Uninsurable

I'm wondering how many other families there are out there who have heart children that have been deemed "uninsurable." Here is our family's story...

Our daughter was born in September and had open heart surgery almost immediately. My husband's employer was AWFUL about giving him time off to be with his tiny newborn, and he soon began to look for another position elsewhere. Fast forward to April of 2007, and he took a contracting job for a major financial firm. Because he is not an employee, he does not get benefits. I am a small business owner, so we made the assumption that we could still find somewhat affordable insurance.

The reality is that we can not find ANY insurance that is willing to provide coverage for our "heart" baby, who had the ASO switch in September 2006. We have been told that it will be a total of five years before insurance will be considered for her, but that the rest of our family may be covered.

It's a sad state that our healthcare system is in. I would consider our family to be "middle class," yet we have no access to insurance for our daughter. We have been told time and again that we would be better off in terms of health care for her if we were on government assistance (welfare). Every time we walk into the pediatrician's office (which, of course, is often) it's a huge hit.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? Email me at learnaboutchd@gmail.com.