The Importance of Health Insurance...

I am so thankful to work for such an awesome company that has given me a chance, supports me, and most of all; provides me with such wonderful Health Insurance. What a blessing! I am also so incredibly thankful to be alive today. Tears well up in my eyes when I say that, because I really, really, really do mean it! My day job has been absolutely wonderful to me and believe it or not, it is a Pharmaceutical Company that I happen to work for which I would rather keep private, so please don't ask me where I work. All I have to say about this company is that it has been incredibly supportive to me; with wonderful huge hearted people that I happen to work with! God how I love them all!

I actually got my job just 2 months before I was first diagnosed with Stage III Ovarian cancer. I did NOT have health insurance prior to getting hired on permanently. I wasn't married just yet and my husband to be was well covered by the company he was with and is still employed with today that also provides us both with health insurance. We don't have to pay a dime for any of my treatments or hospital stays, just the $50 deductable for ambulance rides which is way better than what it could be! Could you imagine if I had been diagnosed before I got my job and even before we got married? We would be head over heals in debt or quite possibly, I wouldn't be alive. If my condition was considered Pre-existing, I might be dead and would certainly not be enjoying this wonderful life I have. There is no way we could afford to pay for all of that and the hospital might have refused to treat me. But instead, I got hired on permanently and what a blessing that was and still is!

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to be alive today and that my Health Care is covered! It really is a blessingand I will NEVER EVER take that for granted. I know that there are so many Americans out there that don't have that luxury of having good health insurance. I watched Michael Moore's movie "Sicko" several months ago, and it really affected me. I have heard that he tends to pick and choose what he adds to his films, but he basically focused in on the worst cases and rightly so. That film seriously tugged at my heart. I still can't help but think about how many lives have been lost each year due to the insurance industry; due to them actually writing their patients and saying "We can't cover you or pay for that treatment." They actually put a price tag on someone's life and I have ALWAYS felt and believed that this was the wrong thing to do. In other words they are writing these people that they have agreed to cover and telling them that they don't think or feel that their lives are worth paying for. How morbid is that?

When I was very young, my mother always told me that money is the root of all evil and I believe it now. That's exactly what this industry is about! They do just that. It broke my heart and still does when I think of the woman who lost her husband to a treatable cancer, another one lost her child, because each of their insurance company's had refused to pay for life saving medicines/surgeries. The patient ended up dying because the insurance company refused to pay. The doctor is then left helpless. Now I would rather my tax dollars go to this doctor who makes the decision to save the life anyway. If only our gov't would do such a thing. I know there are countless others who have lost their lives because of the insurance industry. We really need Universal Health Care much more than this worthless war. It is costing us dearly everyday we are there in Iraqu (the wrong country that attacked us in the first place) and this money could be much better used to save lives instead of end them.