#iamapreexistingcondition

With the recent GOP vote to repeal "Obamacare," I feel that it is necessary to tell my story, if not only for my own sanity. If it travels farther than that, wonderful. Please feel free to share my story.
After I graduated from college, I had a little over a year when I was still eligible to be on my mom's health insurance. At 25, I had no idea about insurance. I was also a dumb kid. I was working a bunch of odd jobs, mostly nannying, and loving every minute of my life. I had recently come out of a horrific health experience where I was unable to get out of bed and no one knew what was wrong with me. Coming out of it was the best time of my life. I have never enjoyed my time on Earth more that the couple years after that terrifying time.
Anyway, I was no longer able to be on my mom's insurance, so I looked in to getting my own. Turns out Type 1 Diabetes is one of those "pre-existing" conditions that I had been hearing so much about. My only other option was to go on a medical "discount" program. I put "discount" in quotation marks because I did not notice much discounting in the pricing of my medical care. Every penny counts, I suppose.
I had to pay for my medications out of pocket. The discount program gave me a lower rate on doctor visits, with certain doctors. Specialists were a lesser rate as well, but not in the range that a middle class individual can easily afford. If my memory serves me correctly, I had to pay around $100 for a primary care doctor visit and over $200 for any specialists appointments. Well, after paying around $1,000 per month solely on medications, there was really no money left for any doctor visits. So I saved all of my receipts and I hoped for the best on my tax returns. For three years in a row, I paid over $15,000 a year, purely on medical expenses. If you don't feel like doing the math as you read, that is over $45,000. In three years. As a 20-something adult. Its a down payment on a house. Its more than any brand new car that I could ever think of affording. Its SO MUCH MONEY. I understand that it is gone, and I need to just move on, but I still get bitter about it. I didn't ask for diabetes. There is nothing that I did in my life to aquire this horrible disease. Now, not only do I have to live every day of my life dealing with this disease, but I have to pay more money for it than other healthier people.
For three years in a row, I paid over $15,000 a year, purely on medical expenses.
So excuse my french, but what the fuck? Why is there even the term "pre-existing condition"? If you draw the short straw in life, you have enough to deal with. You work hard enough and take enough time out of your life to deal with whatever your health issues involve. Why are you required to pay more, in addition to all of the necessary garbage that consumes your life? 
I realize that some people may be thinking that I should be looking on the bright side or being more positive about what is good in my life. Please don't get me wrong, I do that. But I think that people with chronic health conditions, even minor health conditions, need to be able to say, "This fucking sucks." Yes, then you get up and you push yourself to do it all again the next day. And to do it with a smile on your face, and enjoy life overall, but you have to be able to allow yourself to be upset sometimes because that is how change is made. 
There is something fundamentally wrong with our society when the two biggest crowd funding fundraising fields are for medical bills and public schools.Get cancer? Go bankrupt! Survive cancer? Have fun paying medical bills for the rest of your life! How is this OK?

There is something fundamentally wrong with our society when the two biggest crowd funding fields are for medical bills and public schools.