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Why Health Care Isn't Just About Insurance
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/20292-why-health-care-isnt-just-about-insuranceIn the past year, I spent approximately $5,128 to suppress my neurons from spontaneously firing at odd angles across my left temporal lobe, setting off waves of ethereal light and frantic convulsions, delivering a shadowy vision of my own death or a long-buried memory from childhood, knocking me to the ground in the midst of a workday and profoundly disrupting my life.
I live with epilepsy, a disorder that takes as many lives as breast cancer every year and increases one's chances of sudden death by 24 times, compared with the general US population. Fortunately, I also live with decent insurance.
Had I lacked that coverage, my last year of treatment would've cost me tens of thousands of dollars. For a person with more severe epilepsy, that number could skyrocket into the hundreds of thousands, greatly exceeding most Americans' range of affordability. The Affordable Care Act doesn't eliminate the problem: Because 26 states have rejected Medicaid expansion, many of the poorest people are left in the lurch - or the emergency rooms, where they're usually treated in a hurry, without follow-up. A post-seizure ER check-in simply won't do the trick for epilepsy patients, who need a consistent, monitored regimen that will prevent them from having seizures in the future.
Moreover, plenty of folks who have insurance still miss the epilepsy treatment boat. Paying $5,128 is rough on my bank account. But for many, that sum - steep copays plus high-priced brand-name drugs - could mean forgoing adequate treatment, endangering their health and their survival.
I live with epilepsy, a disorder that takes as many lives as breast cancer every year and increases one's chances of sudden death by 24 times, compared with the general US population. Fortunately, I also live with decent insurance.
Had I lacked that coverage, my last year of treatment would've cost me tens of thousands of dollars. For a person with more severe epilepsy, that number could skyrocket into the hundreds of thousands, greatly exceeding most Americans' range of affordability. The Affordable Care Act doesn't eliminate the problem: Because 26 states have rejected Medicaid expansion, many of the poorest people are left in the lurch - or the emergency rooms, where they're usually treated in a hurry, without follow-up. A post-seizure ER check-in simply won't do the trick for epilepsy patients, who need a consistent, monitored regimen that will prevent them from having seizures in the future.
Moreover, plenty of folks who have insurance still miss the epilepsy treatment boat. Paying $5,128 is rough on my bank account. But for many, that sum - steep copays plus high-priced brand-name drugs - could mean forgoing adequate treatment, endangering their health and their survival.
