If someone truly knows me, they know I firmly believe in universal healthcare for every human. Why should anyone on God’s green earth have to go into debt for something they most likely cannot control? Yes, chronic illnesses can be managed, but they cannot be cured. Even if one is able-bodied and gets into an accident, let’s say, I will always believe it is the government’s responsibility to pay for. People like me have no choice but to rely on our communities.

*For additional context that lies underneath the root of my own and society’s systemic issues, please continue reading my story.*

No one wants to or asks to suffer so deeply.

I hate to return to this platform asking for community help again, but I am left with no choice. I am severely depressed (from many things) and at my wit’s end. I am requesting financial assistance due to my PPO’s absurdly high individual deductible of $4,500. I have already used $1,845 since 8/1, which is mostly charged to my credit card.

The specifics of the financial assistance I am requesting are as follows:

• $2665 — This is the full price I must pay to the medical group where I got a single treatment of Botox for migraines (that didn’t even really help me. I have other chronic illnesses that may trigger a migraine or intensify chronic headache that I have lived with for years). Yes, this is after insurance adjustments. It is so high because of how the claim to my insurance was billed with a hospital facility fee. This obscenely high number is also the remaining of my $4,500 deductible until my coinsurance kicks in.

— as of 11/21/24, I have a payment plan through a third-party so this bill does not go to collections. That monthly payment will be $145 for the next 18 months. For medicine that didn’t even work, that was not even technically administered within a hospital.

• $1000 of medical debt that I had to put on my credit card since 8/1/24 when my new insurance began, because my monthly gross income is near poverty level. I am disabled, and some of us require multiple specialist and multiple appointments/tests/procedures etc. just because we are not fully able-bodied, does not mean we must go into debt for life.

• $1000 I am humbly asking for help to pay my mom back for all the times she has helped me maintain monthly bills for a long time. This only scratches the surface for what she has done for me financially, physically, and emotionally. It shouldn’t have to be that one person trying to live humbly in this economy has to sacrifice their income, just so a loved one can pay off their debt.

Everyone deserves to be debt-free when it comes to healthcare.

The weight of living disabled with little familial or friend support has been detrimental to my entire wellbeing, mentally, emotionally, and physically. So much so that the weight of all that is bad in the world keeps me from seeing the good (most of the time).

Living alone and working full time for nearly two years, all while chronically ill, can look different for many. For me, it has brought nothing but exacerbation of my chronic conditions, leaving me more disabled than I ever thought I would be at only 26.

As of now, I am diagnosed with: hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), which is a connective tissue disorder, it is a multi-systemic disability that may affect multiple parts of the body. It is characterized by a disruption of collagen, which is found in systems throughout the body. Being active in dance, gymnastics, and cheer growing up, only worsened my symptoms that I experienced as a child, but they were never taken seriously. 

Several of my doctors and I believe that is why I also have autonomic dysfunction, also called dysautonomia. It is another dynamic disability that I deeply suffer from due to lack of accessibility to informed care providers.

The many diagnoses that come with all of these for my own body are: orthostatic intolerance, hypotension, chronic venous insufficiency, gastroparesis, migraines/chronic headache. And these don’t include the many debilitating symptoms.

Now, onto a mini rant about how our country has failed our rights to adequate and timely healthcare.

Our capitalistic country and its Medical Industrial Complex do not value disabled people, let alone someone experiencing medical crises — especially if that someone is AFAB of any age or race.

And if you have read this far, please consider sharing my story, please consider donating, and please be kind and accepting to those both similar and different from you.

In Solidarity Forever,

Allie

P.S. - If you find yourself judging me after reading my story, or think it is too revealing, I would try looking inward and asking yourself why you are judging someone asking for help. I will never stop being loud and advocating for marginalized people/communities.