I was on kidney dialysis for 10 years. I have had two kidney transplants, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer), complete with chemo and radiation treatments, 4 angiograms/angioplasty with a total of 5 stints, Basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer), a heart attack, quadruple open heart bypass operation, and degenerative disc disease. I take 23 prescribed pills a day, very expensive pills, and I see a specialist at least every 3 months, sometimes 3 or 4 specialists. I don't know what my actual costs are, but without insurance, I would not be able to afford them.
I want to point out to those who think that the only reason people get sick is because they don't take care of themselves, that when I was first diagnosed with my kidney problem, I was 17 and on my high school wrestling and track team.
Because I was only 17 when I was diagnosed with kidney problems, there has never been in my life when I was eligible for insurance. So don't say (critics of heath care reform), that I just chose not to be insured.
Here is the long version:
When I was 17 years old I applied for a summer job Sears. As part of the application process I had to take a physical exam. When the results came back, they told me that I would not be able to work for them because I did not pass their physical exam. This came as a complete shock to me because I was in great health, and was on my high school wrestling and track team. They said that because I had albumin (blood) in my urine, that I could not be covered by their insurance plan. My diagnosis - glomerulonyphritis (chronic kidney failure).
That was in the late 1960's.
After high school, and an LDS mission, I went to BYU. One of my instructors liked my work and offered me a job at the BYU Graphics department. They too required a physical. I did not pass this physical either. So they said that I could work for them, but as a contract laborer. Translation - no insurance and no benefits, but the same salary as if I were a full time employee with benefits.
That was in the early 1970's
It wasn't until I was 33 that I ever had any symptoms of my kidney problem. I was hiking to the top of Mt. Hood in Oregon, and felt really weak. What I thought was altitude sickness was actually End Stage Renal Failure. The next week I was on a dialysis machine, 4-5 hours a week, 3 days a week, for the next 10 years. I was unable to work not because I was unable to work, but because nobody would hire me while I was still on dialysis.
As a side note, it wasn't until 1972 that the "government and its well-known inefficiencies and inequities, " * and socialized medicine covered kidney dialysis. Before then, if you didn't have current insurance, or extremely rich, you were told that you would have to go home and die. My doctor told me that the hardest part of his job was to tell patients that they had the ability to save their lives, but because they didn't have the right insurance, or because they weren't rich, they would have to die.
Which is one of the reasons that it really gauls me when people complain about how bad a government run health option would be. And when they complain about how bad Medicare and Medicaid are, yet they defend the insurance companies. Medicare may have its faults, but then so does any company of its size and scope. Do they also complain about government run schools and universities, government run roads, highways and transportation, government run postal system, and government run courts and legal system?
Some who complain do so saying that it will cost too much. But there are many studies (spelled out on the PBS program that talks about how our personal health is directly related to our personal wealth), state that it actually costs more not to have health care for everyone.
And yet those same people never once question how much the war in Iraq (our search for weapons of mass destruction) costs, or the eight year war in Afghanistan costs, and what the benefits of the war is. If we just want to help oppressed people, there are many other countries that have dictators who are killing and harming their citizens, why don't we help them also?
But I digress. Back to my story...
Finally, after 8 years on dialysis, I was able to find a job. A close friend owned a company, Jenkon Data Systems, and knew of my condition, and knew of my education and background, and offered me a job. It was great for the first year and a half. But then I was called into the accountant's office and she asked me all kinds of questions about dialysis, and the cost of medicine, and the cost of a transplant. The next week I was laid off. Two weeks earlier I had a review by my manager. He told me that I had the best review in the company and received the highest raise. Yet they still laid me, and only me, off.
That was in the late 1980's
In 1992 I received my second transplant. I received my first transplant from my sister in 1982. The kidney was a perfect match and they told me I had a 95% chance of keeping it. I had the transplant on December 26th. The next day our house burned down. My wife and six children were staying at my wife's parents house so no one was hurt. Two months later we moved back into the house and my wife informed me that she was in love with my oldest son's Sunday School teacher, and wanted d divorce. I was kicked out of the house, (we were renting from her parents). So there I was - no money, no work, and no place to live. I eventually found a place to live, but the stress of the divorce caused me to lose my kidney and I had to go back on dialysis.
My next experience with being laid off related to health insurance coverage was with Fidelity Investments. I had worked for them for about two years. They had a companywide lay-off. I was included in the lay-off. Not too unusual, except for these facts... There were 10 people on our 'group'. I was the only one laid off, yet I had the most experience, had better manager reviews, had more industry related licenses, worked more overtime, and had the most training of anyone else in my group. Yet I was laid off, and those who had written reprimands, less education , less experience, and worse manager's reviews were not laid off. Also, a key point - the decision about who to lay off came from the corporate office, not my manager. The corporate office didn't just tell the local management, or my manager, that they had to cut so many people. They told them to cut me. Why, out of thousands of employees did they single me out?
That was in the early 1990's
My last experience with health insurance was with Achieve Global. I had worked for them for 10 years, and survived at least 10 different layoffs. So it was a real surprise when I was called into my manager's office and he told me that corporate had told him that he had to lay me off. But is shouldn't have been such a surprise. The company had recently be purchased by another company. They wanted to streamline costs, so I was laid off. Again, they didn't tell my manager that he had to lay off one person in his division. They told him to lay me off.
That was in 2006
I am 60 years old. I wasn't able to find work in the computer field, at my age, so I became self employed like Jeff Hein. The only difference is that I am not as talented and have yet to make even a modest living being self employed. I am lucky in that my wife works. I still fear that my health issues may cause her to lose her job, but that is less likely because she is a Registered Nurse with 30 years experience, and has a Union behind her.
The reason I am telling you this is that hopefully you can bring to people's attention that as long as companies are required to insure everyone, those who prove to be too expensive to their insurance plans risk being laid off. In the last company I worked for, there were some other people who had survived cancer - but not layoffs.
It would be really interesting to see how many of the people who get laid off have some history of medical problems or would otherwise be unable to purchase insurance. If I were to find work at a small company, with only a few employees, that company's insurance rates would go up the next time that they were renewed. Either that, or everyone else's insurance would increase dramatically. Check it out and you will find that it is true.
I have been silent during this recent health care debate because I firmly believe that nothing that I say will make a difference. The insurance companies spend too much money contributing to the lawmakers campains (spelled correctly), in essence buying their votes. I hear a lot of talk about ethics reform concerning gifts given to lawmakers, but very little about their access to the legislators. If there is ever any doubt about what the lobbyists money can buy, just try to have lunch, one on one with your US senator. It's not going to happen - unless you contribute thousands of dollars to their campain. I tried - I called Senator Bennett's office to see if I could meet with him about health care. I was told that someone would call me, but surprise, surprise - no one did. Do you think that if I contributed $250,000 to his campaign he would meet with me?
I've often wondered why someone would spend millions of dollars of his own money, for a job that pays less than $200,000. Do you think it could be power, influence, prestige? Those are all nice and good, but what they really get back in return is money. Campaign money they can spend how they want, money and gifts from lobbyists, and a great job with great pay when they leave office.
So, since I can't talk to my elected representatives, I was hoping that you could at least bring to people's attention, that not only are many people unable to buy insurance, but that we are also being laid off from jobs because we have health issues. If you filled out an application for work, after being unemployed for 10 years while I as on dialysis, what would you put down for your work history for those 10 years? Remember, you have to account for every month - you can't just leave it blank. What you put down is reflective as to whether or not your health history is a factor. If you put down you were on dialysis for the last 10 years and unable to work, you believe past health history is not a factor and you believe you still have a chance to be hired, and you are also naive. If you put down that you were self-employed, (salary not revealed), you believe that your health history does play a big part in whether or not you get the job.
I hope you can do something with this information. I have thought about writing in and Readers Forum, but then people would dismiss me as a... well you know.
I can give you more details to verify my story if you need them. I purposely named the companies involved because I am telling the truth, and know that they won't sue me for false statements, and that if they did, I would win. I have seen an attorney regarding being laid on two different occasions. The story is all the same. Since I am not a minority, or a woman, I cannot sue for discrimination. I could sue for them letting me go because of my health, but the only amount that I could recover would be the amount of wages lost, until I got a new job. Not enough for them to spend their time on my case.
* Anonymous | comment on your article.
I never heard back from the anyone at the newspaper.
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