I read a post by Jim Wallis on his blog in which he reflected on a recent and anxious trip with his young son to the emergency room. He ponders the situation of those who do not have adequate healthcare provision and how their fears must be multiplied. This is my comment to hs post.
I just took my 20-year old daughter to the emergency room for similar symptoms last week (only my 3rd trip in 26 years of parenting!) and was so grateful for health insurance. But I couldn't help remembering the times when we were without health coverage. We were church planters in Rhode Island fifteen years ago, literally living by faith, with a 10 year old, a 5 year old and a newborn baby. I remember my husband trying to find a plan we could afford. We finally found one (a minimalist one) and the salesman came to our tiny home to discuss the plan. The thing I remember most about it was that it only covered emergency room visits which were the result of accidents. He joked, "If your husband is having a heart attack, hit him over the head and get him to the ER!". I didn't laugh. I asked what I was to do if my infant or any of my children spiked a high fever, went into convulsions, etc. in the middle of the night or on a week-end. He responded: "Call your doctor and have him meet you at his office." I asked if he had a list of these doctors who would meet you at the office in the midnight hours. Of course, he didn't respond. The great irony of this is that all of this was occurring at the time the Clintons were proposing their healthcare plan. And I remember my boss, a good Christian woman, laughing scornfully at the Clinton plan. Of course, she was a bookstore owner, with a good insurance plan, and a husband with good retirement from the military industrial complex.
I am so grateful that the Seminary where I teach provides healthcare (a very expensive plan) for my family but I cannot forget the fear and anxiety of being a "have not". God help us.
