when not to be American

I was so agog over the knitting bags I forgot to talk about the important stuff.

We had a goodbye lunch today for someone who used to work in my department, but transferred to another some time back. She is leaving the company for health reasons. She’s single and young, maybe 30 max, and to appearances quite healthy, but she’s got a health issue that’s been giving her pain and that hasn’t been completely diagnosed yet. (An MRI is next.)

She’s been under a lot of stress and in addition to a long workday, she’s got a commute that’s an hour-plus each way. So she has decided to quit her job and focus on recovering her health for a bit. She’ll be living with her parents (might have lived with them already, I’m not sure – I know they were in the same area, at least.)

Quitting her job to get healthy – Americans just don’t do that, especially not unmarried Americans. Not until we’re so sick we absolutely can’t work, and sometimes not then. Unless you qualify under a partner’s or spouse’s plan, quitting your job would mean losing health insurance right when you really need it. And you’d better be careful about planning to go on that spouse’s plan, because at that point it could be deemed a pre-existing condition, and again you can’t afford the diagnosis you need.

The concept is so foreign to me, in an absolutely literal way – and for as much as we talk about individual liberties, it’s a kind of freedom we don’t have. My Dad was able to retire when he needed to only because Mom still works full-time, and she doesn’t see how she’ll ever be able to retire. My erstwhile colleague isn’t asking for a handout; her own family will keep her housed and fed and she’s not sounding worried about money. She just wants to get better, so she can work without being in pain or destroying her health.

And here, she can.