Few options for the uninsured to get health care
April 10, 2008
STRASBURG – What the Brigham family does have is each other, even though they have lost a lot.
"It was our dream home. It was going to be our retirement," said Jay Brigham.
The lender foreclosed on the home they designed and built after the family went bankrupt.
Their money problems started after Jay Brigham woke up one morning with chest pains.
"Sure enough, I was having a pretty major heart attack," he said.
The $120,000 in hospital bills came while Jay and Marianne Brigham were working for themselves in construction. They didn't buy health insurance because business was down and health insurance costs were way up.
"Anywhere from $500 to $800 a month, minimum," said Marianne.
Five years later, the Brighams are still uninsured because they haven't been able to find jobs that offer health coverage. Because of their age and pre-existing conditions, insurance companies rejected their applications. Even through a state program for hard-to-insure people, they were told coverage would cost more than $1,000 a month.
They are not old enough for Medicare and not poor, pregnant or disabled enough for Medicaid.
They are among 800,000 Coloradans living without health insurance.
"Now, I'm supposed to be on four to five medications. Again, we can't afford to go to the doctor to get the medication," said Marianne.
There are places they can get some help: clinics that offer primary care for a fraction of what it costs at a private doctor's office, but they are swamped.
"That phone line gets 8,000 calls a month of people trying to get in and we can easily get in between 1,000 and 2,000 patients a month," said Dr. Barry Martin with the Metro Community Provider Network (MCPN).
Martin oversees 14 MCPN clinics. He says they help as many as they can, but when illnesses require specialized care or surgery, there is not much they can do.
"We've had patients with what we thought were curable cancers, like cancer of the throat, and we thought this is something that could be cured with surgery or treatment, but we've had no way of getting that done," said Martin.
Most hospitals don't offer free surgery and emergency rooms are only required to treat people who might not survive the night.
References : http://www.9news.com/ |
