By Fred B., Gilchrist County
I’m 59 years old and don’t have health insurance. I’ve probably only had health care coverage 4 years of my life. Health care costs are expensive when you’re talking about insurance. One thing I’ve never really understood about insurance is why do you have to have a different policy for your teeth? For your yes? Are they not part of your body? One policy should cover everything. It’s health care. Is it not? All of these items are part of your health.
Having health care insurance is a good thing. I disagree with ‘well, the insurance company doesn’t cover that.’ I’m paying for health insurance. It should cover whatever my health requires. Should it not? I kind of have a rough philosophy with things. Your homeowner’s policy and automobile policy are the same way. Homeowner’s policies don’t cover flooding, but why? Insurance companies stretch these things out so they can make money. It’s about money.
Before my wife and I got divorced I paid $19,000 cash for her dental work. She had nine caps, nine root canals, six cleanings, and a few surgeries. It was rough. They do surgeries inside of your mouth just like they do inside your body. Why do you have to have a separate policy? This ‘separating things’ needs to stop.
Luckily I’ve been predominately healthy all my life. I’m doing well for my age. I wear glasses, but that’s all. I’ve smoked for forty plus years, but I’m trying to stop now because it’s starting to affect other things.
I’ve got a seventh-grade education, but I’ve done a lot of self-education. I hung around a lot of highly educated people through the work I’ve done in my younger years. They really educated me. I’ve been working since I was twelve years old. Right now I’m unemployed.
Tonight is my first time at the Equal Access clinic. The clinic is a good thing, and they need more funding. The student doctor that I met tonight is going to make a good doctor. He listens. When I was going through all of the medical problems with my ex-wife, I wish I had a doctor like that – one who would listen. It’s not all about science and schooling. Bedside manner is important too. He’s getting into it for the right reason. They need clinics like this nationwide. Everywhere. Every town should have a set up like this.
When they came out with Obamacare I was making good money. But the premiums for my wife, to cover all of her illnesses, it cost me $4,000 a month. I still had to pay co-pays for specialists and medications. There are people in federal and state governments that should make that stop. It supposed to be government for the people by the people, But it’s not. It hasn’t been that way in a while. The government elites don’t pay for their health care. You do. We do. The folks working in this clinic do. Given the amount of tax that we pay, health care should be free. Everybody in this country should get health care. Period.