Health Insurance - The Lack There Of

I would rather pay way less taxes and pay out a few hundred per month on private insurance and at least know what I am paying for instead of the way things are now [with national health insurance].

This rant's been a long time coming, and it was finally pushed into being by this quote by a Canadian responding to the reactions to the election that so many Americans want to leave their country, possibly moving to Canada (akward sentence, sorry).
I'm going to paint a picture for everyone, and it's one I'm sure many Americans are familiar with.
I have been living without health insurance for 3 years now. The first year was because I was unemployed. I could not find a job when I first moved back to Boston. Jeremy was employed, but his company did not cover domestic partners, which meant that because we were not married, I was shit out of luck. The second year Jeremy was unemployed and I quickly did what I could to find a job, which meant going back into retail, something I swore I would never do again (I don't think I need to explain to anyone why I tried to keep this promise to myself). Unfortuneatly, because of how little retail pays I could not afford to have the measily $30 dollars a month taken out of my paycheck for health care coverage. To put it in perspective for everyone, I took home about $1100 a month. Our rent was $900. That leaves $200 a month for electricity, gas, phone, T pass, and food for TWO people and 2 cats. [My manager at the time actually gave me a talk that winter about my being "sullen" and perhaps I did not have the right "attitude" for that job. He never asked me what could be making me so "sullen". I think it might have been lack of food. I lost 10 pounds that year.]
So, I couldn't have gone to a doctor if I had wanted to. Not only is it difficult to find a primary care physician who will accept patients without insurance, but when you are using change jars to buy your groceries, $75 for an office visit is too much of a luxery. If something really goes wrong, you are forced to visit the emergency room of your local hospital. I had to do this at one point. $500 to have a nurse tell me to go home a put a hot compress on it (blocked tear duct). God forbid if I saw an actual doctor, or had to have tests run, or had to be prescribed meds (recently found out, the hard way, that a 10 day run of antibiotics is $110). The bill with tests and IV's can easily run around $5000.
For all his faults, I am thankful that manager wasn't like my manager at Borders who INSISTED upon doctor's notes for sick days. Can you imagine having to spend $500 dollars to get a doctor's note for 1 sick day, when you make less than $70 in one day?
So, I say to folks who have national health care, but are dissatisfied with it: Something is better than Nothing. If you need to go to the doctor you shouldn't have to decide what utility bill you will have to let slide or how many meals you are going to have to miss in order to pay for the visit. Little things like eczema, an infected cut (turning to blood poisoning, despite precautions), and BIRTH CONTROL become huge when you have no health insurance. And if you are fortunate enough to want to plan a family, pregnancy and brth and all that goes with it become a laughable non-option without health insurance. Not to mention having children and not having health insurance is to truly too frightening to even contemplate.
I still don't have health insurance. My hypoglecimia seems to be getting exponetially worse despite my eating better and exercising. Jeremy and I have not yet decided what to do.