Gano Life is the Best Assurance Policy Part 2

“I developed back pains from sitting at the desk for long hours and carrying heavy equipment for shooting, but I can't do anything until I'm insured,” Consunji said. “I lived in perpetual fear of getting into a serious accident and being unable to afford treatment.” Sherry Glied, the Dean of New York University Wagner and former Professor of Healthy Policy and Management at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, acknowledges the increase of freelancers and college graduates without insurance. Children under 26 can stay on their parents’ plan, and starting in January 2014, they’ll be able to get insurance, she said. But what can parents without insurance do for their children? Non-group health insurance plans, though expensive, may be an option, Glied said. “Just hope you don’t get sick before January,” she added. “It’s a very scary thing for families without insurance. A lot of people end up going bankrupt.” Amy Chyan: In the ER The walk from my room to the nearest hospital is a reasonable five-minute walk, but it felt like 10 seconds in my panic. It was as if the fast forward button was on. Once in the ER, the register puts on my hospital bracelet on and lies me down for an EKG. The stern nurse is not happy when I fidget out of nervousness. She scolds me three times for moving and says, "What's more important, your life or your phone?" I chose a seat right by the entrance of the ER's wait room. A woman on a wheelchair is squirming and screaming. The nurses don't pay attention. A homeless woman is sleeping in the far corner, her luggage in tow. I debate whether to call my parents again. Every step of the way, I make sure to let the nurse or the register know I am uninsured. Healthcare Bills are ‘Crippling’ My 10 hours in the ER boil down to blood tests, chest x-rays, a lot of waiting and more blood tests. The diagnoses is that I had an anxiety attack because of the chest pain, though source of pain is still a mystery and needs to be followed up with a cardiologist. After a year of interning for free full time, paying for graduate school tuition and living in Manhattan, an uninsured hospital bill can be financially and mentally crippling. My bill amounted to about $2,300. Would this anxiety attack have happened if I was in back home in Toronto and knew I had access to free emergency care? It's tough to say. But certainly every time I don't feel well in New York, I am faced with the high cost of healthcare.