Organizing for America | Jenni Nauright's Blog: My personal story

My personal story

By Jenni - Feb 20th, 2008 at 10:04 am EST

Also listed in: Jennifers for Obama

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December 12, 2007, I suffered a stroke. I was a 42 year old wife, mother, daughter, and registered nurse. I was fortunate enough to be sitting in my doctor's office when it happened. I was sitting there because even though my practitioner realized I needed further evaluation from a neurologist, my insurance company disagreed. I presented to the doctor with severely elevated blood pressure, severe headache, and dizziness. The insurance company decided I probably had an atypical migraine and therefore would not authorize my going to a neurologist. Add to that, no neurologist on my "list" would see me. My practitioner was so concerned with my situation she sat me in a sitting area next to where she and the staff were making multiple calls on my behalf. My husband was sitting with me when my speech became garbled, my left side useless, and I slumped to the floor. My right carotid artery had spontaneously dissected, causing a stroke. Within minutes, I was on oxygen and in the ambulance on my way to the hospital. I was taken to the largest of our area hospitals where I was admitted to the stroke unit and seen by the best neurologist on staff. This even though we continued to have to "convince" our insurance company that I needed to be there and that my attending doctor - also not on my "list" - was the best practitioner for me. I recovered enough to leave the stroke unit. My insurance company only wanted to pay for therapy at an in-patient facility, even though I had the means to get to the daily out-patient therapy of my choice. It being only a few days before Christmas, and the fact that I was willing to work as hard as necessary to regain the use of my left side, I was not thrilled with having to be away from my family and home simply because my insurance company decreed it so. It made no sense to me that the cheaper option was not available to me. I pressed the issue and began a grueling regimen of out -patient speech, physical a nd occupational therapy. I have since regained most of my abilities. I am left with very little sight, and have difficultly with spoken expression. The last straw with my insurance company was the huge bill from my ambulance company. You see, my doctor's office was in SC, 4 miles over the Savannah River and 10 minutes from the hospital in Augusta Georgia. My insurance company said I had to use an ambulance company in Georgia in order for it to be covered. The one they would pay for was 40 miles away. I would have died waiting for it to arrive. My hope is that Obama's plan will provide not only need coverage for Americans, but appropriate coverage. I believe in Obama and in the future of health care under his leadership.

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By jensmiles Feb 20th 2008 at 10:37 am EST

I too share in your frustrations and struggles. Sometimes I feel I have enough amazingly ridiculously difficult stories to fill a book. To keep it brief, I've had a child while paying Cobra because of a lay-off. I've gone 2 months at the beginning of another pregnancy with no insurance at all because of a lay-off and unemployment. I've felt the sting of prejudice and double-the-cost because of a pre-existing health condition when I went to independent insurance. I've battled a medical bill for 2 years over an anesthesia "out-of-network" bill, when I had NO control over which hospital or which anesthesiologist was used (I did eventually win). I've gone 18 months with no insurance at all, getting my meds online illegally from Canada (it was illegal at the time, not now) and was fortunate to have a US, legal doctor write my scripts because she knew my HEALTH and SAFETY was most important. I've rushed my son into the pediatrician practically not breathing because we had no insurance - again fortunate to have a pediatrician who knew we were just down on our luck and he did it all comp, doing all in his power to both treat our son and keep us out of the ER. I watched my father and patients like him battle terminal cancer; he saw some people just "give up" and quite treatment because of the cost and then pass away months later.

This was all 4-6 years ago; we've been most fortunate to have good health care the last few years though prices keep going up.

Hillary HAD her chance to do something about health care and blew it. I don't want to trust it to her again.

Many prayers, best wishes, and healing thoughts to you.

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By Rev Bry Feb 21st 2008 at 2:07 pm EST

Jenni,

I will keep you in prayer. thank you for sharing this difficult story.

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