I was born with an incurable autoimmune disease that runs in families. It is called endometriosis. It behaves like a cancer. It causes pain so severe I have vomited. I have collapsed. I have gone to the emergency room. There is no guarantee of pain relief with meds, HRT, surgery, hysterectomy, pregnancy, child birth, or menopause. Doctors don’t know the cause, and they don’t have a cure. I NEED health care to work FOR me. Support health care reform.
Check out the text of President Obama’s health care reform speech, given earlier tonight.
Hi, my name is Steph. I maintain the Living With Endometriosis blog. Thanks for reading.
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1 user responded in this post
Steph,
I too believe strongly in the need for prompt health care reform. I too have endometriosis (in addition to a laundry list of other chronic conditions… including ones that tend to commonly co-exist with endo).
After nearly losing our house not once, not twice, but three times among many other challenging, frustrating, maddening hurdles that were all inextricable linked to the *catastrophic medical costs* my illnesses have resulted in… I have felt firsthand how all of the above can affect a marriage, wipe out any financial security, and threaten home loss due to foreclosure.
Far from “deadbeats”, we diligently paid all of our bills not just on time but early… that is until the bills became so out of control that this became impossible to do! We did not find ourselves in dire financial straits due to living beyond our means or making irresponsible decisions.
On the contrary, I spent too many hours to count disputing incorrect bills, appealing health insurance company denials (and winning), and advocating for myself.
Medical costs are what hammered us again and again and again.
Sadly, all of the years of fighting the system have taken their toll on me. I am exhausted. I no longer have the energy to fight as hard as I used to. I have to “choose my battles” now with medical billing problems.
I have been writing a great deal on twitter in support of health care reform using the #hcr hashtag. There is much work to be done and we need as many people as possible pitching in together to make reform happen. I believe we need to avoid name-calling across party lines and focus on what the vast majority of Americans reportedly believe we need: meaningful, prompt health care reform.
Thank you for posting this!
Jeanne
P.S. Yes, I did write my Congresspeople (with the same link listed above). That site is fast & easy!!