Trading Your Bed for an Arm and a Leg

After the passing of her father in 2018, Beth and her mother found themselves without health insurance and with no influx of income. Beth’s mom had already had the experience of living without health insurance in the past, in which she was forced to sell her bed to pay for surgeries after being hit by a car, self-medicating with fish penicillin, and stitching up her own leg after being hit by a second car because she couldn’t afford to go to the hospital. The fear of no longer being supported by a dependable health plan on top of mourning the death of a family member felt like insult upon injury, but because they had no income, they were able to apply for Medicaid. Medicaid in Beth’s state luckily provides a lot of benefits, as it is accepted in many doctor’s offices along with a dental plan and limited access to contraceptives such as birth control pills and IUDs. However, Medicaid lacks a lot of other essential services, such as an eyecare plan, meaning Beth needs to put out a lot of her own money out-of-pocket not only to update her prescriptions but also for contact lenses, both of which are obviously necessary for her to be able to see. The high cost of UrgentCare visits and antibiotics are not fully covered by Medicaid either, and Beth found herself self-medicating for a UTI infection and using her friend’s leftover antibiotics to treat a respiratory infection, which she feels she still has not fully recovered from. The loss of a stable income, and in Beth’s case, the loss of a father, is a tragedy that many people on Medicaid face, and these kinds of dramatic life changes would be best handled by access to a high quality therapist. However, very few therapists are covered by Medicaid, and those that are usually are difficult to find and often not entirely qualified to guide clients dealing with the loss of a loved one. 

Those on Medicaid are on this plan for a reason: because they cannot afford exorbitant costs of health services in the US. Low income households are at higher risks for health issues in general, whether it be lack of access to healthy food, lack of clean, insulative shelter, or being forced to work in potentially hazardous work conditions, and these individuals need access to quality health services far more than other income groups. Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege, and when you’re denied certain services because you can’t afford them, you’re forced to make sacrifices that you shouldn’t have to make, having to function every day with an out-of-date prescription or selling your own bed.