Health Insurance's Fight Club Rules | Sojourners

Health Insurance's Fight Club Rules

"The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club." I said this the first time I came to work with bruises on my face.

"The second rule of Fight Club," I joked about a week later, when I came to work with new bruises on my arm, "is you DON'T talk about Fight Club."

The third week, I had no jokes. I just had new bruises, a history of epilepsy, no health insurance due to a pre-existing condition, no anti-seizure medications, and a willingness to accept often-violent episodes of falling and losing consciousness on a weekly basis in locations that often left me bruised.

Ironically, when I got a job at a hospital, I was denied coverage by their health-care provider after I told them about my "pre-existing" history. When they turned me down, I turned to the hospital's other insurance company. I didn't tell them about my history, and I was accepted. When I had my "first" seizure, they put me on medication and the seizures stopped for the first time in months.

So what's the message here? The first rule of Health Insurance Club is you do not talk about your actual health.

G.C.F. is job-searching and currently without health insurance.

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