Part of my story was covered by the Courier-Journal, Velocity, and attached is their photo run with that story, in early 2007.

Lack of sufficient health care nearly cost me my life.

I live in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2006, when I had fallen on hard times. I was unemployed and uninsured. A law grad, I was shaking every tree to see what job fruit might fall. Hearing that White Castle quick service restaurants had good benefits, I got a job there hoping to tie me over until something "real" came along. Work there is hard and fair. It didn't provide sick time or health benefits until one has worked for six months. Five months in, I suffered a miscarriage, which caused me to take unpaid time off. Already living below the poverty line, the loss in pay, plus the medical bills, pushed me solidly behind the eight ball.

A few weeks later, I suffered what I thought was violent stomach flu, since several friends had had the flu. I toughed it out and kept going to work, despite growing fatigue and sharp abdominal pains. I couldn't afford the bills I had, let alone more unpaid time off or more uninsured medical bills.

It was about the time I got that "stomach flu" that I got a better entry-level job at a bank. I couldn't take the extreme fatigue and abdominal pains any more, so when my two week notice was up at White Castle, and on the second day of the new job, a friend offered to pay the doctor's visit, so I finally went for care.

I was rushed to the ER for emergency surgery. That "stomach flu" had been my appendix rupturing. I had suffered for two weeks with peritonitis and was high risk. Had I gone untreated, my organs would have started shutting down, and blood would become poisoned. Fortunately, I am now healthy; unfortunately, I am still suffering the consequences of those bills.

I since left the bank for that "real" law placement opportunity. There were issues that came up with the race to file claims during my COBRA coverage between the bank job and the "real" job; those too are medical expenses chasing after me like a hungry man squeezing blood from a turnip.

This situation has not been relieved since I was laid off from that "real" job late September 2008. Since that employer had less than twenty employees, I did not qualify for Federal COBRA insurance coverage nor the 65 percent discount offered through Obama's stimulus plan. It was then that I learned that I was pregnant. New insurance policy would NOT have covered this "pre-existing" condition. Fortunately, Kentucky law provides for continuation of coverage, so long as I make the monthly premium.

The negative financial impact on my life today continues while I look for permanent work. I am insured through Kentucky Continuation, but with the premium of about $330 a month, more than 1/3 of my monthly unemployment benefits, temporary and part-time work. Of note, I am on unemployment reluctantly and for the first time in my life. Unlike the times when I was under-employed before, I need the support, and wanted to be counted amongst Federal Unemployment statistics. Having the co-pays and deductibles is, to put it mildly, challenging.

At times, if it weren't for the support of family and friends, as a direct result of being uninsured or under-insured, I would have been homeless.

The lessons I have learned: (1) Health Insurance does not equal health care delivery. (2) Health care payment ought not be tied to employment. (3) The current health care system is not a system of delivery, but arises from a poor leadership and policies since the 1960s.

I suggest that all costs of continuing the current system are too great. The financial cost requires a hard look at what bang taxpayers get for their tax dollars. I suggest a study/calculation considering the entire cost of insurance, paid by employers and employees alike, when combined to the taxes paid, again by employers and employees alike, is a more accurate way to compare the cost of providing for the populace to other industrial countries. To spread the cost of health care delivery to all, you don't overburden one industry, while leaving large pockets of the populace to suffer without any health care. If you take the disproportionate line item off the balance sheet for health care, and put it into part of guaranteed universal health care as part of federal program, the cost is sure to be less across the board.

The other cost is of course in human life. Lack of insurance, and fear of the financial consequences nearly cost me my life. Sadly, my story is not unique.