Thread by @DisabledAcadem

I can't begin to explain the amount of anxiety and backtracking that I have experienced when I moved for grad school and I lost a whole team of doctors. Doctors who had helped me make sense of my comorbid conditions for 8 years. 1/10

I lost them because I had the audacity to move for graduate school to a part of the country that BCBS New England did not cover. So I started the hunt again. But it was both unaffordable and a waste of time. I needed a GI, cardio, allergist, neurologist, PCP, and PT. 2/10

I was able to get a cardiologist because of an emergency room trip and referral. I wasn't able to find anyone else who treated my conditions at my uni. And I thought fine, I can make do as I did in undergrad by going on Christmas break and summer break back home for care. 3/10

For years I made the trek from VA to MA just for specialized medical care twice a year. As you can imagine it wasn't sustainable or smooth or easy. Then when I won fellowships and moved to Philadelphia in my third year of school and turned 26 the hunt started all over again. 4/10

My 20s have been defined by hunting for the right medical team, finding decent practitioners, and then watching them disappear because I dared to move. Because time is linear and I turned 26. 5/10

I entered the academy because it offered a flexible schedule, time for treatments, and individual accommodations in a way I couldn't imagine a 9-5 job doing at the time. 6/10

I need national health care because I need stability. I need accessibility. I need to have choices. I need to be able to secure specialists regardless of where I live. I now have constant anxiety about losing my care team. 7/10

I am continually worried about graduating and switching insurance with the start of a new career. Because that switch means losing my team again AND losing access to the treatments I'm currently on. 8/10

I'm so tired of my health deteriorating because of an insurance switch. Or because a referral wasn't approved. I get monthly immunotherapy treatments and I'm worried that graduating grad school means losing immunotherapy while insurance sorts itself out. 9/10

That is absurd. That I am about to reach this huge milestone, and I don't even want to hit it, because it means loss of healthcare. That shouldn't even be on the table. I shouldn't have to worry about that at all. 10/10 #AcademicChatter #Medicare4All #DisabilityTwitter