Essential workers deserve health care
It feels like sticking my foot into a hot hornet’s nest. Right on time, the pain shoots up my entire leg, making it hard to walk. Each agonizing step is a reminder of a minor health issue that should have been easily remedied all those years ago but wasn’t. All because I, like so many others in Texas, didn’t have access to affordable health care.
For people like me with chronic pain, standing can be excruciating. This pain limits the hours I can work and activities I can participate in with family and friends. Yet, throughout the pandemic, I have regularly reported for a job as a grocery store clerk, ready to provide the same level of care for my customers that I’ve always shown despite the now-added danger of contracting the virus myself. No matter what happens, someone has to do the essential but risky jobs to keep our state going. I’ve felt a sense of duty and pride in serving my community during such a terrible time.
The looming concern of COVID-19 has never gone away. As an essential worker, I have increased exposure not just to the virus but to other hazards that could require medical care. Like many, contracting the virus would be a disaster for me and my family. Although my work is essential, it doesn’t come with health insurance.
My part-time job earns me just enough cash to help contribute to some basic needs for my family and put myself through college. But my paycheck is still too much to qualify for Medicaid under Texas’ rules and, yet, too little to qualify for subsidized health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Sadly, I’m not alone in this. In 2019, 766,000 Texans were caught in the Medicaid coverage gap with no way to get affordable health insurance; of those, 209,000 were essential workers like me. And the gap persisted through the pandemic. That’s because Texas has refused to expand Medicaid.
But now our members of Congress and senators have a critical opportunity to step in and ensure hundreds of thousands of their constituents in the same position as me can get access to necessary care by closing the coverage gap in the upcoming recovery legislation.
My inability to access health insurance has negatively impacted my health for years. In 2019, an ingrown toenail turned into permanent nerve damage because I couldn’t afford to see a doctor. The pain disrupts my sleep, sapping my energy and increasing my anxiety.
Because I am in the coverage gap, something as minor as an ingrown toenail has changed my life. That should never happen.
When my chronic pain became too much to bear, I went to clinics that work with uninsured people, but I still had to pay for visits and treatment that totaled at least $200. That may not sound like much to many people, but for me, it’s almost a week’s paycheck. That’s money I needed for tuition.
It’s too late for me to be able to reverse the agony I feel day in and day out. I desperately wish I had the resources to see a specialist in order to better manage it, because it continues to disrupt my life. But the care I need is out of reach so long as I remain uninsured.
A number of my family members are also in the coverage gap. Being insured and having access to affordable health care would lift a weight for all of us. I would be devastated if a family member had to endure the pain I have experienced due to a lack of insurance.
Health care shouldn’t be a luxury. Texas members of Congress and senators have a chance to extend health coverage to myself and thousands of other essential workers this fall through recovery legislation that’s on its way to the Senate for a vote. Essential workers have made sure that our fellow Texans are fed, healthy and safe throughout the pandemic. It’s time that our elected officials took action to make sure we and our families are healthy and safe, too, by closing the coverage gap.