Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Dear Political Type Person

Well, I wrote my letter to a politician. In fact, I decided to send the letter to my representative, my state senators and the president. I will include the letter below. Try not to vomit when you see how much we spent on healthcare last year (can you guess what the "something I care about" is?). I urge you all to do the same. I feel empowered.

Mr. President:

I am writing this letter because I am deeply concerned about healthcare reform. You see, I am one of those people that falls in the middle and I fear I will be left out. I am middle class. My husband and I are 36 and both work, but I work for a small company that does not provide insurance and my husband is self-employed. We have two children under the age of four. We pay $736 each month for insurance. It is breaking us to pay that amount and we have had to split up our policies so that my husband and our daughters are on a lower deductible policy and I am on a higher deductible policy that offers maternity coverage in case I become pregnant again. Our insurance would be a little more affordable or the deductible could be less, but affordable, low deductible policies do not offer maternity coverage (a fact that I find appalling). We are trying to be responsible citizens by paying for health insurance.

The problem is, because we pay for health insurance, we cannot afford to pay for healthcare. Last year, between paying bills from the birth of my youngest and an unexpected hospital stay when she was 2 weeks old, coupled with regular medical expenses, we hit our maximum out of pocket. That amount added to medical expenses not covered by our insurance, such as eye care and dentistry cost us over $11,000 over our monthly premiums. We live paycheck to paycheck. That means our medical bills become credit card debt. And now with the shaky economy and my husband’s business suffering, that debt is not getting paid back. Now we are at the start of a new year and new deductibles and I am very afraid.

Healthcare reform is not going to help me or my family by making sure we have insurance. We are relatively healthy and are insurable. We aren’t at the bottom of the financial barrel (although we are starting to feel like it), so I don’t believe we will be subsidized. We need lower premiums and reduced healthcare costs to survive. I live in fear of every letter that comes from my insurance company that my premiums will have increased again- last time it was an increase of $150 per month. Most families don’t have that kind of money to play with. Every dollar has its place and we are not making more money. We are making less. Why are the insurance companies getting more? We need a lower deductible. We need to have more affordable coverage so that I can also afford dental insurance for my family because we now only go the dentist in the event we have something wrong instead of having preventative care. I shouldn’t have to spend anytime playing out the pros and cons of my or my family’s health against the cost of medical care.

I am scared that healthcare will reform will not happen at all, but I am almost more frightened that it will pass but I will still be in the same boat.

Please don’t forget those of us in the middle. We are insurable. We have insurance and we pay our premiums, but we can’t afford them and we can’t afford to go to the doctor.

HELP US TOO. PLEASE.

Sincerely,

Casie Waller Tabanou

2 comments:

  1. Awesome letter! I am so angry about this healthcare situation and many, many others. I am at the point of giving up on thinking it will ever get better and considering moving to France.

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  2. Go, you healthcare activist, you!!

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