[aurielle]

I have only ever been without health insurance twice in my life, for brief periods when in the middle of major life changes and I got health insurance as soon as I was able to. The second time was 11 years ago, and I qualified for share of cost medicaid where I only had to pay if I used it, and my share of cost would have been a few hundred bucks a month but luckily I never had to use it. I had it in case of a serious illness or injury, and at the time I had free access to a doctor for minor health problems through my job until I qualified for their health plan.