Joe won’t be one of them.
 |
| Even the dog can get insurance |
Joe,
61, is homeless, so he isn’t eligible for any health coverage. Joe, unemployed,
would have been eligible for Medicaid under the new law, but the McDonnell
administration chose not to expand Medicaid in Virginia.
Joe
suffers from depression, mild schizophrenia and anxiety attacks that are so
powerful his chest and back muscles constrict, and he’s afraid he’s having a
heart attack.
But
his options are few.
To
see a doctor at a public health clinic, he has to set up an appointment.
Charities, on the other hand, don’t have the resources to treat him.
So
he ends up at the emergency room at a local hospital. He’s examined, given two
weeks worth of prescription drugs and discharged after 24-hours.
“I
can’t pay these bills,” he said. “Do they think I can pay? What is the matter
with them?”
Joe
is eligible for charity care at the local hospitals. But the physicians who
treat him have a choice: opt in to the charity care or reduce his bill and
charge him.
The
doctors who have treated him refuse to join the charity care bandwagon.
“I
called them,” he said. “You know what they told me. They told me they would
reduce my bill and send it to a collections agency. I can’t pay nothing, and
they gonna send a debt collector after me.”
Joe
has been unemployed for two years. He trolls the Internet for jobs every day.
He
shifts from shelter to shelter. Sometimes he walks to a library or he takes a
bus, which could take two hours.
On
a cool, fall morning, Joe woke at 4am, took a shower at the shelter where he
was staying and walked to the bus stop.
He
had a job interview that morning at 9am. He waited an hour for the bus.
He
figured he had time to get to the interview, which was 20-miles from the
shelter.
But
he missed the interview.
His
connection was late, so he arrived at the interview 30-minutes after his
appointment.
He
never got the job.
Joe’s
story isn’t unique. He and hundreds of other homeless men, unreported and down
at the bottom, are faced with the same daily situation.
“People and families with income between 100%-400% of the
federal poverty line will be able to get private insurance from the new Health
Insurance Marketplace and will qualify for federal subsidies to reduce the cost
of health insurance premiums,” said Jill Hanken, health attorney with the
Virginia Poverty Law Center.
“Without
a Medicaid expansion, an estimated 300,000 lower-income Virginians -- with
income under 100 percent federal poverty line and not eligible for current
Medicaid -- will remain uninsured and will have to rely on safety net clinics
and hospitals for needed health care.
“Virginia's failure to fully implement the Affordable Care Act has hurt
our citizens,” said Sandra Cook, chairperson of Virginia Organizing, an
advocacy group based in Richmond.
“ Medicaid expansion would cover about 400,000 uninsured, low-income,
working Virginians, but the state has delayed the implementation of that
program.”
The federal government is running the health insurance market place, but
Virginia has not designated enough funds for navigators: organizations to
assist uninsured people with finding information and applying for health insurance,
Cook said.
“Over 1 million people are uninsured in Virginia, and instead of working
quickly and tirelessly to make sure all Virginians can access insurance, our
elected officials have chosen to focus on the political aspects of the law
instead of the very real, tangible benefits to those without insurance and our
economy,” Cook said.
Editors note: Joe is a fictional character. But he is the
Everyman, a composite of several homeless men I have encountered during the
past year.
Healthcare Information
For
more information or to register, emailmarketplace@hrchc.org
For information about times and
locations, call 757.627.6847
Find information through
navigators with Enroll Virginia: 1.888.392.5132, www.enroll-virginia.com
Virginia
portal for the federal health insurance marketplace: 1.800.318.2596, www.healthcare.gov
This law covers private insurers? How can they dictate what procedures a private insurer is allowed to cover?
ReplyDeleteinsurance law.