Newscoma

Stephen Yeargin writes of a conversation he had with a young man who was barely keeping his head above water after an accident.

David was involved in a serious car accident earlier this year that had left him bedridden. The glass repair job was a fairly recent development for him now that he was back able to work again. His girlfriend had quit her stable job to take care of him during the day because there was no one else that could look after him, and obviously a paid caretaker was out of the range of affordability. He and his girlfriend were looking to move out of their home and into an apartment, an inevitability now that the hospital bills were coming due. As he scraped off the final piece of sealant film, I could tell that he was embarrassed for having shared that much about himself, but those were just the facts of his situation. Find a smaller place, keep working as much as he could, try to stay above water with the hospital bills. I have a lot of hope and confidence in David, but I also know the harsh realities. He likely was not supposed to be back at work yet, but the bills were not going to pay themselves.

The entire post is excellent. As someone right now who doesn’t have insurance after this unemployment bout of Aught Nine, and is still paying off medical bills from last year, this is very real to me and a lot of people.  I’m currently looking for another part-time job right now just so I can have the luxury of health insurance and pay off my existing healthcare bill that I owe.  Sometimes it is scary for folks like David and I but we do what we have to do.

Anyway, Stephen’s post resonated with me.

Updated: More from @dancedivam who is hearing the same things I am.