Dear President Obama,
First, I readily admit that I did not vote for you the first time you ran. I was young and not informed; rather, I just voted as my family said we should vote. However, by the time your second run came around I had been out in the world for a couple years, and I had made myself considerably more informed of the goings-on of my country. I voted for you with confidence. Confidence that you might be able to rise above the corporation driven Washington that I see leading my country. Confidence that you would reform healthcare at all costs. Confidence that you would make the changes you promised; changes that affect Millenials like myself, families who are struggling to even eat, the fat-cats of corporate America, and everyone out there losing faith in America.
When I left my first "real-job" in scientific research, because of a complete disenchantment (or perhaps reality check) with the way in which projects are funded and science is governed in this country, I left with conviction and confidence that I was following the American dream. Having the guts to say, "this makes me miserable, and I don't want to be miserable anymore," and actually leaving to start over was something I was proud of. Even my grandparents said they were proud of me because I wasn't going to settle for miserable, but wanted to actively try to find something better. I was only able to do this because of your newly (at the time) enacted Affordable Care statute that allowed me to go back on my father's insurance until I was 26. At that point, I had faith that anything was possible, and that I lived in a country that fostered that spirit within its children by allowing us time to figure out our lives.
Even when I was just about to turn 26, in February 2014, the transition from my father's insurance to the healthcare exchange was seamless and stress-free. In fact, I had better insurance at a lower premium, and I could stay with the doctor's I had worked to establish relationships with for 2 years. I was ecstatic and hopeful. I had a job that I loved, though not full time, and cared enough about its part-time employees to contribute a stipend to help me further pay my monthly premiums. Having had bipolar disorder since I was 19, these relationships and not having to play doctor hop-scotch was crucial to my even being able to continue to work. Without those relationships, I would not have survived the last year. I have spent the last 11 months of my life battling medication failures, injuries, and severe pain. Aside from the physical manifestations, my moods were completely out of control and I frequently fell back into the suicidal thoughts I try so hard to avoid. So thank you for that.
As the year wraps up though, I have lost all of my confidence in this country and have begun to lose confidence in myself. While these may seem to be individual, perhaps selfish reasons to some, the truth is that for every one person like me, there are far more who are even worse off financially and health-wise. In a matter of two months, my fiance and I have gone from feeling like we would finally be able to afford to move out on our own. Around November, we crunched all the numbers, and it looked like we could actually be adults. I don't think that's asking much really; a 26 and 21 year old couple who want only to be able to rent a simple apartment and begin our life together, while keeping the power on. And it looked like we could do it even though we were both still only part-time employees.
However, as my student loan's forbearance ended and open enrollment for 2015 insurance opened, I felt like I had been slammed into a brick wall at warp speed.
You see, I managed to make just slightly more money this year than I did last; less than $25,000 though since I am only part-time.
I consolidated my student loans only to find out that I will not only be paying the government back $40,000 I borrowed to get a degree that I have only even looked at once, but also $40,000 in interest for borrowing that money. I am grateful for my degree, but I have probably not even made much over $80,000 since I graduated college in 2010. Effectively, I felt like I had been taken for a fool by my own government acting as a loan shark. I was planning to pay my student loans; that was part of my number crunching. However, when the paperwork came back I first saw the $80,000 total paid back by the time I am 50 and some odd years old, then I saw that my "income driven repayment" plan requires me to pay $187--I'd love to see what formula was used to figure up that I could afford that payment every month. Naturally, I was upset, but thought I didn't have to start paying until January, and I could work it out by then. But then three nights ago, about 1 am, I received an email informing me my payment was due December 21st. Less than 10 days notice that my forbearance was cancelled and I had to come up with nearly $200 I wasn't budgeted for.
And then, my fiance and I started to look for health insurance; this was when I started to lose my faith in everything. My $80 a month premium is set to go up to about $150, has a higher deductible, and higher out of pocket costs because I made that little bit more this year. His, well, his premium was $26 a month, and he couldn't see any of the specialists he needs because the only covered specialists are at minimum a 40 minute drive of us. He can't go to the largest mental health provider in the 3 counties here because they aren't covered. Naturally, we wanted to get him better insurance so he could see someone about a back injury and depression. His premium, to keep the same insurance, is set to go up to well over $100 for 2015 as well. Mind you, he went from full time to part time this year, and made less than he did last year because of this. So we had a solution, we'll go ahead and get married at the courthouse and just have a real wedding later. The insurance together would be less and he could have the same access I have to doctors, right? Admittedly, so far as premiums are concerned we are ever so slightly better off. We might be able to get away with around $200-250 a month in premiums. However, that is with a $4,000-6,000 deductible before the insurance would pay for much.
I should hope that at this point you understand my disappointment. Considering bills we already have to pay (car insurance, phones, internet required for my job) while living with family, tacking on another $400 or more every month, already puts our hopes of being able to move out on our own further from--more likely completely out of--our grasp. And then there's the deductible---what good does it do to pay all that money in premium (which will be difficult at best) when we still have to pay a minimum of $4000 in deductibles. Sure, we could use our tax refund---which was going to help us pay security deposits, first and last months rent, have some money in savings for emergencies. How is this affordable?
I am 26 years old. I have a college degree, nearly 8 years experience working in scientific research, and 2 years experience teaching test preparation now. I did everything right. Everything that teachers, parents, counselors---everyone---said I needed to do so I could be a successful adult, I did it. I didn't have sex until after I finished high school even because I wasn't supposed to. I didn't try drugs. I went straight to college. I took classes through summers. I got a job in my field. I left that field. Found a new one. Yet, here I am nearly 3 years later, still living with my fiance's parents (who barely make ends meet anyway, and we help), adding just enough more money to my income for some formula somewhere to decide I can afford even more. I feel cheated, again, by my country. I followed the rules and I work hard. I am passionate and loving. I live everyday making every effort to help anyone I come across, but I don't feel like this country is doing the same for any of its citizens short of those who can benefit the government itself in return. Moreover, and far more frustrating, I feel like I'm being punished for working hard and trying to make more of my life.
I see the entire Chicago and Northwestern Indiana area struggling with similar problems. One step forward, then kicked in the teeth 8 steps back. I see my students whose education depends solely on where they live. Students in Chicago proper who are no where near college ready, and students in the suburbs who might as well be superheroes considering their resumes getting rejected from their dream schools. My fiance's family is struggling because his grandmother's insurance changed because his grandfather's company no longer wanted to pay the benefits to spouses of deceased employees as they had been. His mother works as a manager, making barely over minimum wage---and found out their "affordable healthcare" is going to more than triple this year as well. My own mother is crippled financially because left my father (who made nearly three times her salary) after he had an affair. She actually stood up to him and left, and has felt nothing but punished and miserable since. She has only just been able to move out of her own parent's home, and is ever on the verge of having to go back.
I feel guilty telling my students that going to college, or graduate school, or medical school is what they should do. I feel guilty because I know that, in my experience, no matter how hard you work or follow the rules, you'll never get ahead. In fact, the longer you go to school the worse off you'll be because you will graduate owing twice what you borrowed and more than you are likely to make any time soon. Should you though, get one single toe ahead of the ever pressing bills and living expenses to where you MIGHT be able to be more comfortable in life---you are promptly kicked back on your ass.
So, as I write this letter tonight, I sincerely hope that you see it and read it. I know I am not alone in these same fears. Our country is not the best country in the world anymore. That, in and of itself, is devastating for me to even say. I am sure that there are many things going on in the world that I do not know of or understand, but I do understand that the government is supposed to be of the people and for the people. But from where I, and millions of others, stand, the government is actively cherry-picking who the people they want are and actively working against the rest of us.
I do not expect my situation to change on its own, and I will adapt. I will keep fighting, because I deserve to have the live I have always dreamed of and have worked for. I will fight any and everyone who gets in my way until the day I die in pursuit of what I have earned. But we shouldn't have to fight.
I ask of you only two things: imagine, for just a second, that you were in my shoes. Pretend that you are 26 and realizing you cannot have the wedding you always imagined because you need to get married sooner so you can even hope to afford health insurance, after which there may or may not be enough money to have the small wedding I have dreamed of since I was a little girl and definitely no money to live as a newly married couple. Imagine that you and your wife cannot afford even a one bedroom apartment. Imagine that everything YOU worked for, was taken away. And once you have considered how it feels to be in the average Millenial's shoes and maybe grasp part of the crushing desperation felt by not even the worst off in our country, how about we start a candid conversation about how our current leaders and our country's future leaders can stop arguing and start making this the best country in the world again. We are already going downhill exponentially faster with every passing day, but without an open dialogue between us, the people, and those who represent us translating to actionable changes, we will be globally irrelevant far sooner than the Founding Fathers ever intended.
Sincerely
K Branyon
