13 Dec Why Health Insurance Is So Important

Before coming here and being able to attend SFSU we all had to buy what at the time seemed like an annoyingly expensive health insurance. Bah, when do I ever go to the hospital or get seriously sick you might think, at least that is what I did.

However, I had the not so pleasent experience of realizing why you need to have health insurance when you study in the U.S. It all started with what I thought was my second round of food poising. But after a day of throwing up and feeling really bad, I went to the doctor at the student health center who immediately did not like the way my stomach was acting. She sent me straight to UCSF Hospital, where I ended up spending the day taking multiple test to find out what was wrong with me.

It turned out that the doctor at the student health center was right; I had appendicitis. And my appendix needed to be removed. So after more than twenty-four hours in the hospital, I had surgery to remove it. The surgery was a success and other than being quite sore for a couple of weeks, I recovered well from it and have nothing bad to say about the American health system. Everyone I met took really good care of me.

However, that comes with a price. And had it not been for my health insurance I would have had to spend thousands of dollars on this. But because I had insurance, I did not have to pay anything.

So now I am one appendix down, but very impressed by my amazing doctors and my lovely health insurance.