Endo Under Control – Insurance Not so Much

I know it has been about a year since I have written. My apologies. It turns out that the treatment or Lupron may be working to keep my condition under control. Yay! However, my attention is redirected once again to health insurance. After a job change recently, I am faced with the monetary challenge of being insured when you work for a small company. We only have three employees - my boss, his wife and me. His wife is a survivor in every sense of the word. She has battled and one a fight against pancreatic cancer and is now facing Lupus. These unfortunate events have made the organization’s insurance policy a very expensive one. Add endometriosis to the mix and the cost rises.

I am frustrated because I thought that after facing the issue of having a chronic illness and no insurance was not going to be a reoccurring theme in my life. Now if this was 2014, pre-existing conditions would not be an issue and the price would be reduced dramatically. Bad news – that is four years away. And with the 2012 elections, that may change too. So do I leave a job I love, that has room for growth, and find a job that is OK, but has affordable health care? And, will this nightmare ever end?

October Update

Sorry I have been despondent recently. Sometimes I find my condition too much to bear and have to stop thinking it about it. But then the pain comes back and I am forced to confront it.

I have been off lupron for about six weeks now and just finished my first cycle since March. It was painful and although the normal indications are gone, the pain has remained. Such as life. I do not think the lupron helped, although I think it does help some people, just not me.

What angers me more than my pain, is the pain of others who are not as fortunate as me to receive superb care due to lack of insurance or having their endo deemed "pre-existing." I think if every American went without health insurance with a medical condition, the healthcare debate would not be a colossal screaming match, If we could just care about our neighbors the way we do after a natural disaster or terrorist attack, paying a little extra so your neighbors that may not be as well off as you, would not be a problem.

Keith Oberman has urged Americans to support health care clinics in the states in which there is much opposition from statesmen. Therefore, proving that there is a need for healthcare that helps the poor and underserved. So many of our politicians turn a blind eye to those that they see as of little importance. BUT WE ARE ALL IMPORTANT. Who am I to say that I deserve healthcare and you don’t? It is our generations' fight for civil rights. And people are dying because they do not receive adequate care. They die every day, every hour. But that could be stopped with proper healthcare regulations. Please do not conform to the republican boogeyman and do your research before deciding that reform would end all healthcare.

If you wish to no more about Keith Oberman's campaign to bring healthcare to those underserved in states that are fighting regulation, click here.