I have touched on the subject of how a family’s finances get wiped out when their child has cancer. My health insurance company played nasty games. Money is the last thing a family needs or wants to think about when their child is fighting for their life. What a horrible shame it is when people pay their health insurance premiums for years and then find it necessary to go into battle to receive coverage when they become ill. Childhood cancer is so much more than a child’s battle to stay alive– there are ugly monsters everywhere you turn and medical bills and insurance coverage are two of the big ones.
My parents never talked about money in front of me during my illness; I guess they figured I had enough to deal with. The way I see it, they had plenty to deal with of their own. I remember hearing my mom say one time that she didn’t care how much it cost… she would, “scrub toilets till I’m 90” if she needed to (in order to pay for my medical bills.)
This is something I really don’t get. Why is it that when a child leaves the hospital after a serious illness like cancer, their family is responsible for enormous medical bills– even when they have “good” insurance? And then, at the same time, if a prisoner needs medical care, our taxes cover it. This twists my brain into shapes it really shouldn’t twist into! Wouldn’t you agree that we need to switch this around? Let’s have our taxes cover treatment for children with serious life-threatening illnesses and make prisoners responsible for their own medical bills.
Having been “down the road I’ve been down,” I can honestly say that I would love to see our healthcare a top priority. What good are roads and schools if we are too ill to use them?
Melinda Marchiano 
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