Approximately every three months, I have to contact my local Allina Health pharmacy for a refill on my birth control, anti-anxiolytics, and anti-depressants. I have driven up to the same pharmacy window countless times over the last few years and 99% of the time have had to pay $0 for each prescribed medication. The reason why I have had to pay $0 for prescriptions, surgeries, annual preventative health exams, and office visits is because of my mother’s superior Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, through her employment as a Registered Nurse for Allina Health.

I had never worried so much about health coverage until the currently active and ongoing Allina nurse’s strike. Although technically an unfair labor practices protest due to low staffing and poor patient conditions, the primary cause of this strike is Allina’s plan to force its nurses to switch to a less-favorable health insurance plan. I normally try not to concern myself with matters outside of school; however, my mother made me realize that if the administration gets its way, I will have to start paying an extortionately high rate for my frequent office visits and mental health counseling. Essentially, the health coverage my family and I have had since my mother became a nurse in 2003 will be dismal.

What concerns me the most is the fact that my family has a history of emergency room visits and unexpected invasive procedures. The health insurance that my mother has earned for herself and our family through hard work, dedication, and compassion for her patients is what has prevented us from being made to choose our health over basic life necessities. I would have never thought we could potentially have to choose between buying groceries or my father’s rotator cuff surgery.

Throughout the last decade, I have seen my mother and her co-workers give 110% of themselves every night for 40+ hours every week. I have personally rubbed my mother’s swollen feet after working several 12-hour shifts in a row. I have accompanied her to weekly chiropractor appointments she now requires, which results from 13 years of heavy lifting at her job. I have even seen her get called in on her day off only to still work short-staffed. But worst of all, I have seen her cry over the inevitable death of a patient. One must be a dedicated individual to subject themselves to mental and physical exhaustion all in the name of saving lives.

I understand that nursing can be a thankless career, but I think I can speak for all children of nurses when I say that our parents deserve better.