Dear Source:
I am an AARP member in the VI and also a Medicare beneficiary. I thank my lucky stars every day that I am fortunate enough to have coverage for both my health and prescription needs. But some of my friends are not so lucky. Years ago it was easier to find personal health insurance if you didn’t get insurance from an employer. It might have been costly, but it was available. However, today people aged 50 to 64 living in the VI or on the mainland have tremendous difficulty finding health insurance, and if they do find coverage, it is so expensive they can hardly afford it.
This is just not right and it’s not fair. People in this age group are too young for Medicare but are considered too much of a risk for insurance companies to cover without charging an arm and a leg. Health care shouldn’t be all about the insurance company’s profits. Health care must be about providing care to people.
By making health insurance policies out of reach for the average 50 year old, we are actually creating situations where people have to go bankrupt if they have a major health emergency or take many, many years to pay off hospital bills plus the accumulated interest.
This doesn’t even take into account that without health insurance it’s incredibly difficult to get service in a doctor’s office. This scenario rules out any kind of preventative care at a period in a person’s life when significant changes are occurring. This is generally when heart conditions, adult diabetes or many other age related diseases begin to show up. With preventative care these diseases can be managed. Without proper care, a person could die.
Again, this is just not right and it’s not fair.
The health care reform being talked about by Congress is hoping to do something about making sure that people in this age group and every other age group can find affordable coverage that suits their needs. I applaud what’s going on in Washington and hope they put something in place quickly.
Joyce Christian
St. Croix
