Veronica Albuquerque, NM created on Mon December 30, 2013

My name is Veronica Rodriguez. I live in Albuquerque, NM. I go to Olympian University, it is a Cosmetology school. I am here 40 hours a week, no pay. I am allowed to get tips. So I currently have no income. And it is a 10 month program, 1600 hours depending on how often you come.

Every time I get sick I never go to the doctor, because of the pay not only to get over there, but the actual doctor visit.

Recently I had a high fever and the flu, and I kind of let it try and heal itself. And I ended up getting strep throat, and I didn’t know I had it for like a week without treating it. I ended up having to go to the emergency room because it was really bad and someone had told me that I probably had strep. So I was kind of fighting with my mom about going because I didn’t want to go and not have it and pay $150 for nothing. Well, it ended up being that I had it really bad and I had to be on an antibiotic. But the whole reason I didn’t want to go was because I couldn’t pay the bill.

My boyfriend is an electrician and they do offer health care with his job, but they take out too much monthly. He’s “never sick in a year” and that’s how he thinks of it. But I tell him if we have an emergency, like one time he was in an accident and it cost him $3,000 to go to the emergency room, that’s when the health insurance could come in handy. But, the price of it yearly isn’t really worth it.

Right now I need glasses, like I can’t see at night. I could get my license taken away. But, every appointment costs so much money. I currently have health insurance through my mom, but I am interested in getting into Medicaid because I still have a co-pay I can’t afford when I go to the doctors.