As a freelance writer, I did not have access to insurance for many years unless I was willing to buy it myself.
I was willing to do so, but the problem was that nobody would sell me any health insurance at a reasonable price.
I had been trying for years to find an affordable plan, but I was turned down almost immediately because I am considered to be overweight and I had high blood pressure for a brief period in my life.
I had not had any issues with my blood pressure in years by the time that I was trying to get health insurance coverage, but that didn't matter.
I started to wonder why finding affordable insurance was so difficult in a country as wealthy as the United States, where medical care is so abundant.
I was tired of going to the doctor and having to pay three or four times as much as friends of mine that had health insurance coverage.
A few years ago, I developed an umbilical hernia, and that was the point that I realized I could forget about ever getting an affordable health plan or any health insurance at all, for that matter, unless I decided to lie and tell an insurance company that I didn't have any pre-existing conditions.
I do not believe in lying about anything, so it was hard for me not to become depressed.
It was shortly after that happened that I saw the movie "Sicko," which criticized the state of the health care industry in the United States by visiting with a number of families who had sick or injured loved ones that were not able to receive health insurance coverage.
A few of the people even died because of a lack of insurance coverage.
Knowing that an affordable health insurance plan was laughable in the condition I was in, my feeling of depression started to change to anger.
It was disgusting to me that people were dying so that these big corporations could make bigger profits.
Then came March 22, 2010, one of the most historic days of my lifetime, in which the health care bill was passed that will allow all Americans to have health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions.
The best part about it is that the coverage will be part of an affordable health insurance plan that I can get in the very near future.
I was willing to do so, but the problem was that nobody would sell me any health insurance at a reasonable price.
I had been trying for years to find an affordable plan, but I was turned down almost immediately because I am considered to be overweight and I had high blood pressure for a brief period in my life.
I had not had any issues with my blood pressure in years by the time that I was trying to get health insurance coverage, but that didn't matter.
I started to wonder why finding affordable insurance was so difficult in a country as wealthy as the United States, where medical care is so abundant.
I was tired of going to the doctor and having to pay three or four times as much as friends of mine that had health insurance coverage.
A few years ago, I developed an umbilical hernia, and that was the point that I realized I could forget about ever getting an affordable health plan or any health insurance at all, for that matter, unless I decided to lie and tell an insurance company that I didn't have any pre-existing conditions.
I do not believe in lying about anything, so it was hard for me not to become depressed.
It was shortly after that happened that I saw the movie "Sicko," which criticized the state of the health care industry in the United States by visiting with a number of families who had sick or injured loved ones that were not able to receive health insurance coverage.
A few of the people even died because of a lack of insurance coverage.
Knowing that an affordable health insurance plan was laughable in the condition I was in, my feeling of depression started to change to anger.
It was disgusting to me that people were dying so that these big corporations could make bigger profits.
Then came March 22, 2010, one of the most historic days of my lifetime, in which the health care bill was passed that will allow all Americans to have health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions.
The best part about it is that the coverage will be part of an affordable health insurance plan that I can get in the very near future.