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TechnoratiHealth Care Crisis Squeezes Working Families
Volunteer firefighter Cindy Holland has no medical insurance, and her husband's health benefits as a full-time paramedic do not extend to family members, so she and their three children go without.
The hard-working Northern California family makes too much money to qualify for public health insurance but too little to afford a private policy, caught in a Catch 22 that puts many U.S. workers at risk of financial ruin.
While many industrialized countries provide care for all, the United States covers only the elderly and the poor. Some 45 million, or 15 percent, of people in the world's richest nation lacked health insurance in 2005, up 3 percent on the previous year.
That number is widely believed to be higher today as healthcare costs skyrocket, employers slash worker benefits and insurers gut coverage and cherry-pick the healthiest customers.
President George W. Bush and governors of states like California have taken on the task of finding ways to provide health coverage, but it's not soon enough for families like the Hollands.
'ROLLING THE DICE'
John Holland, like most Americans, gets his health insurance through his job as a paramedic with a private ambulance company, which pays half the expense.
When Cindy, 36, shopped for coverage for herself and their children, she found it would cost about $1,000 a month, excluding dental insurance.
"It would kill us financially to do the insurance -- if we want to keep a roof over our head and food in my kids. You end up rolling the dice," said Cindy, a California native who works a pair of part-time jobs on top of firefighting.
As a two-parent family, the Hollands could earn just over $60,000 and still be eligible for Healthy Families, a children's health insurance program financed by state and federal funds.
But that would require John to stop working overtime, which he does in order to pay old medical bills and other expenses.
Meanwhile, Cindy wrestles with the idea of applying for public benefits.
"I wasn't raised to do that," she said. "It's almost embarrassing that you're not covered. There is this stereotype that you're an illegal alien sitting on your butt and not working."
These days, the family heads to one of the many Wal-Mart in-store health clinics springing up around the country, where doctor visits cost $39.
"We went from one extreme to the other," said Cindy, who when she was pregnant with triplets had good insurance through John's prior job. Surgery and follow-up care to save the lives of two of them -- one died in the womb -- cost just $200.
THE BIG SQUEEZE
More and more, America's uninsured -- and increasingly its insured population -- can't win. And the prospects are grim as U.S. healthcare spending is projected to double to $4 trillion by 2015.
Mexico-born Maria Morales, 53, is a single mom and legal U.S. resident who is a full-time caregiver to her severely disabled son. They are both covered under public programs.
Lately, though, she worries about her 16-year-old, a U.S. citizen who suffers from fainting and dizzy spells and was mistakenly cut from public coverage.
It took her nine months and help from Los Angeles' Venice Family Clinic, the nation's largest free clinic, to get him reinstated. Meanwhile, a recommended trip to the neurologist had to be delayed.
"I find myself with a big surprise that life is so hard in the United States. I'm a resident, just imagine how difficult it is for people who are undocumented," she said.
Jeremy Smola, 33, already knows the devastating toll an illness can take on people living in what many immigrants see as a "Land of Opportunity."
Five years ago, he had no insurance and was diagnosed with a goiter. He finally had it removed three years later, when he had a job with health benefits.
Even with insurance coverage, Smola had $15,000 in uncovered medical bills. He declared bankruptcy, and, like about half of the people who do, cited medical expenses as a key reason.
After years of pursuing a music career, Smola plans to join the "real work force" and find a job with benefits.
"I'm at an age where if I start a family, you have to have it. You can lose everything if you break a leg and can't work for six months," said Smola, who performed with the unsightly goiter on his neck as he searched for a job with benefits.
Jonathan Cohn, author of the new book "Sick" about the broken U.S. healthcare system, said America's wasteful and inadequate safety net is eroding at a rapid pace, but thinks improvement is possible.
"Most people have a sense that an enlightened society does not do this to its citizens," Cohn said. "We've solved this for the elderly (with Medicare). Every other country in the developed world has solved this."
Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.
13 Comments so far
Show AllI am a 53 year old woman who is not insured, because the only work I can get is part time for now. I'm supposed to take three different medicines, but can only afford one. After a recent accident, where I was not injured badly, I needed to get a followup with an ophthalmologist. All of the doctors I called to set up an appointment called me back and told me to go to a clinic because then I would be able to arrange for a payment plan with a clinic. That's what I have to do to get healthcare--and I can only hope that I can keep up with my payments, because I wouldn't be able to use the bankruptcy law to help me (Neocon forbid!). It reeks! Single payer universal health--we need it. NOW!
You know how totally absurd this system is when people have to hope they get sick while they have some kind of coverage. If they happen to stay healthy and then lose that coverage and get sick or injured, they're screwed. We're all screwed. Might as well play the lottery.
I am so angry with myself right now. Here I have been going without corrective lenses for years and years because I couldn't afford them.
I finally make the plunge because my vision is so bad. My doctor is charging me $355.00 for glasses. Perhaps that isn't much to some people but for others it is a small fortune.
Then tonight I was looking online and found that I could get three pairs for the price of one! It is terrible the way health care is commodity in America.
Major culprits in privatizing university hospitals and public health care (as well as education): the fascist 'Americans for Prosperity Foundation': Full of Bush-oligarchy government monopoly-contractors.... Making Lots of People Sick in numerous ways: http://www.americansforprosperity.org/
What Lisa, the writer, doesn't include in her report is that many doctors refuse to handle Medicare, and Medicaid. And the problem is growing. Everyone in America is at risk when it comes to health coverage and the poor don't always get the best help. Try filling your prescription even if your are on Medicare or Medicaid because these new insurance companies that Bush has given free range don't include all medicines.
People have enough to worry about that their jobs are not shipped overseas.
Who would volunteer if they do not provide health coverage? That is too much to ask of people.
The whole system is too complicated and is like a maze.
Bush's federal funded volunteers for medicine(who are paid) and sponsored by the united way will only list one area on the website. If you call about a different area you want to know about coverage they will all feign ignorance. This is no solution it is part of the problem.
The only solution is a single payer system. Medicair for all, as proposed by Edward Kennedy and Dennis Kucinich. Why are the other Democratic candidates not getting behind this? Insurance lobbyists. Another illustration as to why total public financing of elections is essential for reform in all other areas. This is the litmus test for me. I'm not sure I can back a candidate who won't support single payer health care for all.
I have employer provided health insurance, and yet am stuck with high co-pays and deductibles on so many different things anymore. As I age, I find that I am increasingly needing more and more medical care and my medical expenses are crazy anymore. Between needed prescriptions, physical therapy, visits to the orthpaedic surgeon, X-rays, MRI's and other medical expenses, it's all I can do to keep up anymore.
So I guess you could count me among the now "underinsured", as my employer changed from a plan with low deductibles and low co-pays to a high co-pay, high deductible plan because the former one ended up with far higher premiums than my employer could afford to pay. The average age of our employees is around 45 and the good majority of us are in our 40's, 50's and 60's now. We're a very greying workplace and the end result is a population of people that are needing more medical care than we did when we were collectively younger.
We've had an awful lot of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other expensive medical problems among the staff in recent years that bumped our medical expenses to well over $1 million over our allowed spending cap two years in a row, so we had to dump our nice low co-pay, low deductible plan for a high co-pay, high deductible plan because its premiums are cheaper, but it puts more of the onus of paying for medical care on us, the employees, who don't make much money to begin with.
If you live in Ohio, please support the Single Payer Action Network of Ohio:
http://www.spanohio.org/
and write to your state lawmakers to endorse this as well. Also, support the bill being put forth by Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers, HR676, mentioned in commentary above, and call your legislators in Washington to support it as well.
We are the only industrial country in the world without universal health care. It's time for that to change. Oh, and one last note, and that's an urging for all of you to see Michael Moore's latest film, "SiCKO", when it comes out on June 29th. It's a plea to our country to wake up and provide universal health care to its citizens.
Health care is a right, not a privilege, and it's time for our country to treat it as such.
As an interesting side note, since the article references people residing in California, in many parts of California (though not JUST California) you need insurance to access many parts of PUBLIC health. This little tidbit right here plays very specifically into how I, a former well paid IT professional who just happened to get sick between jobs, managed to end up on SSDI. In case you're wondering how exactly, it's because having a disability determination from the Social Security Administration is typically necessary to get Medi-Cal if you don't have minor children and my illness required treatment by specialties that are only available to those WITH insurance - even through public health.
After California, we moved to Washington in hopes my husband would find work. Like California, many specialties of PUBLIC health require insurance. But the real problem was that Medicaid in some specialties here is so bad that I finally just told DSHS what to do with their Medicaid. Why? Because when my Medicare kicked in, many of the specialist Medicare docs (many of whom will now see me for whatever the fancy billing term is that means they take what Medicare pays and don't expect me to make my copays) absolutely would NOT take a patient who had any form of Medicaid. I'm finally getting surgery next month, that I've needed since July of 2005 - but couldn't get because of the Medicaid mess.
These are not the sorts of situations that civilized nations force upon their citizens.
"Meanwhile, Cindy wrestles with the idea of applying for public benefits.
"I wasn't raised to do that," she said. "It's almost embarrassing that you're not covered. There is this stereotype that you're an illegal alien sitting on your butt and not working.""
Just another way that the right wing scum of this country wishes to shame the poor people into not using public resources which will save their lives in the face of uncontrollable factors so that the rich will stay rich and everyone else will suffer endlessly and die off as soon as possible.
We have to stop this nightmare, we already spend the money needed to pay for a single payer universal health care system. Please help, get involved, participate, vote:
Healthcare-NOW and its National Network for Single Payer is planning 900 more events during the next 18 months. You can organize one of them in YOUR TOWN:
info@healthcare-now.org
www.healthcare-now.org
http://kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php
CALL CONGRESS Free 1-866-338-1015 Do it NOW!
www.citizensforhr676.org
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has reintroduced H.R. 676 in the new Democratically-controlled Congress. Over 200 unions from all over the US have now endorsed H.R. 676 and support is growing every day.
SEE THE CBS 60 MINUTES DOCUMENTARY EXPOSING THE DRUG COMPANIES and THEIR INFLUENCE IN CONGRESS.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2635796n
Check out the National Health Insurance Act (HR 676), sponsored by John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich and others: http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676_2.htm
Contact your representatives to ask them to support this legislation! Call the Capital switchboard toll-free:
1-800-839-5276.