Obamacare and Me!

I know I have it better than a lot of people.  I do know that.  Even though we sometimes act barbaric, being born in a first world country is a great luxury.  It saddens me sometimes though because we can’t seem to get it together.  For those of you who have known me since I was a child, you know that I come from a world of conservative people.  Well, at least they are conservative in today’s society.  You know the conservative people who do not believe in Gay Marriage.  Yeah, that type.  The demographics of my church leaned heavily in favor of upper middle class white people.  Now if you continue to read this, please don’t be offended by my views because they are my views and this is my blog.  J

In the Fall Semester, I wrote on one of my other blogs about how blessed I was to be born in the United States of America.   I am sincerely blessed.  I have a chronic illness called Crohn’s Disease and they also believe I have endometriosis. Some days I am in so much pain that I can’t even function.  My body can’t digest food correctly.  I can’t eat raw fruits or veggies.  I can’t eat fried or greasy foods.  I can’t eat spicy foods.  I have a long list of things that I just cannot eat or else I will be in severe pain and hospitalized. 

I was diagnosed on April 19^th 2011 and I am so happy to have been born in America.  Although my medical bills are sky high, I have a chance to be seen by the doctor.  I also get the best medication for my illness and also pain medicine for when I am in pain.  That is definitely a first world privilege. 

I have had my battles with the Emergency Room, when they just give me an injection of steroids, pain medication and fluids; then let me go.  Although that is very frustrating some days because I feel like I need to be admitted, I understand that I am better off than most people. 

Last summer, my medical bills were piling up and I felt as if I was always coming to my mother to pay some bill.  $45 to see my GI doctor. $1,000 for an MRI.  $150 for the Emergency Room.  $3,000 for the a 3 day hospital stay.  So I told her to stop paying them and that I would handle it.  That was the biggest joke I could have ever told.  I tried to keep up by applying for financial assistance.  Sometimes I was approved, sometimes I was denied.  It tooks months for people to process the paperwork for financial assistance and by that time the bills were already turned over to creditors.  Thank God that I am almost finished with my bills. 

So, why am I writing about this?           

I support President Obama.  I do not like some of the things that he supports or condones, such as him supporting gay marriage or his stance on illegal immigrants.  I do wish that he would have accomplished more during his term but I also understand that it was hard enough for him to accomplish these things.

“Obamacare” is a serious blessing.  I am 23, sick and still in college.  I’m not sure when I will be able to finish school and I am not sure when I will be healthy but the Affordable Care Act is a step in the right direction.  I get so frustrated when people that I grew up around call “Obamacare” foolish or a step in the wrong direction for this country.  I get so upset when I see people label other people as “takers.”  I get straight PISSED when people think that everyone doesn’t need healthcare. 

I’ve heard so many times that people should rely on churches, charities, private donations and Christians if they fall on hard times or need help with medical bills.  Well…  let me bring it back to a point I made earlier,  I grew up in a upper middle class society.  My church is mostly upper middle class.  For the duration of the past year, not one person from the church [as a representative] has come to my home, hospital or even called me.  And now, people say I am to rely on the church or Christians to help me fund this?  Trick, please.  There has been no outside help during this time, not even a comforting visit for my family when I wasn’t waking up after surgery.  Now, I am not upset about this but I realize that without insurance I would be sick and have a serious cancerous tumor on my appendix.

I’m not really sure on the details of “Obamacare” but I do know that this is a step in the right direction.  No one should have to go without healthcare.  If I didn’t have it I would have never had the surgery and the doctors would have never found the cancerous tumor that was 1mm away from killing me. 

Love You!