Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Val in Plymouth, Indiana
Val in Plymouth, Indiana
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare
Val is 58. She told me, “My husband and I have worked all our lives, had insurance all our lives and we were both laid off in November. We’re looking for jobs and have had this is the first time we've had no health insurance." She looked at me with unbelieving eyes. "We're hard-working people, too young for Medicare. We just don’t know what we’ll do.”
Keith in Plymouth, Indiana
Keith in Plymouth, Indiana
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare
A few years back he lost his job at the yoghurt factory in town. This provided health insurance but now as an owner of a three taxi cab small business, he doesn’t have health insurance. He has significant heart disease and has had six heart attacks, the first one at age 32. For this he’s gotten seven stents (a device placed in the coronary arteries that keeps them open). The first two were covered by insurance but since then he’s racked up $56,000 in bills which he has paid down to $12,000.
[Interpretative note: I know a bit about stents and I was surprised to hear he had so many. But he did tell me that they continually get blocked up and he takes Plavix—a form of ‘blood thinner’—to prevent further blockage. I didn’t ask him but perhaps he has the less-expensive, bare-metal stents as compared to the much more expensive drug-eluting stents which are designed to reduce the possibility of blockage, or restenosis. While only speculative, I would not be surprised if bare metal stents were to be preferentially used for patients without insurance. Unfortunately that might mean less cost per operation but it typically results in more operations, ending up in even greater cost.]
Jay in Plymouth, Indiana
Jay in Plymouth, Indiana
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare
Jay is the manager of the Days Inn in Plymouth. He told me the story of his uncle (a U.S. citizen by the way) who had a heart attack and required a triple bypass operation. “He didn’t have insurance, though and the operation would cost about $118,000.” There was no way that he could pay that money—the money that would save (or at least extend) his life. And so he ended up having the operation in India which, with airfare, cost about $35,000. Jay shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense how America can’t take care of Americans”
Ginny in Plymouth, Indiana: At the Walgreen's where I got her story and bought seven tubes of Neosporin for my feet
Ginny in Plymouth, Indiana: At the Walgreen's where I got her story and bought seven tubes of Neosporin for my feet
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare
Ginny lost work and took early retirement at 62 but, she told me, “The bad thing about that is that there’s no health insurance.” I nodded. “I make too much for the Indiana health care program, but not enough to pay for medial insurance. It costs at least $300 a month. I’ve got diabetes and high blood pressure and five grandchildren that live with me. My daughter is legally blind so if something happens to me, I don’t know what will happen, who will care for, the children.” Perhaps that explains why I look pretty grim in the picture. I'm inspired, and humbled, by the bravery of regular, hardworking Americans..
Mike in Plymouth, Indiana
Me & Mike in Plymouth, Indiana
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare
Mike’s the fiancé of the front desk attendant. He doesn’t have insurance having recently lost his job. “I still owe a bunch of doctor’s bills,” he told me. “I broke my hand and right now its better but I owe $12,000.”
