Hello,
I'm a 25 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer at 24. My insurance though my workplace did not cover cancer as it was a preventive plan, therefore it only covered 50% of cancer treatments as long as they were in network. Not to mention my workplace had changed my plan 3 times in 6 months in order to cut their expenses on the cost of healthcare for employees, this meant my co pays were 50$ a visit no matter what. Additionally because of the constant changing the benefits the plans provided changed constantly. Since my age and the type of cancer/size was very concerning to me, I sought help at one of the best hospitals I would be accepted to. I tried several and was rejected due to my insurance. However after I was accepted I checked with the insurance company to ensure it was "in-network". It was so I sought medical care at the hospital. But unfortunately after I received my first bill the hospital was no longer in network! I called and the company had let the contracts lapse, leaving me with having to cover 70-100% of the bills not to mention battle cancer at the same time! I was able to get on my parents insurance just before my 25th birthday which is the cutoff date for using the insurance. I now pay 580.00$ monthly through COBRA because it covers the majority of my $10k medical bills I was receiving weekly. 580$ may not seem like much but because of my treatments I have not been able to work since November so this is astoundingly high as I also have the first months medical bills, student loans, credit card, and car insurance to manage as well. The choices of coverage available is unbelievable and once you add cancer to the mix the choices become less and more expensive. I will have to continue to pay over 500 for a very long time and still have medical bills to cover from the time my insurance did not cover certain tests or percentages. I hope with all my heart that this changes and that America will have health care available for the many people that get a disease that doesn't allow them to work therefore they can't afford their coverage. It’s devastating to get the news of a disease or accident but even worse to get the bills in the mail and not being able to pay for them because of the disease.. Not only does care need to be quality but it also needs to be affordable for all Americans, whether their healthy or sick because the past health shouldn't greatly affect the cost of coverage. It’s not someone’s fault for an accident or getting cancer so why do we have to pay for it while the insurance companies continue to gain money off the poor health of Americans. Thank you for listening to my story, please work towards coverage for all.