I Can't Get Health Insurance

I am one of the 36 million Americans who do not have health insurance. Some people feel they don’t need it. Other people need it but can’t get it. I am a part of the latter. I am a Type 1 Diabetic and, because we live in a country where health insurance is a business, I am known as an uninsurable American.

           I never thought that in America, I would not have affordable access to good healthcare. Another 9.7 million non-citizens are also uninsured but I am not a non-citizen. I am a patriot. I travel all over the world, so I know that life in other countries is not as wonderful and free as it is right here in the United States. My brother served in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom as a U.S. Marine. My father was in the Army during the Korean War. My mother has worked her entire life standing up in support of good people who want to make our country as great as possible. I have worked as a police department paramedic for the Nassau County Police Department. I have spent 13 years on the board of directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, raising money to find a cure to Diabetes. I have fought for my constitutional rights and the rights of others as a television journalist for 12 years. But for some strange reason, even though I am a patriot, I have to live by third-world standards when it comes to health insurance.

This is a country founded on hard work and work that helps everyone. This is a country where we serve in the military to help defend our freedom. We volunteer on political campaigns to help promote positive change. We take jobs and learn skills and give back to our community and we defend the document that gives us all the freedoms we should celebrate: The Constitution.

            If you are 65 or over, you probably use a little thing called Medicare. My parents depend on it. Millions of older Americans do and it is a government-run program that works. Why should healthcare and health insurance be a business based on profit? Medical insurance companies are in the business to make as much money as possible by not insuring as many people as possible.

           I can't get medical insurance because I have diabetes. I lost my job three years ago. Back then, I was insured by a group policy, so a pre-existing condition didn't matter. When I lost my job, I did what the government said to try and do when people were out of work. I went to work to create work for myself. I didn't depend on unemployment checks or welfare. I started my own company and I was successful. The problem is, even with my own company and, even with money in my pocket, no insurance company has to insure me since I have a pre-existing medical condition. You may be saying, "Why don't you start a group plan through your company and other employees?" I don't employ any full-time workers, so I can't create a group plan.

          Aren't medical insurance companies supposed to be in the business of insuring the sick? I mean, that's what I used to pay into the system for. I have had Type 1 Diabetes since I was 13. I am 39 now. I didn't cause this disease. I didn't develop it because of an unhealthy lifestyle. By the way, here's a little lesson for those of my readers who don't know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Type 1, also known as Juvenile Diabetes is genetic. Type 2 Diabetes, or "adult onset," can be caused by an unhealthy lifestyle like being overweight. I am a Type 1. Because I have Type 1 Diabetes I am called "uninsurable," by the medical insurance companies.

         How can a medical insurance company say that someone is "uninsurable?" Isn't that their job to insure people medically? We need to get rid of medical insurance companies or the government has to step into make sure these companies work in the best interest of all Americans. Congress passed a law that will do just that and more.

           As I write this, the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding if that law is constitutional. They are focusing on the part of the law that says all Americans have to buy medical insurance. I understand why some people might be uncomfortable with that aspect of the law but we do it in other areas of our lives already.

         The government requires you to buy car insurance. We can't drive legally unless we have it. That is the government forcing you to buy a certain product: car insurance. What about your body? It's like a car and needs to go into the repair shop from time to time. If you get sick and end up in the hospital and you don't have insurance, I end up paying for your healthcare. Essentially, that is the government paying for your healthcare and you using the taxpayers as your safety net.

         I don't want to pay for your healthcare. If you think you don't need medical insurance, you're wrong. When I was a paramedic, I responded to thousands of emergency calls about half of the patients I took the hospital had no insurance. When we got to the hospital, emergency rooms were full of people who were not seriously ill. They just didn’t have medical insurance, so they used the emergency room as their doctor’s office. The people who did this were not illegal immigrants or minorities for the most part. It is an easy argument to say that illegal immigrants and minorities are overusing our emergency rooms and abusing the medical system but that would be a lie. The majority of uninsured Americans are white and the majority of uninsured Americans are just that, American.

         Everyone needs it. You have car insurance in case you have an accident. You may never have one but you still have to have the insurance. every developed country has universal health insurance except one -- us. And we have government insurance for seniors -- Medicare -- it's nothing new. Many people don't realize this, like the woman who told her Congressman: "Don't let the government mess with my Medicare."

        The biggest scandal is that members of Congress have the best medical insurance coverage in the country.

         But what most people don't realize is, if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the law requiring people to buy medical insurance is unconstitutional, the whole law gets thrown out and millions of Americans will remain, "uninsurable."

         All Americans should be given certain rights and be allowed to prosper. That concept is already in the Constitution and that word, "prosper," is already in the Declaration of Independence.

        The reason I am writing this is I want to put a face to the healthcare debate. This is my face standing next to my girlfriend. I would like to be able to stand with her at wonderful events and on great vacations for a very long time.