i'm 22. i've NEVER had heath insurance, not dental, not vision, not medical..nothing. i was raised by my father, who is self-employed (who's never had health insurance himself), and he struggled to keep the both of us afloat while i was a child. he was in a motorcycle wreck when he was in his 20's. he broke both of his legs, and one of his legs STILL has a gaping hole in it from the bolts he had in it. and in high school, he was struck in the eye with a football, and now his entire right eye socket is sunk in (he can still see however).
because of these two incidents, my father cannot find anyone to insure him. he is a hardworker who's been in construction his entire life. he puts himself in EXTREMELY dangerous situations EVERY SINGLE DAY, just to get by. my mother died when i was 9..my father is all i have left!
and furthermore, on a different note...because of stupid decisions i made when i was younger, i'm in $60,000 worth of debt. now, i'm a hairstylist, and i'm stuck at a job where i make $7.25 an hour. I paid $12,000 to go cosmetology school! i pay around $600 a month just for student loan payments. i'm getting married next march, and my fiancee wants to start having children soon (and i do as well). because of financial mistakes i made when i was younger, i cannot afford to have a child...let alone pay for medical insurance for myself or my child! i only make around $800 a month if i'm lucky! i'm just barely scathing by right now. this makes me so sick. the debt that i'm in is ruining my life, and my father puts his own life in danger everyday just to pay his bills! neither one of us has ever had health insurance, and i would just like to know that if something ever happened to my dad, he could be taken care of. there are no words for how i would feel if i ever lost him.