Organizing for America | Elyssa Durant: Is A Pubic Option the Only Option?

Is A Pubic Option the Only Option?

By Elyssa Durant - Jun 29, 2009 7:04:05 AM ET

Also listed in: Nashvillians for Obama

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Tags: healthcare reform, Public Option, Universal Coverage

At 22 I was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition. Yes, there are times when the pain is so terrible, I cannot lifet myself out pf ed or tie my shoes. But far worse is having the knowledge that the level of damage to my spinal cord could have been stopped had I received adequate health care.

Yes, I had insurance. But who was there to make them pay???

14 years later, I finally received surgical intervention, and can feel my hands again-- and as a writer, that has been a miraculous gift.

Through the toughest times in my life, no one told me I was wasting my time and money on an education I would never be able to use.

After all I just wanted a diversion.

Even more disturbing than the damage to my spinal cord, is the realization that I missed mosre than 14 years of my life. So not only did I waste my time and money on an education I will never be able to use, I wasted a window of opportunity. A moment in time when I almost had a world the world at my fingertips.

Without any real place to go after college, I felt I had no other choice than to become a professional student of sortsyou know, the ones who stay in school forever to take advantage of cheap housing, health insurance, and student loans.

Unfortunately, I wandered aimlessly through the system acquiring useless knowledge and letters after my name that do not mean jack in the real world. But it distracted mye from the fact that my spinal cord continued to worsen my physical and emotional health.

So with no prosepects on the horizon-- and so thrilled thto feel my hands today, that the one thing I can do is write. So for now, I write, maybe tomorrow I'll read, but if there is any justice left in this world, maybe someday I will actually live.

 

http://darknightdurant.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-unemployed-pass-time.html

via my.barackobama.com

Posted via email from ElyssaD's Posterous