Three years ago after I left my full-time job and my full-time health benefits -- as I like to call them -- things have gone very differently regarding how we take care of our health. Back then when I had my first child and full benefits, I didn’t have to pay anything extra other than $15 per checkup, and the delivery plus the stay at the hospital were completely covered by my insurance. That was something I took for granted.

Now that I am not working full-time, not because I lost my job but because I chose to work independently, I am the only one in the family that is not covered under a health insurance plan. It is simply not an option for us. I decided that if I needed to go to the doctor I’d go out of the country since we live close to the border. Thank goodness we are not planning on having more kids.

After that job I did have a part-time job for a while and during that time I was able to have "part-time health insurance." It was ok, nothing comparable to my first insurance, and after having our second child and now living with the huge medical bill on our shoulders I sometimes think, "Why didn’t I stay in a full-time job instead of pursuing this dream of starting a business?"

It is so sad that my doubts about my new business were based on health insurance. But for many people this is true, this is something that people think about before transferring to a new job or before leaving a job they don’t like to strike it on their own: Will I have health insurance? How will it be? Will it cover this or that?

Today my husband still has coverage from his employer and we still have our children under "Healthy Families" -- California's public insurance for children -- which is great. It really helps us a lot. But the only thing is that we are not sure if we will qualify for the next renewal period (coming up for us in June) because we are very close to the limit where we may earn too much for them to be able to stay on the program. I don’t even think about having the kids without insurance, but the amount it would cost for us under my husband’s policy is outrageous. So if Healthy Families doesn't take them I don’t know what else we will do.

I am crossing my fingers that this won't happen before 2014 when the next stage of the Affordable Care Act, or the health reform law, takes effect. This law, in which the first provisions took effect on March 2010, is eliminating a lot of of problems for people that have serious illnesses or "pre-existing conditions."

The next phase will be more noticed by us healthy people and I really can’t wait for that to come. We will be able to “shop” for health insurance that is more affordable and convenient for the whole family and I will be able to get an insurance for myself and go to the doctor for a checkup without any worries. These types of changes take a long time to implement, but I think that they will be worth it as we will all have options whether we work full-time, part-time or independently.