There was nothing I could do to prevent this disease. It is not related to diet, or exercise, or any choice at all. Type 1 Diabetes is a roll-of-the-dice congenital condition that any one of you could have ended up with. There is nothing one can do to prevent it, nor cure it. It's not even genetic in my case -- no one on either side of my family has ever been afflicted with it, and I pray my infant daughter has no statistical increase in acquiring it.
And yet.
When I left my former company, a cushy high-paid position, to start my own business, I had to pay for my own health care. Since I was a Type 1 Diabetic, no private insurance would carry me. None whatsoever. In Michigan, we have the so-called "insurer of last resort" -- Blue Cross, who has to accept everybody, regardless of preexisting conditions. The only problem is that Blue Cross provides me only the barest minimum of "coverage", and has the worst customer service of any company in existence. I would rate my customer service calls to Dell (i.e. India) as an A++++++ compared to each and every hour-long call I've ever had with the criminally incompetent "blues".
Every time I need a new vial of insulin, it costs me $84. That's my CO-PAY. The actual cost is in the hundreds, but I'm responsible for 33% of all medical expenses, including doctor's visits or preventative care. I never see my endocrinologist anymore -- I literally just can't afford to go. My "doctor" has essentially been Google and WebMD for nearly two years now. Testing strips, which allow me to see my blood sugar reading before and after each meal, as required for any Type 1 diabetic, are only "kinda" covered. In that, I have to buy the testing strips out of pocket, a $10/day cost, and then hope I can have them reimbursed later, through mail-in forms which never seem to work, and which Blue Cross never provides any documentation as to why, about half the time, my claims for testing strips are summarily rejected. I have had consistently better luck with expired mail-in rebate coupons than I have with my Blue Cross reimbursement forms.
So between my co-pays, my insurance costs, and other diabetes-related expenses, I spend around $1,000/month to live, off the top. That's best-case -- assuming I don't have any real hospital needs or long-term issues, of course. $1,000/month is what I pay to survive, every four weeks. Luckily, I suppose, diabetes is my only "fault" -- if I had anything else wrong with me -- cancer, HIV, ingrown toenails, whatever -- there's no way in hell I could afford to treat it.
The promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is my birthright as an American. Yet I have a condition that could not be caused nor prevented. It puts me $12,000/year behind any other American, all while I'm struggling to run a new small business. In virtually every other modern Democracy, the government would help out, recognizing that I contribute to society and benefit the nation. In virtually every other modern Democracy, there would even be a mandated desire to keep me alive as a matter of principle. But the Republican Party, which I called home for most of my adult life, simply doesn't care. And in denying my equality, they spit and piss and shit on the founding principles of this nation. The supposed "right-to-life" party ironically does not acknowledge that keeping citizens alive is a fundamental component to an inherent right to life! I guess if I really wanted my life to be protected by the Republican party, I should have stayed in the womb.
Realistically, historically, Barack Obama only has about a year before everyone turns on him. He has a solidly Democratic Senate and House, for now. He's undoubtedly studied the historical mistakes of "Hillarycare" and can avoid them. So why not strike when the iron is hot?
President Obama, in your January address, please promise the nation that no American will be uninsured by the end of your first year in office. No compromises, no hedging. Get it done. Pass an executive order forbidding private insurance companies from denying coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions. If that raises health care costs, SO BE IT. Because it will be coupled with a promise to provide taxpayer funded health insurance to any and every American who needs it. Yes, it will be expensive, it will be messy, but it will also be FAIR. It will be American. It will finally satisfy the very tenets of our Constitution, as well as Democratic party ideals. And it will secure your place as one of the most influential Presidents in our nation's history.
I'm just a guy. One little American. But I'm begging you. I'm trying to run a small business. I'll be hiring my first employees in the next few weeks. I have a lot to offer this nation. But at any time, if I go without insulin for more than 24-48 hours, I'm dead. And I've come very, very, very close to death already, more than once, when I had to beg and plead every friend and family member I could find to scrape together enough money for another couple of vials, when I was short on cash, and couldn't survive on celery and water much longer. It shouldn't be like this. Not here, not now.
President Obama, I am not looking for a handout. I am not lazy. I work hard, and I will continue to work hard so that I make enough money to pay my expenses, my taxes, my daughter's diapers, all of it. Just, don't let me die. I'm not done with this life yet. I have so much more to do. I am trying to sell my house, to lower expenses, but I'm in Michigan, and our housing market is dead. I am trying to lower expenses, and have gained probably twenty pounds in the past two years from eating cheap, substandard ultra-processed fast foods, but I don't know where else I can cut back. Please don't let my daughter grow up without a daddy if I miss another expensive payment, or another check bounces, or the bean counters at Blue Cross make yet another "clerical error" and "accidentally" purge me from their lists.
I'm an American, too. I want to add to the greatness of this country, too. All I want is to live another day. And if you give me that chance, if you fight for me, I'll continue to fight for you.