YOUR HEALTH CARE STORIES



Bonney Lake, WA

In March of 1983, I was diagnosed with a very serious cancer.  I had surgery and was given chemotherapy for one year.  That was 26 years ago.  I was fortunate in that I had very good health insurance and received very good care.

 

Mr. Reichert, the idea of our government getting involved with our health care frightens me tremendously!  I am afraid that the government will decide that only the "STRONG" will be allowed to survive.  Although, I believe that our health care system needs to have an overhaul; I do not believe that the answer is government involvement. 

 

I am afraid that if I were diagnoed with cancer today and had to obtain government approval for health care treatment that I would not be here 26 years from now telling you my story.

 

Mr. Reichert, PLEASE PROTECT OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHETHER WE LIVE OR DIE!

 

Thank You,

 

Brenda Sutcliffe

---End Story---



Mercer Island, WA

 

My family was in a horrible auto accident in Canada.  While the staff there was very nice, the equipment looked like it was recycled from equipment used in the 1970s in the USA.   My daughter had a very invasive and scarring surgery that did not need to be performed and would never have happened if we were in the USA with proper equipment for diagnostics.  My wife and daughter were both in critical condition, and if we had not been able to life-flight them back to Harborview they would likely have died. 

 

Government run healthcare does not work.  It almost killed my family.  People can not understand unless they have had a full experience with government run healthcare. 

 

Please stop this madness.  Our healthcare is the best in the world, and the voters would like for it to stay that way.  Do not let intellectually dishonest surveys circulate.  Ask voters if they want fewer drugs, worse diagnostic equipment, longer waits for service, and ultimately more preventable deaths in exchange for lower cost government healthcare.  Ask the truth and you will hear the truth.

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Carnation, WA

 

".         An amendment to eliminate the government-run public plan to protect Americans' choice of health care and ensure that if people are satisfied with the health care they have, they can keep it;"

 

This only works if those choices remain. My guess is that the system will self-destruct as we know it today.

 

Our current system, while not perfect is working. With a little "tweaking" we can make it better, but there is nothing in the current plan that will help us Americans out.

 

This bill is too much, too fast and I urge you to vote against it.

---End Story---



Enumclaw, WA

Representative Reichert,

 

I totally agree that improvements need to be made to the health care system.

 

I fall into an unusual category. More than twelve years ago I began experiencing migraine headaches. Now I've always had the occasional garden variety type of headaches, but these were completely different and definitely debilitating.

 

I was working the graveyard shift at the time as well as single parenting my son so I thought that working this un-natural shift as well as the duties and responsibilities of single parenting were most likely the cause. I was also spending a lot of time volunteering at my son's school as well as after school little league, basketball, or soccer practices and games depending on the season.

 

As the migraines increased in frequency and intensity I was forced to cut back on many of these loved activities, yet the headaches continued to increase. While I was taking prescription pain killers for the migraines I knew that this was only a temporary solution, I wanted to find out the cause. I finally took a position on day shift and thought for sure that this would make a difference not only in the headaches but also in the constant and increasing fatigue. Fatigue is putting it mildly, it was more like exhaustion.

 

A year after getting off of graveyard and the migraines and exhaustion were still increasing so I told my Dr. that I wanted to ramp up trying to find the cause. For the next four years I tried everything my MD as well as an ND recommended. I also was referred to a rheumatologist and at least two neurologists and a sleep specialist.  No solutions were to be found.

 

I was forced to leave my job which I loved and fought hard not to loose. If not for a private disability insurance and the help of my family I would be homeless right now.

 

I was finally encouraged to seek the help of an "Environmental Specialist" since all other tests done by the doctors did not show any reason for my problems, except for a severe sleep disorder.

 

I realize that "Environmental Medicine" is a controversial field, however this doctor was the first one to find what I believe to be the underlying cause, or more accurately causes. The unfortunate thing is that there aren't any cures or even very effective treatment for the things that this Dr. found.

 

This Dr. and many like him have quit dealing with insurance companies altogether, though that didn't concern me since I was first of all in need of his expertise and secondly I had lost my medical insurance when I lost my job. I have had to find a way to pay for my appointments and medicines on my own and it has not been inexpensive.

 

The private disability insurance company requested that I apply for Social Security Disability which I did after a two year waiting period after leaving my job. My employer had a reassignment program that could start up to two years after my medical separation and I had every intention to take some time and get myself well enough to find a position that didn't require so much physical work. Unfortunately, I was not able to take advantage of this  opportunity.

 

It took over two more years to go through the Social Security Disability process and after being denied twice and finally getting to see a disability judge my application was approved with a bench decision. Apparently the judge had looked at my medical history and my efforts to remain employed as well as my efforts for reassignment and knew that there was indeed something seriously wrong since bench decisions are not that frequent, or so I am told.

 

Unfortunately this has led me into another problem with the private disability insurance company that I cannot seem to get resolved even with the help of an attorney.

 

In my dealings with Social Security I have several concerns in relation to a national health care system of any kind.

 

1. People like me will simply fall through the cracks. Having a chronic disabling condition like mine for the most part goes "unrecognized" by the standard medical practices of our current health care system. I have wondered many times how many of our homeless are suffering a condition such as mine and have not had the resources to even be able to find out what is going on with their health.

 

2. Having suffered the short comings of our current medical health care procedures and having to seek out a specialist on my own to find answers, I doubt very highly that a nationalized health care system would have any better way of dealing with others like me, in fact I believe that the mis-diagnosis rate would only increase as doctors would be forced to follow strict guidelines in their treatment practices.

 

3. Doctors would have much less latitude in doing what they think might help their patients, again because the patient's clinical symptoms would not be considered as having much validity. Treatment would be based on decisions made by a bureaucratic set of rules or guidelines rather than between the Doctor and their patient.

 

There must better ways to make improvements in our health care system than trying to make a one size fits all plan that would only create a huge top heavy, slow moving, uncaring government agency that most Doctors won't want to have anything to do with.

 

I fear for my own personal future but more so for the future of my son.

 

If you have read this all the way through thank you for listening,       

 

 

---End Story---



Mercer Island, WA

My family was in a horrible auto accident in Canada.  While the staff there was very nice, the equipment looked like it was recycled from equipment used in the 1970s in the USA.   My daughter had a very invasive and scarring surgery that did not need to be performed and would never have happened if we were in the USA with proper equipment for diagnostics.  My wife and daughter were both in critical condition, and if we had not been able to life-flight them back to Harborview they would likely have died. 

Government run healthcare does not work.  It almost killed my family.  People can not understand unless they have had a full experience with government run healthcare. 

Please stop this madness.  Our healthcare is the best in the world, and the voters would like for it to stay that way.  Do not let intellectually dishonest surveys circulate.  Ask voters if they want fewer drugs, worse diagnostic equipment, longer waits for service, and ultimately more preventable deaths in exchange for lower cost government healthcare.  Ask the truth and you will hear the truth.
---End Story---



Carnation, WA
 
I had a partial knee replacement done early in December. I waited less than three months from my MRI to the surgery. I know that I would have waited a lot longer if we had government run health care.
 
I am also a believer in alternative medicine as my first choice for health care and use M.D.'s for the more serious stuff like surgery. My naturopathic doctors do very well in helping me get over illness. When something more major needs to be done such as surgery they refer me to a M.D. One size fits all health care is not good for anyone. My orthopedic doctors told me that they have people coming down from Canada to get surgery done because the wait is so long in Canada.

---End Story---



Duvall, WA

Like more and more of my friends and neighbors, I no longer work as a "normal" full-time employee with benefits.
 
I have to buy my own individual health policy (an option not even available to residents of some other states).
 
My deductible is $2500, so barring major injury or serious illness, I pay for all my own health care (in addition to the monthly premiums).
 
I am therefore painfully aware of how much you can pay for just routine doctor visits.  It didn't surprise me to read in a book that the average U.S. doctor makes THREE TIMES what the average doctor in all the other OECD nations does.
 
F
or our economy to be healthy and competitive, we HAVE TO rein in health-care and health-insurance costs.  The uncomfortable truth is, that means reducing the incomes of those now making money in health care and health insurance:  providers and insurers.
 
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