I'm often asked why I am so passionate about solving the healthcare chrisis in the United States. As we prepare to share our solutions, I hope that you will allow me the opportunity to also share with you a personal connection to the problem of healthcare that keeps me motiviated.
Growing up, our family didn’t have health insurance. My father was the Pastor of a small church in Midland, Texas, and the congregation operated on a limited budget. For this reason, health insurance for its staff was, unfortunately, not an option. By the age of 12, I would require more than 10 surgeries due to a non-life threatening a medical condition. While minor in nature, these procedures created a significant financial burden to our family. Not realizing the reasoning at the time, I watched as my father would take jobs outside of his role at our church to be able to either obtain health insurance and/or earn enough money to pay for the treatments of my condition.
Both of my parents were selfless like that, always putting their family first, others second and themselves last. Growing up, we were not poor, but didn’t have a lot of money either. I don’t recall ever going without, as a matter of fact, I always thought we must have had significant means because my brothers and I always seemed to have more than we needed or really wanted. We were rich, but not in the monetary sense, rather in that we had two parents who first loved each other, loved us, and showed us that love often.