As an eight-year-old, I knew all about co-pays, pre-existing conditions, and cobra. We moved from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire in the early 90s. My dad’s new company wouldn’t cover dependents with preexisting conditions for the first two years, so my family had one insurance plan, and I had another.
I’ve watched healthcare and health insurance change a lot since then. Employers reduce the plan coverage or the percentage they cover, which is the equivalent of a pay cut. Insurance companies restructure the deductible, so that maintenance medications are not covered. A physical is covered but the “first-time visit” with each new doctor was not. Bloodwork at a visit is covered, but not if it doesn’t count when the lab is down the hall from the doctor. I left my job after ten years because I was going to debt.
Ironically, worrying about healthcare can exacerbate medical problems and weaken the immune system. Since the start of the pandemic, there have only been a few months when my medication supply was not interrupted. There were weeks I spent six hours on the phone tracking my medication. I had a seizure on the floor of CVS waiting for my prescription to be filled. EMTs arrived and I think brought me to the ambulance in a stretcher. They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I all I could think about was the cost and the ride home. I signed a form, saying I was leaving against medical advice, climbed out of the ambulance, and walked the half-mile in the dark to get home.
When we talk about healthcare, we’re usually talking about health insurance, which isn’t the same thing. To care about the health of people is the essence of a healthy society, because it empowers them to contribute to society. Making healthcare more accessible will allow people to get the care they need, when they need it. Employers will see workers more engaged, energized, and focused. Teachers will see the same in their students because that is the energy parents are modeling. Nurses will see fewer patients in the ER with health problems that could have been prevented.
Sign in remotely to Support: Online Testimony Submission
Email the Commerce Committee: HouseCommerceCommittee@leg.state.nh.us
Attend the hearing: Thursday, January 26th at 1:00 p.m. in Legislative Office Building, Room 302-304