I'm an 18-year-old student, preparing to head off to college in the fall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A few months ago, I moved out of my home due to continuously worsening family circumstances. It's been tough being out on my own, but I stayed in school and kept my grades up until I graduated this June, and I stayed employed (and often worked late, with homework afterwards)-- I have a scholarship and some small loans and grants to a private school to pursue photography, but I'm still going to be taking on the bill for the remainder of my college education, and it's a fairly large burden.

This transition was made infinitely more difficult by the fact that I have a handful of prescriptions that are necessary for my well-being; most importantly, my ADD medications. Whether or not I take them determines whether I am productive and organized or scatterbrained and confused, and they've gone miles in helping me use what intelligence I have to my fullest potential. Because I live with my boyfriend but was "unaccompanied" for the remainder of high school, I was declared McKinney-Vento (homeless youth).

I've spent the last several months waiting outside in lines for free medical clinics, usually the youngest one there. I've gone through programs for prescription discounts, but the medications I take are unreasonably expensive. The worst part is that there really is NO discount available for me, because controlled substances can't be discounted (at least, this is the case in North Carolina). This seems to imply that the poor, the out-of-work, and the uninsured-- those who need these medications discounted-- are more likely to abuse them. Taking pills is no hobby of mine; these restrictions kept me from being medicated until about a week ago, so I was without them in school, making living on my own, working nights and doing schoolwork (and coping with the emotional and psychological effects of leaving home abruptly) even scarier.

I am now on a Patient Assistance program that will allow me to temporarily receive my most important medication for free-- an unexpected blessing that I'm so glad I qualified for. When I start college in August, however, I will be required to purchase insurance. The cheapest plan (likely the only plan I can afford) is the plan that my college offers, and it looks like that plan will not cover most of my medication, if any of it. And mind you, this includes not only ADD medication, but anti-anxiety medication, an anti-depressant, a migraine medication-- I have been hospitalized for migraines in the past-- and an antibiotic for recurring sinus problems. When I'm downing coffee and Ibuprofen to try to temper a migraine headache, or chain-smoking in my backyard to try to stop an anxiety attack, I know that these are not the solutions our President has in mind for his citizens.

I am ready to excel at my university and to overcome this year's trials as a successful young woman. I'm also ready to be happy, and while I believe that happiness is self-made, it's (much) more easily said than done for me at this point in my life. I admire President Obama's genuine concern with my healthcare issues and the healthcare issues of millions-- now, I anticipate seeing that fervent concern at work by eliminating medical discrimination and offering real solutions. After all, everyone from the poorest of the impoverished to the wealthiest well-to-do experience illness, handicap, and trauma. We all need doctors and the government on our side.