Share Your Story: What do preventive health services with no co-pays or deductibles mean to you?

To me, personally? Nothing. If I'm able to move back to NYC in a year or so and join a freelancer's union, it will mean a bit more. I fall into a group that is almost NEVER talked about or even considered: Fifty-five years old, single/never married, child-free, Working Poor. (I initial cap that last label, because it's fast becoming the newest American socioeconomic group, and will likely replace the vanishing Middle Class in the next decade or so.) I have no insurance and am in debt to a local sliding-scale clinic for thousands of dollars. I see a doctor only when I need to get scrips refilled. I haven't seen a dentist in a decade. (I will as soon as I can save up for the $100 deductible.) I live in a state that began offering "extra" care options to poor adults (M & F) without dependents only a few yrs. ago. That program, for which people had to apply and be accepted to, lasted about a year before the state Republicans shut down funding and put people on a waiting list. It's now about to be cut entirely. Tho I qualify for disability on several counts, I don't have the time, energy, and emotional stability to go thru the process of applying, waiting to be turned down, and then reapplying, nor do I have the money to hire a law firm. I prefer to keep working at a job I love rather than be restricted as to how much I can earn working part-time, be "awarded" a pittance to live on, and be subject to (mostly) substandard health care. (I have several friends on full disability, and this is their situation.) Their "benefits" have already been cut and remain under constant threat. And all because we live in a country full of bootstraps-pulling idiots who think it's morally right and economically feasible to continue the utterly outmoded, INSANE system of tying health care to a job. ---My main goal, if I live long enough, is to relocate to Europe, the UK, or Canada. I live in constant fear of growing old in our rapidly deteriorating republic without Universal Health Care for All. Even if I were able to make enough money to purchase the best health care money can buy, I don't want to live in a country surrounded by people who don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and their own families. That is what this country is. 

I work at Starbucks and have been with the company for a little over two years now. I had a PAP in September of 2011 and was told that I had pre-cancerous cells and need to have a minor biopsy. I made the appointment but when I showed up for the procedure I was told that my insurance company considers the preventative care as a surgical procedure and I therefore had to fork over $250 on the spot, up front, before I could have the biopsy. I make $8.70 and hour, approximately 35 hours a week, and I have an autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia for which I have several prescriptions. I can barely keep afloat with my bills and my illness, so needless to say I did not have an extra $250 to spare. They refused me, saying I HAD to have the money, up front, in its entirety. I still have not been able to afford the procedure. I'm 26 years old and cancer runs rampant on my father's side of the family to the point that nobody in the family had died of anything else. I hope it's not too late for me.

You have already heard my story (but no one else seems to care ...); I was refused E.C. (based on being on state funded insurance) though NO ONE ever ran my insurance card to determine what was/was not covered). That refusal resulted in an unwanted pregnancy and a surgical abortion. Only to find out that I WAS (as I understand it..) covered for the E.C. and as if this was not enough to endure.... the same chain of pharmacy that refused the E.C. also disclosed my condition (after the surgical abortion) to a family member without cause or MY consent.Now, that the ACA is in place... it still does not benefit me! This is NOT health CARE... it is "COULD NOT CARE LESS" about YOUR ('my') HEALTH!! I have no faith in the health care (that I ,then and now, qualify for!!), MY GOVERNMENT allows and condones what I was put through and will NOT enforce protection of my violated RIGHTS!  I am now entirely devoid of any level of trust for the medical profession or the much needed, mental and emotional services and the pre-existing disabilities & distress that have been INCREASED as a result of social/political games being played during this election year.  If the laws that protect my rights are only words on paper... THEN so are ALL other laws! Just MEANINGLESS words on paper WITH NO POWER!!! 

There are several things it is great to not have co-pays on.- Well person physicals for my sons - I just needed one for college for my youngest- Continuing medication needs for both sons who have ADD and depression- Birth control for myself- Emergencies (I just broke my ankle and it was great to know that the inpatient services were totally covered)Unfortunately my own insurance while it is very good, does not cover some things, so I recently found I have moderate hearing loss and because of other things (college tuition for example - the FAFSA does not ask you about medical expenses!) I cannot afford to get hearing aids which are 100% not covered.  I do not understand why a hearing condition is not covered.  I am of course having to compensate by saying "huh" a lot.  I hope to be able to afford it by saving a little at a time, but it is really awful that people can't just have health care, like in other civilized countries.