To be in a Time of Inadequate Healthcare…
To be dropped from your parents’ health plan, to walk to your computer, to begin the search for your own, to stare at the many options, but to truly have none. To look at your bank account, to remember your student loans, to glance at grocery list on the fridge. To decide another day. To avoid those who are sick, to self-medicate on Nyquil, to drink tea, to say I’m fine. To ignore your friend’s nonchalant comment to just go to the doctor. To think of the bill. To sleep instead, take another dose of Nyquil. To go to class, to listen to the droning of your professor, to leave for work. To rush to dinner with your friends.
To rise with the sun, to stretch your arms, to feel a bit better. To be relieved. To brew your coffee, to glance at your to-do list. To sigh, to feed your cat, to run to the train station. To put on your headphones, to turn on your favorite podcast, to listen to the attacks on Obamacare. To wonder if “Free Healthcare for All” is the answer. To know you can’t put it off any longer. But to get off on the next stop. To enjoy the sunlight as you walk the two blocks to work. To take your lunch, to ask the waiter for a salad, to discuss the daily gossip with your coworker. To head home, to login to Twitter, to see people discussing the approaching election. To feel a pit forming in your stomach. To watch Netflix before bed. Collapsing into oblivion.
To wake up with a sore throat, to fix a cup of tea with lemon before beginning the day, to open Twitter, to see a debate happening tonight, to bundle up tight before heading outside. To sit at your desk with a stuffy nose. To desire a nap, but to work afterwards. To take a dose of Dayquil. To call your mom. To try her suggested home remedy, to pray that it just a cold. To return home to watch the debate. To hear candidates shouting about healthcare. People dying over absurd insulin costs. Feeling cold. A promise to look into health insurance tomorrow.
To wake up, to feel your sore throat still here, to call off work, to feel anxious as you talk to a healthcare representative. To consider cutting out coffee for a few months, to pick up extra hours at work…just to sign up for a plan you can’t truly afford. To feel no relief. To head to sleep. To wait a month until the plan goes into effect.
To feel better, but not completely restored, to go to class, to avoid the coffee shop. Being tired, unable to concentrate. To wake day by day anxious about your health. Finally, being able to schedule a doctor’s appointment. To be told you have a virus, to be handed a prescription, to walk to the pharmacy. To still have to use a coupon to pay. Anxiety today, tomorrow. Anxiety for the next week as you check the mail, to see the dreaded bill, to look at it another day.
Writer’s Notes: I decided to explore the topic of inadequate healthcare, which is related to my chosen topic of African American women experiencing higher rates of complications after birth. I wanted, however, to go broader by looking at the system. This of course made me think of the issue of healthcare not being available for a large number of people, which is a common topic in American politics right now. My goal was to start by focusing on a young adult having to find health insurance, but not being able to afford it, therefore choosing to avoid choosing a plan. I tried to show this avoidance by focusing on everyday activities like Adnan did with “To Be in a Time of War.” However, I wanted to show that it is unavoidable to avoid getting ill and the struggles people without insurance go through to avoid going to the hospital and being billed. Eventually, one is faced with having to opt into a plan that one cannot afford, having to pay out of pocket, or suffering health wise. It is an endless cycle of worry. I wanted to show this lack of relief at the end by the young adult avoiding looking at the bill. I found it challenging when determining where to end each line. The method I used when doing this was ending on a word or idea that I wanted to emphasize. Overall, this assignment made me pay more attention to word choice and lingering in the small details…both of which are very important.