Voice of the People: Harold near Warsaw, IN

Gruff but friendly, and with a face that oozed sincerity, Harold answered, “The insurance—80/20, but my wife is totally disabled so she’s on the Medicaid … and I got a $5,000 deductible! Every year, it just tears me up. We get good care over there at Lutheran in Ft. Wayne but it’s outrageous. When the doctor gives a regular prescription—not the generic stuff, and the pharmacist automatically gives you the generic, makes you sick and then you have to go back to the doctor to get the right stuff to send to the pharmacist, that don’t make no sense.” I asked Harold if he had any choice of coverage or if this was the only insurance offered.

“There’s no choice,” he told me.

Indeed …

Voice of the People: Krystal in Warsaw, IN

Meeting Krystal in front of the Courthouse on Center Street, I explained my walk, its purpose. Krystal asked how many pairs of shoes I have and so I showed her the extra pair strapped in a bag to my backpack and told her of the several more in the luggage at the hotel. And we that, we began talking about healthcare. “Insurance rates are sky high,” she told me, lamented further that, “like I was talking with my doctor, you almost have to call the insurance companies to get the approval for what drugs you can prescribe—insurance companies are driving the show … they give the discounts or I think they’re in the cahoots with some of the drug companies. They say ‘Oh, we’re having a special on Lipitor' and so they push Lipitor.” We talked about the pharmaceutical companies and that drug costs just seemed to be too high.