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Member Healthcare Stories

How have you seen the lack of health insurance or adequate healthcare affect the people that you serve, such as students, patients, or members of the public?

Yes, I have experienced this personally and seen it in others. I taught public school for 20+ years and saw numerous children who could not afford to see dentists or eye doctors because their family made just a little too much money or their family was embarrassed to seek such help. I see the results now in the young adults and know that what they learned from their parents will be passed on.
Shirley Rachal, Desoto Federation of Teachers & School Employees, LA

I am a school nurse. I often see families that have to choose between obtaining health insurance or providing clothing and services for their children. One mother delayed treatment of a tooth abscess until her jaw was infected because she could not afford insurance. When the infection could no longer be ignored, she opted for the "cheaper" not medically advised treatment because she could not afford the medically advised treatment. She is now hoping for the best. This is a hard-working small business owner. This should not happen in our country.
Maggie Nechvatal, Albuquerque Teachers Federation, NM

Our healthcare policy in its present form is responsible for the present economic crsis. It affects our students, wage earners, families who take care of their loved ones, who believe in a strong family as the core unit of society. I have seen my own graduate students not having the right pair of glasses to read. I have seen others abandoning their scientific pursuit to be able to take care of an ailing spouse. It is not right. They are the wealth that any nation will be proud of. We waste them and discourage others from being like them.
Zameer Hasan, Temple Association of University Professionals, PA

I work in a Title I school, which means that our student population is predominately poverty-stricken. I can't tell you the number of times that I have students who cannot read the board because they cannot see it and yet they cannot afford glasses! Students have toothaches and cannot afford to go to a dentist. These children do not have medical care unless they are too ill to function. And even then, it is not a doctor they go to see, but most frequently the emergency room most frequently. We are so far behind the rest of the so-called civilized world that it is appalling! And why? Because we have an entire medical system that thrives on keeping us sick, not well. We have people in all walks of life suffering from this imperfect system EXCEPT our governing body in D.C., who have public paid health insurance (universal care) and are indebted to lobbyists from the healthcare system to get re-elected! So campaign finance laws need to be changed before we will see any changes in policies that affect the American public! We should see much more of an outcry from these facts! If our politicans can have universal care at the expense of the taxpayers, when will the rest of us enjoy those benefits?
Patricia Watkins, Houston Federation of Teachers, TX

I have seen many horrible instances where parents do not have healthcare, and because of that fact, they cannot afford medical attention for themselves or their children. I have seen a woman suffer because her IUD moved partially outside of her body. I have seen my younger brother suffer with infected tonsils because he cannot afford health insurance. I grew up without any health insurance myself, and I remember trying to be careful not to hurt myself while playing with my friends, for fear I might cause my parents to have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for medical attention. Should a child have to think about those adult issues? I have lived it, continue to see it, and know what it is to suffer without it. Everyone deserves the right to healthcare. So, why don't we all have a right to health insurance?
Dina Gonzalez, Fort Worth, TX

In the past, students bringing in doctors' notes could get absences excused. Students not able to afford a doctor visit did not get absences excused.
Dan Buckley, North Jersey Skill for Technology Union, NJ

I've seen a young family with two sick children at the pharmacy counter trying to decide which prescriptions to get filled and which to let go because they couldn't afford them all. I've had students languish in illness because they couldn't afford to go to the doctor and university health services are wholly inadequate. I've had many students who needed and wanted psychological evaluations but could not afford to get them.
Carol Hanscom, United University Professions, NY

As a teacher, I see students whose families cannot afford health insurance go without adequate healthcare on a regular basis. We need single-payer health insurance plans now.
Neal Madnick, Bellmore Merrick United Secondary Teachers, NY