A healthcare letter to my state senator

Erin Cizina
7222 E Calle los Arboles
Tucson, AZ 85750

5 December 2009

Senator John Kyl
6840 North Oracle Road, Suite 150
Tucson, Arizona 85704

Dear Senator Kyl,
I was laid off from my job as a technical writer at IBM in February 2009 and I have been paying for COBRA since then. For many months, my COBRA payments were reduced, for three months by IBM and then for 6 month by the government. Now I am responsible for the entire amount.

Currently, I am receiving $795/month in unemployment. In order to cut costs, my sons’ father was able to put one of the boys on his health insurance but I need to cover the costs for the other son. The insurance costs are going to be $755/month beginning in January 2010. Unfortunately, neither my son nor I are eligible for other insurance due to the fact that we both have pre-existing conditions. I have had two occurrences of breast cancer and my son has pulmonary arterial stenosis, an extremely miniscule hole in an artery that pumps blood to his lungs. His doctors have not seen him in two years and state that this should NEVER affect his health. My son is not eligible for the state funded children’s health insurance program because he must be without insurance for three months in order to qualify. How could a state require that a 4-year old child be without insurance before they can qualify for the state funded insurance? How could a country like ours allow children to go without insurance for even one day? That could be the day that they are involved in a life-threatening car accident.

It makes me so sad to be in this situation, for my children’s sake. I have honestly thought of moving to Canada, as many others have, just so that I don’t have to worry about my children’s access to healthcare.

Please do whatever you can to pass the healthcare bill. It won’t come soon enough for us, but maybe it will come soon enough for someone else.
Sincerely,



Erin Still Cizina