Two Categories: Have and Have Not

Just like America's economy, affordable healthcare and life expectancy have evolved into two separate boundaries: Those who are affluent enough to afford the extreme costs of health service, and those who cannot.

Due to the physical traumas I have experienced in my 62 years, I have had many different jobs. This was due to my epileptic condition, which restricts me from driving, working at heights, or with machinery.

Even when I gained steady and financially rewarding positions, I would frequently be denied the health insurance provided by my employer. My health, and job security was always endangered because of my condition.

I am not ashamed of myself because of my epilepsy, but within the last ten years I've also experienced more physical difficulties: Non-hodgkins cancer of the lymph glands, extreme osteoarthritis, and many surgeries for joint replacements.

Many others face far more serious and financially devasting physical complications than I, yet my monthly costs for medications to help control my epilepsy dictates my lifestyle. If a political leader can gain tax breaks, primarily benefitting the wealthy, proclaim this program is re-initiating our economy, why can't that same person recognize that less and less of American citizens either have health insurance, nor can they pay the extreme costs mandated by our drug companies, the expense of even visiting a doctor, or the preservation of their own life.

We are at a crossroads, and we must legislate a form of socialized medicine. If not, only the rich will be able to live, and the poor will continue to die. Were we ever to reach that point, it would endanger the very basis of this nation's economy, even the foundation of this nation's democracy.