No Insurance

No Insurance
by
Robin Hall


For none of my adult life have I had insurance. Imagine living 42 years with a deadly illness, major depression syndrome for me, my IT, OCD and physiological anxiety AND not having insurance. That works out to: NO decent hospital ever. No doctor up to the task or one even trying to help. No place to stay that had a social worker.

That works out to a life alone because there was simply no help EVER that mattered. Sure, I got in to free clinics and had 23 hospitalizations but NOT a single one that was decent let alone good. That includes 4 state hospitals and you really don't want to be in one of them.

Then there were over 35 so-called doctors cum psychiatrists many of whom STATED they had just the thing for me whether it was the very latest drug or long term analysis which disappeared immediately when some sham of a doctor found out I had no insurance.

An interesting thing happened on the next visit to that particular so-called healer, doctor, scam artist. He had STATED in the first visit he could help me, about how many treatments a week it would take and suggested several years of analysis but the next visit, when he had found out I had no insurance, he did a 360 degree turn, yes, that's two 180s, and all of a sudden, there simply was NO treatment since I was not ill at all and my "sad sack" lifestyle was the only thing that needed mending and he wasn't going to treat me. Hmm. I smell a rat/fucker. That was in Buffalo, the fellow was asian. Beware.

With NO insurance what is one to do? Whatever your illness, no insurance means, here in the USA, low rent, IF ANY, treatment. Even going to the emergency room when you need a few stitches is not possible. A cough turns into the flu and you still have no treatment.

A torn meniscus takes almost a year to find someone who will tend to it.

No meds for anything without risking jail for unpaid bills when the deductible part comes calling.

Etc.

Well, that is only part of a life. I didn't mention being so poor that one month I bought 50 pound sacks of oats and wheat bran from the feed store so I could eat. No, and more, or less. Poverty does not pay.