Do you have health insurance? What do you do if you don't?

Bipolar disorder disables a lot of people who have the illness. They may struggle on with part time jobs and what not, but they don’t have health insurance. They might try medicaid, but if they have a job, they aren’t eligible. There are a host of other programs, but how do you find out about them?

Last night at my group meeting, we had a bunch of new people and they all didn’t have health insurance. So none of them could be diagnosed, or get a prescription for meds. They couldn’t afford it. They had to be admitted to a hospital as an indigent in order to get care.

This kind of thing makes me so angry. I can’t begin to tell you. And here I sit, very lucky to have good insurance through my employer. I was so lucky that I never had to miss a day of work throughout my illness. Most of my friends lost not just jobs and insurance, but families and homes, too. It makes me sick!

Do you have health insurance? If not, what do you do when you get sick? Do you think health care reform will help you? When? Will it survive the return of the Republicans?