I had breast cancer in 2000. When I was diagnosed with another breast cancer in 2011, I discovered that the expensive health insurance I had been paying for every month, was going to leave me with 100s of thousands of dollars of medical debts for that year, alone. I wept over the burden my illness was placing on me and my husband, after we had climbed out of my medical debt so often before. I was able to switch to a better carrier, only because of the rules of the Affordable Health Care Act, which prevented insurance companies from rejecting me for pre-existing conditions. As it was, I still had $17,000 in debt, which was largely taken care of by an incredible group fundraiser. Being able to switch to better insurance coverage lifted a huge weight of stress from our shoulders, which I am sure helped me in my recovery. It has helped us to stay living in our home and living our lives. And it has placed me in a position to help others now. I pay it forward.

 

I still have medical debts accumulate, but I manage. I am on Medicare, now. I want to hang on to that as well. I've been paying into the system my whole working life. Less wealthy countries take care of their citizens' health care needs. So can we.