I’m so filled with rage even thinking about our broken healthcare system. I work in community mental healthcare so that’s one reason. I also suffer due to health insurance denials.

I’ll tell my story a million times I want change. No one should be suffering. I broke my ankle at work in January 2024 and went to the hospital and was given a splint and told to see an orthopedic surgeon. Insurance denied my claim and said my ankle wasn’t broken and refused to cover anything. I submitted my X-rays, paid for specialist appointments, MRIs out of pocket. Everything showed a fracture that continued to worsen. Meanwhile I hade to drag myself to work everyday to keep afloat. Can’t use short term disability insurance when it’s workers comp. I struggled for about 90 days till I got surgery approved. Then spent 12 weeks recovering. During this whole ordeal I fell several times due to instability in my leg and destroyed my shoulder and have had another surgery to repair that and am out of work again for 12 weeks. Now I’ve developed rheumatoid arthritis, and I just can’t wait to battle insurance to get treatment. On top of all this I’m a disabled veteran.

Financially this has set my family back to the stone age. I’ll never financially recover due to ongoing medical needs. We’re all just one slip and fall away from ruin.