For the love of healthcare

For the love of healthcare

Yesterday, I visited my oncologist (schedule your mammogram!). I received a clean bill of health for now – thank goodness. But while I was there, the receptionist asked if I wanted to pay my outstanding bill. Thank you for reminding me of our $10,000 cancer bill.

Our family's income allows us to live comfortably. We aren’t dripping in luxury goods, but we aren’t living hand to mouth either. However, since Miguel hasn’t been on Broadway for several years, he can no longer receive benefits through Equity, the stage actor’s union. This means we have to get our insurance through the exchange. Last year, when I was diagnosed with cancer, our deductible was $10,000 AND that was on top of an $1,100/month premium.

Still, we are fine – we can afford this bill on a payment plan. But we shouldn’t have to.

It’s possible the algorithm is targeting me, but it seems like every day I come across another story of health insurance failure. To be clear, I think the entire system is corrupt by nature. There is no reason that health insurance should be a publicly traded commodity. I firmly believe that all healthcare businesses should be non-profits. PERIOD.

Just a few of the stories that have enraged me over the last few weeks…

Children’s Mercy, the largest children’s hospital in Kansas City, could not make a deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield the largest ACA provider. This means that most children who have insurance through the health exchange will have to pay out of pocket if they want to be seen there.

Imagine if your child has cancer, or, say, epilepsy – and their entire care team is at this hospital. What do you do?

I looked it up so you don’t have to, but less than half of the country receives health insurance through their employer. I was expecting it to be more. I thought our family was the outlier here. But no, we are in fact in the majority. And with the current administration’s policies, like cutting ACA subsidies, over half the US population is going to struggle to find ANY affordable health insurance come November 1st when enrollment begins.

Then, this week, I saw the incredibly kind and talented Broadway and TV star, Cheyenne Jackson, start posting about screen actors – some relatively well known - who needed just one more job to qualify for SAG/AFTRA health insurance. You have to earn a certain amount of money in order to qualify for the union insurance, and unless you are a series regular, it can be really hard to string together enough jobs to meet the amount. Not to mention doing it year after year.

For the love of all that is good in this world, why is our health insurance tied to our employment?! It makes ZERO sense. One should have nothing to do with the other.

I know too many families with a chronically ill child or spouse that feel trapped in their jobs because they need the health insurance. If Adelaide were still alive Miguel would be taking any theater job he could get his hands on to make sure we maintained our insurance. Quality of life would have nothing to do with our choices, and he would be forced to spend a lot less time at home just so we could afford her care.

And even with health insurance, good luck finding a psychologist or psychiatrist that takes insurance at all. More and more frequently, specialists – especially those in mental health – are choosing to charge patients directly. Maybe your insurance will reimburse you some out-of-network care, maybe not.

There has to be a solution to provide affordable healthcare to the MAJORITY of the country.

And let’s be real. There is a reason why there hasn’t been a significant push to fix our healthcare system since the ACA.

It’s not because a Medicare-for-all system would be too difficult to create. If we can expand, create, and staff immigration detention centers practically overnight, then we can expand a health care system that already exists.

It’s not because it would be too expensive. For starters, our healthcare costs are already the highest in the world BECAUSE of insurance companies. Creating a single-payer system would cut those costs significantly.

It’s not because the care would be subpar. The life expectancy in the US is more than 3.5 years shorter than that of our european counterparts. Don’t get me started on maternal death rates…

Heck! Let people keep their private insurance if they want to. Some people choose private school, others choose public. That’s ok.

Of course, it boils down to money. Medicare-for-all would cut into private insurance profits, and heaven forbid we sacrifice stock dividends or a lower company net worth for a healthier society. Am I oversimplifying? Sure. But I refuse to take how complicated it is as an excuse anymore either.

I don’t know about you, but I am so sick of favoring the few over the many.

Vote on Tuesday. Vote blue. Vote like your health depends on it (it does).