That Podcast in Hutch - Rep. Heather Meyer

A very personal conversation about life with Type 1 diabetes and without insurance

Mar 31, 2022

Sometimes serendipity emerges from disappointment.

This week I had made arrangements for another guest - who I still hope to get on the show. But on the scheduled day for recording, illness had struck and she couldn't make it. So I had to scramble to find someone else to interview. Luckily, I had read this column written by Rep. Heather Meyer, from Overland Park's 29th House District. And since she works in the building I had already visited with about making an appearance on That Podcast in Hutch.

Heather is a Type 1 diabetic. Many of you know that my son, Mitch (who wrote and performed all the musical bits for this show) also has Type 1 diabetes. We both have very personal experiences with this disease, and we both intimately know how much it affects the lives of patients, and their friends and family. Type 1 diabetes - which used to be commonly known as Juvenile Diabetes - is an autoimmune disease that chooses its victims at random. There is no lifestyle change that can prevent or cure it. Without treatment it is fatal within a relatively short time. Without proper treatment, it is still fatal, but will take longer - creating costly and painful complications along the way. With proper treatment, diabetics live full and long lives.

But Heather's story is layered with an additional complication - she has spent much of her life without health insurance, and thus, the inability to effectively treat this debilitating and life-threatening disease. This has created additional health concerns - which is a common by-product of diabetics who have to ration insulin or fail to properly measure blood sugar levels in an effort to stretch financial resources.

This episode is personal to me - as is the discussion about how to ensure that people with diabetes never have to worry about health care. Diabetics experience complicated lives that require constant effort and thought - and their lives are made infinitely more difficult when they can't afford the care they need to stay alive and fully engage daily life.

To listen to my conversation with Rep. Heather Meyer, subscribe to That Podcast in Hutch at Salt City Sound or on your favorite podcast streaming service.

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