Insurance Privilege

While at Oberlin and working for the STAY Project, I learned a lot about privilege and the ways in which I am privileged. I'm about as aware as a straight-identifying, upper middle class, white girl can be about the ways in which I am privileged and others are not. But last night I became fully aware of another way in which I am privileged.

I've been very fortunate to always have health insurance. My dad works for a university and it's pretty par for the course. When I was sick or injured, my parents never thought twice about taking me to the doctor (I had rabies shots when I was 11 for crying out loud. They were like $20. Ridiculous). After graduating from college, my good fortune has continued thanks to Obamacare. So even though I am a contract worker paid for sometimes less than 20 hours a week, I can afford to do things like go to Planned Parenthood and get an IUD. Because it's completely free for me. My impression of Obamacare has always been that it means everyone my age has insurance. Because everyone my age has parents who have insurance, right? No. Completely wrong.

So I apologize to all the times I've been like "Just go to the doctor if you're sick! Insurance will pay!" or "Get this fancy expensive birth control! It's FREE!" or "How do you NOT have insurance?" These statements were not only moronic and insensitive, but totally ignorant. We have a long way to go until everyone can pay for medical care that they need now or will need in the future. It's really upsetting to me that many of my friends currently have to worry about caring for aging family members who they cannot simply send to the doctor with a $15 co-pay. Say what you will about universal healthcare, but it's pretty silly that in this day and age something as simple as setting a broken bone could cost someone without insurance $7,000. We need to work to make sure that our entire population can afford basic healthcare, because we can't be very productive as a nation if our bodies are falling apart. Going to the doctor when you're sick, or getting access to the family planning services that keep you in the workforce should not be a "privilege." It should be a right.