Is Health Insurance A Right Or A Privilege?

Now more than ever, health insurance is a staple story in the 24-hour news cycle. Opinions vary widely on the issue, as do politician’s thoughts on the matter. Debates rage, tensions grow, and deeper divides are formed as our government wrestles with this colossal dispute. Nestled at the heart of it all though is a basic question: Is health insurance a right or a privilege in the United States? I’m alive today because my school district, where I’ve now taught for 20 years, offers the ‘Cadillac of insurance plans.’ On April 26, 2006, I checked into the hospital for a scheduled C-section. Due to scleroderma, I was a high-risk patient, but based on the uneventful delivery of my son 3 years before, doctors anticipated I would go home with my newborn daughter in 4 days. I spent 218 days in the hospital. Catastrophic postpartum complications led to eight major surgeries, over 100 days in the Intensive Care Unit, and an additional six months of intensive physical, occupational, respiratory, and speech therapy after I was released from the hospital. My tour of hospitals spanned four different facilities and cost millions of dollars. I’m not even including the maintenance drugs and medical supplies I will require for the rest of my life due to a permanent ostomy bag, neuropathy, and a myriad of other health obstacles I acquired during that seven month hospitalization. Not only did I have superior health insurance from my employer, but I was also cov...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news