(This is a response to someone on a discussion site that is against the government doing something about medical care. I figured I'd share it here since I took the time to write it.)
I was a healthy mid-20s guy starting his own business. I had just left Seattle to move to an area where I could build my business with low cost of living.
Little did I know that just a few months after I had moved I'd have been diagnosed with Lymphoma. As a healthy young guy, or so I had thought, I didn't need to spend my precious little resources on insurance. What a big mistake I had made.
Now after a year of cancer treatments and a bill exceeding $150,000, I wish the government would have done something to help me out. I've gotten nothing. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and American Cancer Society have done more for me than the government ever has, not that they have done much mind you.
In speaking with friends and colleagues in other countries, no one can believe that I'm in so much debt, that the treatments cost so much, and that the government hasn't helped me with any of it.
I'm very much in favor of having the government help us folks that were "in the wrong place" when the wrong time hit us. If only my cancer would have waited a few months, I would have been able to get insurance. Now no insurance company is willing to cover me. What can I do now?
My treatments are finally over. I made it through the cancer and the harsh treatments. But now I've got a whole new problem: paying for my medical bills. I hope bankruptcy isn't my only chance to survive this.
I believe that if you're happy with your coverage, you should keep it. For the rest of us, we need something. I need something. I'm not dying of cancer anymore but of the collection agencies wanting my every dime. I'm dying of phone calls every five to thirty minutes from the collectors. I'm dying under the weight of these bills.
I am very thankful for the medical providers that I have. I just wish they could get paid a just amount (but not the outrageous that they are asking for). I wish I could be the one to pay them, but it's impossible.
What's a guy like me to do? I'm going to be paying for this for the rest of my life.. and it still won't be enough.
If the government can do something to prevent my situation, I'm voting for it. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.
I was a healthy mid-20s guy starting his own business. I had just left Seattle to move to an area where I could build my business with low cost of living.
Little did I know that just a few months after I had moved I'd have been diagnosed with Lymphoma. As a healthy young guy, or so I had thought, I didn't need to spend my precious little resources on insurance. What a big mistake I had made.
Now after a year of cancer treatments and a bill exceeding $150,000, I wish the government would have done something to help me out. I've gotten nothing. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and American Cancer Society have done more for me than the government ever has, not that they have done much mind you.
In speaking with friends and colleagues in other countries, no one can believe that I'm in so much debt, that the treatments cost so much, and that the government hasn't helped me with any of it.
I'm very much in favor of having the government help us folks that were "in the wrong place" when the wrong time hit us. If only my cancer would have waited a few months, I would have been able to get insurance. Now no insurance company is willing to cover me. What can I do now?
My treatments are finally over. I made it through the cancer and the harsh treatments. But now I've got a whole new problem: paying for my medical bills. I hope bankruptcy isn't my only chance to survive this.
I believe that if you're happy with your coverage, you should keep it. For the rest of us, we need something. I need something. I'm not dying of cancer anymore but of the collection agencies wanting my every dime. I'm dying of phone calls every five to thirty minutes from the collectors. I'm dying under the weight of these bills.
I am very thankful for the medical providers that I have. I just wish they could get paid a just amount (but not the outrageous that they are asking for). I wish I could be the one to pay them, but it's impossible.
What's a guy like me to do? I'm going to be paying for this for the rest of my life.. and it still won't be enough.
If the government can do something to prevent my situation, I'm voting for it. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.
