Similarly to hkellick, I have also been left in a financial lurch unexpectedly. My family refused any financial support. I was lucky to have friends who could provide a roof over my head and food for me to eat, but I also knew that for some of them, even that was a stretch and an imposition. Even when the economy is good, it takes time to find a job and save up the money involved in securing your own living space. It takes time to figure out what you need and how to get it.
When I was stuck contracting in Rochester, I had to decide on several occasions whether or not I could afford to pay for health insurance out-of-pocket, as an after-tax expense -- or if paying off my credit card debt from my periods of unemployment and/or saving against the possibility of being let go on 2 days notice again was a higher priority. When I wasn't working, unemployment was barely enough to pay rent on, but it kept me from going through my little bit of savings even faster until I could find a job again.
Unemployment saved me from having to beg off of friends who couldn't afford to help me, or having to move back in with my parents under terms that would have been devastating to my mental health. Universal health care would have meant not having to worry about getting sick and having to pay for doctors or antibiotics out of pocket. I was pretty lucky; physically, I'm generally healthy. But if I'd been able to maintain health coverage, maybe I would have gotten my migraines diagnosed earlier. Maybe I would have been less reluctant to follow-up on my mental health issues. Maybe it wouldn't have been almost 10 years since the last time I saw a dentist.
Basic unemployment is not anything close to a self-sufficient salary. You should know that yourself, based on janinedog's recent experience. Likewise, universal health coverage would not mean a free ride for every papercut and sliver. Under Obama's proposal, anyone who has coverage would be able to choose to keep their private coverage, or opt-in to the government plan. I just want to know that if someone should end up out of work or on their own unexpectedly, they won't have to make the kind of choices I did.
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Date: 2009-04-16 09:29 pm (UTC)When I was stuck contracting in Rochester, I had to decide on several occasions whether or not I could afford to pay for health insurance out-of-pocket, as an after-tax expense -- or if paying off my credit card debt from my periods of unemployment and/or saving against the possibility of being let go on 2 days notice again was a higher priority. When I wasn't working, unemployment was barely enough to pay rent on, but it kept me from going through my little bit of savings even faster until I could find a job again.
Unemployment saved me from having to beg off of friends who couldn't afford to help me, or having to move back in with my parents under terms that would have been devastating to my mental health. Universal health care would have meant not having to worry about getting sick and having to pay for doctors or antibiotics out of pocket. I was pretty lucky; physically, I'm generally healthy. But if I'd been able to maintain health coverage, maybe I would have gotten my migraines diagnosed earlier. Maybe I would have been less reluctant to follow-up on my mental health issues. Maybe it wouldn't have been almost 10 years since the last time I saw a dentist.
Basic unemployment is not anything close to a self-sufficient salary. You should know that yourself, based on