We Could Have Lost Our House

I recently sent a note to the CEO and COO of my employer, thanking them for providing a great health care plan for their employees. It sounds like a total kiss ass thing to do, but I swear it came out of a very pure place. A few months ago, Aidan got walking pneumonia and was so severely dehydrated they admitted him into the hospital and he spent two days on IV.

That wasn’t the first time that Aidan had spent an extended period of time in the hospital. When he was less than a minute old, they rushed him to the neonatal ICU and treated him for wet lungs and what they thought was a heart murmur. Paul and I were scared out of our minds, but also had to take care of his twin sister, Paulina. Eight days later, when Aidan was finally discharged, we had to bring him to a pediatric cardiologist for more tests and more follow-up care. Between my one-month hospitalization for going into preterm labor, the C-Section for the birth of twins, Aidan’s time in the ICU and with specialists, I flinched at the thought of our deductible. Had we not had good health insurance then, we probably would have lost our house.

In a year when health care reform is a bullet or update on every 24-hours news service, not a day passes that I don’t think about what this proposed bill could mean for my children and for my children’s children. Being the daughter of immigrant parents that lived in a country where only the wealthy can afford any type of health care, I have never taken health insurance for granted.

It is truly staggering to think that nearly 50 million Americans do not have health coverage. It takes only one freak accident, one genetic anomaly, one bad cell to turn into the C word for the livelihood of a family to be turned upside down. In the dire moments of a catastrophic prognosis, when all one wants is for those they love to be well, billing can become an even greater nightmare. As Congress returns after their August recess, I can only hope that progress can be made on a sensible health care bill.