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When I became full time at my last job, I decided to get health insurance. Since I was only in my early 20’s, I didn’t figure I would really need it but wanted to be safe rather than sorry should something happen. At around $100/month for awesome health coverage and decent dental, I was pretty satisfied with what I was getting. Fast forward a year or two and I was REALLY glad that I had decided to enroll in the medical plan.
In October of 2007 I started have severe back pain. It migrated up through my neck/shoulders and it was so bad I could not even tilt my head forward/down at all. When I got out of bed in the morning, I could barely move. My doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She figured I had a pinched nerve or something. I was sent for x-rays that came back fine. She sent me to a chiropractor that adjusted me every other day for a few weeks. After I would leave the appointments I felt better…until the next day when I got out of bed.
The doctor then figured I had a slipped disk and sent me to physical therapy. At this point, I had become tired and sluggish to the point where I was sleeping almost 15-18 hours a day. I would go to work, struggle to stay awake, come home and nap, eat dinner, and go to bed. It was a horrible cycle and I had no energy for anything. I was doing physical therapy three times per week and after a month of no progress, they discontinued the therapy.
I was sent for an MRI on my upper back, which came back fine. By this point I had started to get red spots all over my legs that wouldn’t go away, I was having some bad digestion and GI problems, canker sores in my mouth and nose (when I had never had even ONE in my life) and I was still lethargic. My doctor still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.
As you can imagine, all of these doctor visits, chiropractic work and physical therapy cost a pretty penny. I was thankful I had insurance. I was seeing one doctor or another, or having tests run at least once or twice a week at this point.
In December I admitted myself to the emergency room when I was throwing up blood and had blood in my stool. The Naproxen the doctor had given me for the back pain was causing internal bleeding (not complete ulcers yet) and I was dehydrated. They kept me for about 5 hours in which time they gave me IV fluids, ran tests, and gave me medicine to coat my stomach. This would’ve been another $500+ hospital bill, but with my insurance? I only paid $100.
Fast forward through more testing and my doctor thought maybe I had Lupus. Tests were run. Tests came back negative. She finally came up with an unsure diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disease called Behcet’s Disease (or Behcet’s Syndrome), something she had never even heard of before then. She sent me to a dermatologist, since one of the main symptoms is the red spots on the legs. They took a biopsy of my right leg and ran tests and it came back as Vasculitis, which is essentially blood vessels exploding at the surface of the skin, giving the red “rash” appearance. I also had pain in my eyes, which an opthalmologist tested and came back positive for Uveitis (inflammation of the back of the eyes). This can lead to blindness if not treated. This was scary news to me!
All of my symptoms added up and the dermatologist (who had 3 or 4 other patients with Behcet’s) was pretty sure that I was indeed afflicted with the disease. It’s rare in the United States, and it’s rare in women. It’s not contagious and there’s no real sure way of knowing how I got it.
Behcet’s is a chronic condition due to disturbances in the body’s immune system. This system, which normally protects the body against infections through controlled inflammation, becomes overactive and produces unpredictable outbreaks of exaggerated inflammation. This extra inflammation affects blood vessels, usually the small ones. As a result, symptoms occur wherever there is a patch of inflammation, and can be anywhere where there is a blood supply. (taken from the Wikipedia page).
Since my diagnosis (early February of 2008) I have been back and forth between specialists and my regular doctor. I am 24 years old and I take an average of 8 pills a day (Vicodin for the pain, 2 Prilosec for my stomach, 2 Celebrex for the arthritic pain in my joints, iron for the anemia, Dapsone for the autoimmune disease itself, Flexeril (muscle relaxer) as needed, and a multi-vitamin to keep my energy up). These prescriptions are expensive and without insurance would run me probably $400/month. With my insurance (since losing my job I am now on my husband’s insurance which isn’t nearly as good) it only costs me about $130-$150. Add to that a monthly visit to my regular doctor and a visit to the specialist roughly every 8 weeks (along with bloodwork), and it adds up very quickly.
Even with insurance, I’ve spent over $2000 in copays in the past 10 months ($1,050 of that was doctor/lab fees, $100 for the hospital and another $790 in prescriptions).
The moral of MY story is that health insurance is definitely worth it. Without it, I would’ve probably paid over $10,000 in the past 10 months for testing and to get me on a treatment plan to force my symptoms into remission. I will most likely be on medication for the rest of my life and never be the same person that I once was. This is a hard adjustment for anyone, let alone someone in their early 20’s.
You think you’re healthy and you think things like this won’t happen. Maybe you think you don’t need medical insurance. I had the same thought process. If at all possible, at least have some sort of medical coverage. Even if it’s a high deductible. Your health is the one thing that is definitely worth the money.
Had I not had medical insurance, I would’ve most likely been a bit more reluctant to even go to the doctor in the first place because I wouldn’t have had the money to pay for all the bills. This could’ve led to long term, irreversible damage that just ISN’T WORTH IT.
Nothing in life is guaranteed. Protect yourself.
