Today was needlessly awful: HRC 62/100
28 September, 2016 | Index
Dear Hillary Clinton,
Gerard Mclean here, from Englewood, Ohio, just north of Dayton. This is the sixty-second letter of one hundred I am writing you on health care; one for each day between your nomination and your election. The previous letters can be found in your USPS mailbox or online at 100HRC.com
I had a rather weird morning today. I woke up with heartburn, just a small case, nothing a few Tums wouldn’t take care of. I’ve learned to control heartburn with my diet — low carb, no fried foods, no fruit juice, etc — so as I hadn’t had an episode in about five years, this was surprising.
As time ticked by, the heartburn got a bit worse. I chugged Gaviscon, which sorta helped. By then, I had started to get a bit worried it may not just be heartburn. It could be something as simple as stress or as complicated as a heart attack. I was certain, though, that if I sought medical care, it was going to be very expensive.
In the State of Ohio, if you say the words “chest pain,” apparently doctors are automatically required to perform a standard battery of tests that would have cost me over $4,000 OOP. So printed out a letter I keep on file, stating my iPhone unlock code, that I have a living will, a DNR and an organ donor statement on the thumb drive around my neck and the emergency contacts so they would be readily available.
But, I was not going to call 911. Eventually, the symptoms went away. And I’m now writing this letter.
Was my choice the wrong one? Maybe, but I’ve made peace with my mortality. As a result of my recent claims history, Anthem BC/BS of Ohio has increased my premiums by 29% and the State of Ohio approved it. I don’t need to add to their case against me for 2017.
We need SinglePayer, MedicareForAll, UniversalCare. Today was needlessly awful.
Regards,
Gerard McLean
cc: Sen. Sherrod Brown
62/40
