In 2002, I found out I was pregnant the week I returned to work from disability leave. I was let go the next Monday. Throughout my pregnancy, we paid $640 per month towards COBRA. I received unemployment. My self-employed husband was covered under my plan. On April 29th, I was discharged from the hospital. Within the week, I received bills and then a shock from CIGNA: my health insurance was cancelled. My payment in April was a day late. CIGNA chose to send me back my check and cancel my coverage. The cancellation took effect retroactively to April 30th. That meant my follow-up visits to my OB/GYN and to the new pediatrician all had to come out of pocket.
There’s a lot of noise out there about the proposed healthcare bill going through Congress at the moment. There are a lot of lies being told by right-wing propagandists. A lot of astroturfing being done by the health insurance & pharmaceutical companies. I do not know if the proposed bill is going to help. What I do know is that for over 60 years this issue has arisen and the GOP tells us that we have to wait and see. If they haven’t been able to come up with a reasonable response or alternative solution in this time, why does anyone listen to these people?
I find it frustrating that people who receive taxpayer funded healthcare (I’m talking your elected representatives here) have the audacity to go out and tell you that taxpayer funded healthcare is “socialism”. It’s just mind-blowing when people I know who receive some kind of government assistance parrot that line with no sense of irony. When you tell them that just like with gay marriage or abortion that if they don’t like it, don’t participate they have no response but to sputter. No one is forcing them or their doctors to join in the proposed bill. They do not have to use the service. That is no reason to deny it from others who want it and need it.