Ed. Note: Cameron Feng submitted this entry for our 2009 Healthcare Blogathon. Prizes include $150 in cash, free tickets to our Annual Gala, and by today, Sept. 30 9:30p PT! Like in the Oscars, You the Reader will then get to choose the winners. More details to come.
The current healthcare system in America is ridiculous. Not only is it unaffordable, it is selfish. For too long, healthcare in America has been the most expensive and lowest in quality when compared to most industrialized countries. Yet, America is leading the world in biomedical research and development. My recent experience with health insurance has given me a personal reason to advocate for healthcare reform in the United States.
Around February of this year, my father lost his job when Circuit City was forced to shut down, and along with that, he lost the health insurance for our family. This could not have happened at a worst time for me. I was and am still in the process of having my class three underbite corrected. Having gone through twenty years with an underbite, it still bothers me that I am not able to chew and enunciate properly. The first poses a medical problem that will only prove to cause problems as I age and the latter affects not only my self-confidence to not be able to articulate my thoughts, but has held me back from taking on authoritative roles past the Internal Vice President position in organizations I have been involved in. My goal to become a doctor became the final factor that convinced me to undergo surgery for the correction, and what better time to do so than right before achieving my bachelor’s degree?
I first consulted a maxillofacial surgeon in September 2008 when I still had health insurance who presented to me the steps that I would need to go through before surgery should take place. This included getting braces for $2,400 and having all four of my wisdom teeth removed, adding another $600 to my lifetime investment of a better smile, greater self-confidence, fewer jaw problems, and understandable speech. He also told me that the hospital would be able to get the insurance to cover most of the surgical costs.
Unfortunately, two months after getting my braces, my family and I lost our health insurance. Having already spent $2,400 on the braces that would only make my underbite worse, but align my teeth for surgery, I would continue my journey. Having my wisdom teeth removed in the end of July 2009 gave me another six months before the last and final step: surgery. Already without health insurance for six months, I started applying. However, I was surprised to have found my applications denied automatically. I was in utter disbelieve when the reason I was given was that my medical history showed that I had seen a maxillofacial surgeon. Because my medical history demonstrated that I was thinking about surgery, I would not be granted the peace of mind of being medically insured. Even though I needed the surgery, insurance companies would rather turn their heads and not risk having to pay for the costs. It is appalling and frightening that healthcare companies would prioritize profit over the health and quality of life of the American citizen.
– Cameron Feng
