of course have his or her own doctor and that nobody is without medical insurance. Try it sometime and watch the look on their faces.
At home, I took two sheets off the bed and with thumbtacks made a tent from the wall to the floor. I plugged in the vaporizer and in went my daughter and I. All night long I held her and prayed that she would get better.
When morning came and I saw her smile, I yelled, “Thank you god!”
The point that should be clearly made is that it is without a doubt a shame and disgrace that here in America human beings do without medical help when they are ill. There are no excuses for this outrage.
I will all ways remember the time when I had a very bad toothache. There was no way I could afford a dentist, and so I did what all people are forced to do when they have no choice. I started out taking aspirin after aspirin in order to control the pain. I used peroxide like a mouthwash hoping to clear up the infection in a day or two. As a general rule this will help, but it’s only a temporary solution to the problem. After two days the tooth stopped hurting for about a week when about two in the morning the pain came back with a vengeance. I walked the floor popping aspirin and crying. I boiled water on the stove and dipped a washcloth in it then placed it on my face hoping to draw out the infection. I tried putting ice on my face near the tooth, for I had heard it would numb it and take away the pain. I must have taken seven aspirins in about two hours, for that is how much it hurt.
I waited for daybreak and though to myself I must have the tooth pulled if I can find a dentist who will do it. I called about five dentists who wanted way too much money when I found one who said he would pull it for $50. OK, where to get fifty dollars. I took the money due the water company bill in order to have it pulled. This is the game called “have your water shut off because you dared to seek medical help.” You would be surprised to learn just how many people are forced to use their rent money in order to find services when sick.
The dentist sat me down in the chair and told me that the tooth was bad but he could save it. That would be nice, however, when he learned I had no insurance, it was decided to pull the tooth. This same event would happen to me a total of six times and every time the tooth could have been saved but was pulled for lack of insurance.
In spite of what you may think about the poor, we all so would like to keep our teeth and it is important to us. One time I had no choice because funds were tight that I pulled tooth number seven myself. It took me about ten times a day for a week, twisting and turning the tooth till it was loose enough for me to rip it out.
Over many years I have done things I am not proud of but still defend what I did because medical help should never be withheld because of money and only the select few who can afford it are privileged to receive medical help.
One of my boys fell and split his head open and needed stitches so I told the receptionist at the doctors office I would pay for the services, when what I did was walk out without paying. This is not what I wanted to do but had to do. I could not even afford to make payments to the doctor when it meant going without food or running water. Far too many are in that same boat that I rode in for a long time.
To see a doctor when ill is a basic necessity of life that is clearly being denied to a large number of people something that can not be continued any longer.
