Kate at the Holiday Inn where I had dinner at the bar, hard-working but with insurance woes ... like so many.

Kate at the Holiday Inn where I had dinner at the bar, hard-working but with insurance woes ... like so many.
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare

Kate’s insurance costs her $200/month. She threw her hands up and exclaimed, “That’s a car payment!” She looked me in the eye and continued. “So, I'm 55 and no business not having insurance but I can't afford it.” She told me about her carpal tunnel syndrome, that she had had a mild stroke and a nagging rotator cuff injury. For the rotator cuff, she can’t afford the MRI. “Actually,” she added, “HCAP, a state program, can take care of the actual MRI but not the reading.” “So,” she said with a sigh, “I can’t afford it.”

Her husband doesn’t have health insurance either. “He’s got two bulging discs in his spine but can't do anything about it. So he can't work and spends the day reclining on the couch.”