I’m thinking about running for Congress. No, I don’t want to serve my fellow man, or help right any wrongs, or even have an office with a view of the Capitol. I just want the same health care coverage that our congressmen have. When it comes to health insurance, I’ll take what they’re having.

In fact, give me the same coverage option of any federal employee, and I will be a happy woman.

You see, you and I, as federal taxpayers, subsidize the health insurance of 8.5 million federal workers, including our congressmen. According to the Office of Personnel Management, in 2008, American taxpayers spent about $15 billion to insure 8.5 million federal workers and their dependents. The federal government does not provide health care; it simply offers its employees (OUR employees) the choice from over 15 insurance plans. Subscribers pay just a 28 percent contribution. You and I pick up the rest, some 72 percent of their premiums.

In August, the Los Angeles Times asked how congressmen could possibly understand what it’s like to be without coverage or worried about coverage (that would be me, my family, and 40 million other Americans) when their packages are so generous? And the government offers very generous packages indeed: “Most federal workers choose Blue Cross Blue Shield, which covers a family for about $1,030 a month. Taxpayers kick in $700, and employees pay the rest [about $300 for a family]. Seeing a doctor costs $20. Generic prescriptions cost $10. Immunizations are free. There is no coverage limit.”

Wow. As someone who literally loses sleep over health insurance, that makes me really reassess my priorities. Of course, I realize that health insurance is a perq that comes with being an employee of a large firm that can afford to offer coverage. But I want to scream at the top of my lungs, what about me?!

Dave Stine and I are the engines of the economy that every politician talks about. You know, the small business owners, the self-employed, the bedrock of America (blah, blah, blah). And yet, when it comes to health insurance we have no pool to join, no discounts at our disposal, no taxpayers to subsidize us and no regulations to protect us (yet, though it remains to be seen). We are left to fend for ourselves. When Shimkus and other politicians say the market is the answer, I want to slap them. Here is what that really means: In 2009, our premiums went up over 60 percent, from $800 a month to nearly $1,300. Did their premiums go up that much? Doesn’t matter. You and I covered it.

In all the talk over death panels and socialism and Big Government and turning European and the wonder of the market one thing is really and truly lost: that my family and families like ours are screwed when it comes to health care. Our health insurance is our single biggest monthly expense, more than our mortgage, more than any other expense combined. It is the reason we work so hard. And it sure isn’t going to go down.

In fact, I fully expect one of two things to happen next September when we come up for renewal. One, that I will be dropped from my plan (insurers can still do this). Or two, our rates will go up so high that we simply can’t afford coverage. Then what will we do?

We have shopped around and the market just isn’t working in our favor. We already have a $10,000 deductible, no dental coverage and a high co-pay for prescription drugs. We’d drop the vision coverage but I have glaucoma, so I sort of need it. I also have active Crohn’s disease and take a drug twice a month that costs $1,500 a dose. That’s over $3,000 a month just for my prescriptions alone.

Health insurance is a business and I am a bad customer. I know that. I know how its works. Aetna doesn’t make any money by covering me. I would drop me too, or raise my rates as high as I could. Maybe that’s one of the problems though, that health insurance is in business to make money, not provide coverage.

If I worked for a company that provided health insurance, say for the school district or the hospital or any number of other businesses, this would not be an issue. And for those of you in that position, good for you. Must feel good, and I can understand your reticence to mess about with something that works so well for you. But because Dave and I are self-employed not only is it a critical issue, but it is scary as hell. You can understand my frustration and my fear.

For those of us on our own, who are self-employed or unemployed or part-timers or laid off or whose companies do not offer coverage or who simply cannot afford coverage, it’s terrifying, and that is not hyperbole. What if I get dropped? What if our coverage goes even higher? What if we don’t sell any furniture or I don’t sell that article?

You don’t have to be for universal coverage to appreciate the enormity of the problem in this country. It’s not about being a liberal or a conservative; it’s about ensuring that every American is on the same playing field, with equal and affordable access to this most crucial and necessary of services.

Stephanie Abbajay is a writer for the Journal.