Sick with no health insurance-time for changes

After weeks of dodging every sickness that has been going on around here: cold, flu, pneumonia, infections and strep throat-my body finally let in and I have been sicker than I have been in a very long time. I have been sick for over a week but the fever is now gone and I am starting to feel better.

I tried to not miss work but yesterday had to call out sick because I lost my voice completely. I was mad because I even went into work sick on Sunday for someone who called out sick…ironic I know but there went the overtime I worked so hard for.

I am not really sure what I have or had because I have no health insurance and no money to go see a doctor. It got me thinking more and more about health insurance and what a huge problem this is. If I would have not started feeling better today, I would have had to go to the ER and who knows how much that would have cost. Naturally, I am filing Bankruptcy now and could include it in the Bankruptcy but what if I wasn’t? Just this could easily push us into bankruptcy. This is a huge problem that families are facing everyday without health insurance. And even if you have money saved up in an emergency fund-these bills will probably eat that emergency fund up and then some!

While being sick, I think I made myself worse worrying about being sick and missing work and everything else. What I finally did was stop worrying and figured out how to make myself better. I ate nothing but fruits, soup and drank water and went for walks and sat outside and got fresh air. No medication-no nothing…I did have to take Nyquil one night because I could not sleep because I was coughing so much.

I then took a good look at myself and my situation…

Right now it appears private health insurance is not an option for my husband and I because we are considered a risk because of our weight.Yeah-weight. We don’t smoke and only drink on occasion but we don’t qualify because of our weight. I knew we had to lose a little bit but did not realize just how bad we both were. I guess we got so caught up in our debt mess-we just let ourselves go. We both are at the highest weight we have ever been in our lives…this is not good.

We knew we were getting up there and always planned on “starting our diet on Monday” but Monday would come and we would just be so stressed out about our bills that we just put ourselves last. On top of it all, when I did have health insurance, I figured if I ever really had something go wrong-insurance would cover it. Well, I don’t have that luxury and either does my husband. We can only take steps to help prevent health problems and that means healthy eating and exercise.

When we are overweight and stressed we are heart attacks waiting to happen. I was already at risk for type 2 diabetes before I lost my insurance. What if I got it now? So, if my eyes weren’t opened this past week with my sickness and health insurance fiasco, we would both be doing our same routine and going down the wrong path.

So we both are sitting down this weekend and making healthier choices. Fruits, vegetables and healthy foods. We are not going on a diet. I just hate the word diet-we are eating healthier! Luckily for my family, 3 of us don’t eat meat so eating right should help our grocery bill go down even more. We will be going outdoors a whole lot more and use the gym here in our complex that we drive by every day.

So here in 2009, not only will we be out of our financial hell but we will also be happier and healthier.