Letters to Pete: “When I desperately need my country…I feel abandoned.”
By René K., MO
Every day, Pete Buttigieg receives letters from Americans who believe we need a new approach to solve our nation’s biggest challenges. This is one of them. The following letter is transcribed as it was received on September 10, 2019.
Dear Mayor Buttigieg,
I wish to express my opinion that access to affordable health care is the most important issue for American voters in the 2020 election, even if many Americans don’t realize it. And, I want to know how you, as President of the United States, plan to address this problem. Here’s my story:
Prior to the 2016 election, I was working for a non-profit refugee resettlement agency. I didn’t earn a huge salary, but it was enough for a single person like me and it provided decent health insurance.
Then Donald Trump was inaugurated. Within days I saw my future slipping down the drain, as he began banning refugees and immigrants from the United States. Over the next ten months, employees at my agency were laid off. I began to worry about my own position, but as a 58-year-old single woman I knew that finding a new job would be difficult, so I stayed on and hoped for the best.
But in January 2018, due to budget cuts and other problems my program was facing, my position was cut to 50%. I could not afford to live on 50% of my income, so I decided to resign and look for a new full-time job. Since then, I have been surviving on gig jobs as I have searched, in vain, for any work that I can do for which an employer is willing to consider a 60-year-old woman with a master’s degree.
In July 2018 I needed emergency surgery. I had insurance through the Affordable Care Act, which covered all but $3,000 of the $22,000 bill. But I reapplied for ACA last November I discovered that I had underestimated my income for the year, and that the cost of my plan was increasing. If I were to continue with the silver plan I’d had when I needed the emergency surgery, my cost would jump from about $50/month to $275/month. This being beyond my budget, I had to drop to the bronze plan, which covers very little; another medical emergency would bankrupt me.
As if I didn’t yet have enough stress, a couple of weeks ago I lost the online tutoring gig that I’d had since May of last year. Then, a few weeks ago I found out that my 125-year-old house needs a major repair that I cannot afford. At my current income, paying for such a repair is impossible.
Now I have no job and virtually no health insurance, and I am about to lose my home. No one is going to rent an apartment to someone who is unemployed. I do not qualify for unemployment because, technically, I was “fired” from my job. I’m too young for Social Security or Medicaid. I have enough money saved to keep me afloat for about another month, then I am at risk of being homeless.
I’m afraid to schedule doctors’ appointments because, I am afraid of discovering a health issue for which I cannot afford treatment. Due to the stresses of the past two years, I am also suffering from depression, but I cannot afford treatment for that, either.
I am well-educated — I have a master’s degree. I have worked since I was 20 years old. Over my working life, I have contributed (or my employer has) thousands of dollars into health insurance plans, which I have rarely used. Last July was the first time I had ever been hospitalized for anything. Until signing up for ACA, I had never received any federal or state financial assistance except for student grants and loans, which I paid back in full.
I’ve dedicated most of my life doing things that benefit my country and the world. But now when I desperately need my country to do something for me, I feel abandoned.
In my opinion, several of the problems I’m facing are the result of the high cost of health care and health insurance. I can understand why an employer might not be willing to hire a 60-year-old, who is more likely to incur health expenses that will increase the cost of their company’s health insurance plan. Also, the cost of health care is a major problem for people in the “gig economy” and for self-employed people. This causes many skillful, creative people to stifle their interests and talents in favor of boring careers they are not really suited for, just so they can have health insurance.
I believe that one of biggest mistakes our country has made over the past century or so was to connect health insurance to employment. Why should only those who have work — for a company that is big enough and wealthy enough to provide decent health insurance — have medical coverage? Especially since, in many cases, good health is a prerequisite for holding down a job?
Thank you for listening to me.
Respectfully,
René K.
Pete Buttigieg believes that health care should be affordable to every American. To learn more, read his plan.
