Like Millions of Americans, I Can Never Leave My Spouse. I'll Lose My Healthcare.

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'Like millions of Americans, I can never leave my spouse. I’ll lose my healthcare.' By Jessa Crispin, The Guardian, July 23, 2021. - EXCERPTS, ED:

- My access to doctors is tied to my husband – and his access is tied to his employer. Land of the free indeed. -

It was around the second dose of fentanyl going into my IV bag that I stopped trying to control how much all of this was going to cost. I had been arguing with every decision the caregivers at the emergency room were making – “Is this Cat scan actually necessary or is there another diagnostic tool?” “Is there a cheaper version of this drug you’re giving me?” – and reminding them repeatedly that I was uninsured.. I walked out of there 4 years ago alive, yes. And, as the doctors and nurses kept reminding me, if I had waited another 48 hours I might have gone septic. I was also walking home to a $12,000 bill, which was approximately half of my annual income as a single woman. It took me several years of hardship, contributions from my friends and the assistance of the hospital’s charity program to pay off the $12,000. Then, last month, it started again..

As a freelance writer who has tried and failed for years now to get a real job with real benefits, the costs of the surgeries and hearing aids and other treatments the doctor sketched out as part of my future would be suffocating. But almost all of it is covered by my husband’s insurance, making my health and ability to access healthcare dependent on his presence in my life. The coercions built into American social welfare programs limit freedom, not preserve it. People who are not financially independent are forced to maintain ties with family members who might be abusive or violent unless they want to relinquish their housing, healthcare or other forms of support..

And as outlined by Melinda Cooper’s Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism, the dismantling of protections like food and financial aid in the 80s and 90s had the express purpose of increasing familial obligations in the name of “duty” and “responsibility”. Single parents seeking public support for their children’s wellbeing now had to first seek assistance through their partners, no matter how fraught or harmful those relationships might be. While politicians spoke of “strengthening families” and repairing the social fabric, one of the consequences of these policy changes was to limit the ability for people to make the basic decisions required to live the lives of their choosing, unless they had the money that in this country is our substitute for freedom.

It’s not just unhealthy families we are stuck in: a Gallup poll revealed that one in 6 Americans stay in jobs they want to leave because they can’t afford to lose their health benefits. Politicians on both sides claim to support innovation and entrepreneurship, but the cost of healthcare is a huge barrier for many, and something that could be easily resolved with a public option. It’s almost as if we believe people who are sick, unlucky or not blessed by inherited resources deserve to have their choices constrained and stay trapped in perilous circumstances. (That last part is a joke. We Americans definitely believe this.)...

Read The Full Article,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/23/americans-healthcare-insurance-spouse