I’ve heard so many stories over the last few months about people who need health care, people who are happy with their health care, people who don’t want the government to take over, etc., until I am a limited weary of the whole discussion, as I’m sure many are. I’m glad Congress will vote today, so we can perhaps move on to additional problems that the country is facing.

In all of these stories, I haven’t heard much about people who are in my situation. I left a job 11 years ago next month that had decent health coverage to start my bear business.

I moved from the group policy to the COBRA plan which, in this case, meant that I stayed in the same group, but paid the whole premium.

If I remember correctly, it ran about $350. It seemed like a huge amount of money at the time (and collected does, frankly), but I felt that having that coverage was well-known.

As I came to the end of the 18 months on COBRA, I started talking to insurance agents about private health insurance and found very few policies available. I finally found one through the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) and was led to believe that as a member of NASE, I would be able to accept coverage.

I was very uninformed when it came to health insurance. I understood this to be a group policy which would hold down costs since the risk would be shared across the membership, even though the premiums would be paid by each individual insured person or company. I was inaccurate. It was apparently just a way of generating leads for an insurance company.

I applied, paid my application fee and first month’s premium, which was around $150. (I probably should have realized there was something wrong due to the low amount.) Within a few weeks, my premium was returned, and I was informed that I had been turned down due to pre-existing conditions. My son, who was still young enough to be on my policy, was also turned down. I had no understanding that either of us had anything in our history that would make us a bad bet for the insurance company. When I demanded an explanation, I was informed that my doctor had informed them of three problems that would kick me out: COPD, utilize of anti-inflammatories for a hip scrape, and a history of depression that had been treated by medication. I wasn’t even aware that the doctor had written in my records that I had COPD, and had done no tests to confirm the diagnosis. I had been a heavy smoker and had bronchitis every year, but had since quit and had not had a recurrence of any upper respiratory problems. The hip problem had been resolved by taking glucosomine (based on research I had done). The depression was largely resolved once I quit smoking and made it safely to the other side of menopause, and I have not needed anti-depressants since. My son was un-insurable due to a problem resulting from a misdiagnosis by his pediatrician that almost killed him and required the use of steroids to good, and a one year bout of exercise-induced asthma that he used an inhaler for, and had grown out of the following year.

Once I was turned down, I satisfactory for the Texas Risk Pool. Risk pools are primarily for people with serious problems: end-stage renal failure, cancers that require aggressive costly treatment, HIV/Aids situations that require expensive drug regimens. A policy for me with the Texas Risk Pool would have run $750 a month. My father had offered to pay my premium, but when he heard this, even he wondered about the logic of paying that much every month. I opted to continue looking.

I found a number of health savings card programs that offered reduced prices on health care for $49 – $89 a month, but these didn’t actually veil anything. They just promised to help with negotiation efforts with doctors and hospitals, which I’m since discovered is something private individuals do every day.

I guess at some point I should have stepped abet and decided whether it would be a better view to leave my dreams of self-employment behind and go support to work for some organization that had insurance coverage. There were times in the ensuing years that the thought has crossed my mind, but I decided to spend my health care dollars with alternative medical providers instead, and take exceptionally good care of myself.

I’ve been blessed with very worthy health in spite of being overweight. I pay careful attention to my body. If I feel the beginnings of a cold or any kind of illness, I tend to reduce my schedule immediately and pump up the fluids and any supplements that increase my immune system. I also eat healthy, whole foods (primarily local, primarily organic) for the most fraction. I do not take any prescription drugs.

I would like to get some preventive care. At this point, I can afford a trip to a traditional medical doctor. My problem is that I do not dare go anywhere that a medical record would be generated. I do not believe that I have any illnesses, but it has been 9.5 years since I had a mammogram (I’ve had digital imaging done instead, however) or any kind of standard physical or routine tests.

Throughout these years, I have continued looking for policies that I might be able to afford. Most policies I have found run approximately $300 a month with a $5000 deductible. I can afford this, but the application always asks about pre-existing conditions. There are two sections of questions. First, there is a request that asks, “Have you ever had any of the following conditions? ” These are usually illnesses like cancer or heart disease. Then there is a section that asks, “In the last ten years, have you experienced any of the following? ” That is where my problems (bronchitis, hip problems, depression) lie. At this point, 9.5 years since my last treatment by a regular medical doctor, there is still a history of some of these problems. A half year from now, I will be able to honestly say to that ten year inquire, “No.”

If I were to go to a doctor for a checkup, and anything was found, the clock would commence over, and then I will either be turned down or rated so that I cannot afford it. If I can wait six months to apply, or if the final bill in Congress eliminates insurance companies’ ability to turn me down or rate me based on any pre-existing conditions, I will have a distinguished better chance of affordable health insurance.

In the current legislation, I personally would have preferred a public option to ensure reduced premiums. I respect my friends who would prefer to have the free-market grasp care of the costs, but I do not agree. We allowed the insurance companies to do mostly what they wanted over the last few years, and here I am: unable to get affordable coverage. Whether this bill solves my problem or not, it’s a step in the right direction.

Now if we could do something about the food system. (express)