The letter arrived in the mail today, and it wasn't a surprise: another insurance company, the 3rd, 4th, who knows at this point, refused to cover Lucas. Of course the reason was his battle with Kawasaki Disease. Four years later and it's still casting a shadow over our lives. It wasn't enough that the defining moment of our early parenthood was dealing with the very real possibility of having to bury our son before his second birthday.
There's an insidiousness to this. I've become paranoid - every time Lucas trips and falls, every time he coughs, every time he says he has a tummyache, my blood freezes. He's free of KD, cured completely - which doesn't matter to the underwriters, of course - but he is a four-year-old boy, a walking Petri dish, a running and jumping magnet for fractures and sprains. It's not a matter of "if" he's going to have to go to a hospital, it's "when". And when that happens, God help us. And him, because the doctors may not, because we can't find an insurance company who will cover him.
That's the stark truth, and those who are against reforming our broken health care system, who've bought into the lies perpetrated by the Republicans, who bitch about "socialized medicine" and "costs", do me a favor. Walk a mile in my shoes. Know my fear. Feel my rage.
(ETA 8/8/08: Got a lot of kind words from folks, as well as a cunty comment from some troll - guy's a surfer too, which is anathaema to what surfing's all about, but perhaps I'll see the dude in a lineup somewhere, and introduce his teeth to the nose of my board. Anyhoo. Yes, our situation sucks, but we're lucky, in a sense. Beth and I both make decent money, and we're not feeling the pain and terror felt by so many under- and unemployed Americans who also can't get themselves or their loved ones insured. And yes, it's terror, knowing that if you or your kids suffer some catastrophic illness or injury, your chances of receiving proper care are sketchy at best. And if you're currently enjoying your company-sponsored HMO, do not think for one moment that you're safe. Far too many companies these days are reducing, and in many cases dropping, their health benefits packages. And good luck making those COBRA payments if you get laid off.
(ETA 10/7/08: Oh! Forgot to tell you. So we applied to Insurer Number...5? 6? Losing count...last month. DENIED. Wanna know why? Of course you do! Because about a week before we applied, Lucas got bit by a spider. Being a four year old living being, he scratched at the spider bites, which then became infected. So we dropped $200 on a doctor's visit/antibiotics. Wanna guess what Insurer Number Whatever told us? Of COURSE you do! "Sorry! We can't cover him because he's being treated for an ailment!"
What to do? Simple. Vote. Effect regime change. I say this without any hesitation - to vote for McCain is to stand up and be counted with those who don't give a shit about kids like mine. Or yours.
