The Human Cost of Tying Health Care to Work
When people demand that health care be given only to working individuals, I think they miss whole categories of people.
My mom suffered a mental health crisis this year culminating in two suicide attempts. Gratefully, she got the care she needed, covered by my dad’s insurance. However, he is able to retire soon and receive Medicare. She won’t be eligible yet, but finding work is a major stressor for her. She doesn’t qualify as disabled. Her premium through the marketplace right now would be no less than $800 per month with a $15,000 deductible. So either she finds work, which could trigger another mental health crisis (and there’s no guarantee she can get hired), or my dad works until he is almost 70. How is this good?
My sister, 31, was widowed this year. If she doesn’t work, she loses benefits, so after one month of grieving she had to be working to have coverage. It’s maddening that now, through no fault of her own, she basically must work two full-time jobs while caring for her kids so that they can retain coverage. How is this good?
I’ve spent a good deal of time traveling the world and living abroad, and I can confidently say that there are better ways. Our politicians just don’t seem to want to make it better.
Katie
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The system unfortunately is working as intended. Wishing Katie and her family all the best as they battle against the cards they were dealt. It’s unfair and inhumane.
I'm for universal healthcare in the USA and am sorry about you sister's loss, Katie.
I lost my wife to Alzheimer's 5 years ago and I've dealt with it by staying busy doing things that I liked doing like going to local and regional sporting events as well as taking road trips once or twice a year .I also read a lot of novels by John Grisham, Tom Clancy and Lee Child during that time and more recently have been keeping abreast of political issues locally, statewide and nationally by belonging to Substack's that allow me to comment on various issues that are important to me.
Bottomline: staying physically and mentally active is helpful when going through the grief process.