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Your Shared Stories

My partner has cancer.  She’s 35 years old and been fighting cancer of one form or another for the last 5 years. In that time, she’s taken pains to maintain her insurance coverage and borrow substancially from family members and various lending institutions to pay her bills.

She’s been denied insurance coverage for necessary medical care on a number of occasions, due to "pre-existing condition". The first time this happened, she was receiving radiation therapy and in very poor physical, mental, and emotion condition. Still, she carried on, attempting to secure health insurance with another company.

The future looked bright; she found an insurance company that told her that she would only have to wait 6 months to regain coverage of a "pre-existing condition".. She told me sardonically that they were waiting for her to die.

She lived through the six month waiting period only to learn that her premiums were going up over 100%, and that she would have to wait an additional 6 months. She lost patience, and began shopping for another insurance company, which she subsequently found.

Unfortunately, they've similarly denied coverage on the basis of "pre-existing condition".

We live frugally, simply. We eat only organic foods. We don't eat red meat or consume alcohol, tobacco, or any other drugs. We're responsible people trying to do the right thing. I had to let my health insurance go earlier this year to help get by as we've been saddled with unforeseen medical bills. Her medical insurance coverage fails to deliver benefits, and I can't afford to buy medical coverage.

We love each other dearly, but realize that our predicament precludes out marriage for practical reasons.

What are we to do?

Health insurance? It hasn't helped us, though it's cost us a tremendous amount. What good is insurance if health care is denied for lack of coverage or inability to pay?

I'm desperate, Senator Murray. What are we to do?

Please think of us as you contemplate how to proceed with your health care strategy. Please consider how it is possible for health care and health insurance to work for the good of the common man. "First Do No Harm" should be the mantra for the entire health car industry to live by. Didn't it used to be?

It's about health care. Not insurance. Not profit. Not politics.

Please help.

David Smith

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Our son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 5 with a 50/50 chance of living to the age of 9. He died 3 years ago at the average CF age of nearly 33 after having a double lung transplant at the age of 24 and having 2 bouts of cancer, testicular and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

My husband and I were both teachers and chose to live in a manufactured home (to pay it off early) in case I would have to quit work to care for our son, not knowing the future road. We were blessed with good health insurance, but were unable to move closer to a CF center as new health insurance would not cover him due to a preexisting condition. Thus, we had to make the nearly 3 hour drive to the CF center in Albuquerque from our home on the Navajo Reservation for all his medical treatment and frequent hospitalizations. We were blessed for the excellent medical coverage, however, for which many are not and should be, especially when born with inherited or congenital diseases.

Prevention should be a huge focus. When I went to school, PE was required all 3 years of junior high and all 4 years of high school. Now, it is usually 1 semester in high school. I see many more elementary school children overweight. How do we balance the cost of medical care, that falls on the taxpayer, for all people even as they continue to choose unhealthy lifestyles ... smoking, drinking, overeating. Thank you for the work you do.”

Judy Allen, Moses Lake
Moses Lake, WA

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We have no insurance to prepare for the events which have taken place in our lives these last few years. My wife Kathleen has entered the emergency room at a local hospital with needed urgent care. We have been sent home without findings after a week on several occasions. This last month she has been admitted into the hospital 3 times. Her primary physician is refusing to help us based on non-payment as we are unable to meet the office visit costs. Now prescriptions on the other hand are a doubling expense due to the fact that again with the costs to see the doctor to prescribe and the cost of prescriptions we are not able to acquire the needed medications. Recently doctors and lab technicians finally diagnosed a contagious disease which required $1500 for a prescription for 15 days. She will most certainly be back since we will be unlikely to purchase the needed medication. The expense of the hospital stays and medical coverage is too expensive for a 1 income family to budget. If small businesses are unable to provide the insurance coverage where are we to turn?

Jon Van Sickel
Seattle, WA

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My wife lost the end of her middle finger. Ambulance took her to the emergency room. We never got a "room", only a bed in the hallway. Her finger was in a Styrofoam cup of ice on a little table next to the bed. During the looong wait for the doctor she asked me to help her to the bathroom, while gone they threw her finger in the garbage. I spoke up and an employee and I went to the garbage room and fished it out. The doctor came and together they decided to just stitch the stump rather than attempt to sew the finger back on. Remember we are still in the hallway so he asks someone to bring him some light. A worker brings a light-stand and sets it up over her hand as dust comes pouring down from it. I tell him, look dust is falling like crazy, the Doc says clean it. The doc sews the stump up.

Of course we are billed for an emergency room, not a hallway. We pay $12,000 per year for insurance with a $1,000 deductible. The MD said my wife would need physical therapy to shape the stump and learn to use it. $1,500 worth which insurance did not cover at all. My wife cut the therapy by 2/3rds because we could not afford it.

Dale Drogseth
Snohomish, WA

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My wife, being suspicious of a pain in her breast, went to the doctor to have it diagnosed. When a mammogram failed to show any abnormality she asked for an M.R.I. The doctor refused to order the test because our insurance would not cover it. We were told that M.R.I. screening was not reliable because it produced false positive results. My wife had asked for the test because her sister had found cancer in her breast the year before that didn't show up on a mammogram through an M.R.I. which she was able to get because her husband is a doctor.

The cancer in my wife's breast was finally found after three years of insisting by an M.R.I. scan. By then it had grown to 8 centimeters and required a full mastectomy. If the care would have been left to the doctors instead of the insurance company she would have had a minor lumpectomy like her sister and not lost her breast and had to suffer through six months of chemotherapy and eight weeks of radiation.

Mr. Joseph R. Labrum
Port Orchard, WA

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Even though I am fortunate to have insurance and a good job, my field of work is suffering many layoffs. With my diagnosis and ongoing treatment a layoff would devastate me and my family. A private insurance premium with a pre-existing condition like mine would be a great expense! I have what Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering. When I learned of his condition, I was about half way through my radiation treatment and I knew what he would be going through, I thought my heart would break! I know he would not want to see health care legislation inch along in congress with no real cohesive resolution.

This disease is thankfully not as common as some, but even with insurance I have to go through several doctors who all have a different administration on insurance acceptance, co-pays and timelines for any balance due. It took the phenominal work of my husband to advocate for me (he keeps records and files, all my MRIs and prescription orders in a briefcase), with this current system, I could not go through this on my own.

When any one of us suffers an illness it is unfortunate and the wounding doesn't stop there, it goes on through the process of health "care", if you even have insurance. With a catastrophic event like mine, emotional stability is often dependant on others. When it came time to start radiation, just walking under the sign that said "Cancer Institute" I realized "this is me", then I got to the reception desk and could not speak. My surgery was so near and involved with the speach center of my brain that when I'm confronted with something so emotional an instant mini siezure happens. This is life altering.

I watched the inauguration of President Obama with tears of joy, I had to take the morning off from work because I knew I'd be a teary mess! Please don't let us down on the work for health care reform that he wants to see done for us!

It is so necessary for health care to be a settling experience, one with thought and care, and at the same time it must be accessible for all. Please hug Senator Kennedy for me!

Sharon Alexander
Steilacoom, WA

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I had a daughter born with cerebral palsy and apnea. My insurance company was willing to pay to have an apnea monitor for her first 2 years of life. In the first 10 months we had the monitor, there were 22 alarms and I had to give her CPR twice. As the alarms became less frequent, the insurance company told my husband and I that most kids outgrew apnea by age 2 and insisted we give back the monitor. She died 2 months later- I found her in the morning and later found out the cost of the monitor was $18.00 a month.

In my opinion, insurance companies involved in health care have caused the biggest problem in America. For profit agencies are exactly that - For Profit, not for the health of their clients. You have my vote for any health care reform that takes the 'for profit groups' out of the equation.

Hope L Herron
Dupont, WA

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A 49 year old friend of mine died recently of colon cancer. He struggled nearly a year before he succumbed to the disease. In the process, he became nearly a half million dollars in debt. Although he an his long time love had contemplated marriage, this was now an impossibility in the last months of his life due to the huge debt he would have left her. Further, for almost three years, after being laid off at a bank, he became self-employed and had no healthcare. Dan would have gone to the doctor's sooner if he had had some sort of health insurance - afforable health insurance that is, but he refrained and ignored his symptoms mostly because he could not afford the doctor's bill. He was finally forced to go to the emergency room. He has stage four colon cancer. It he had gone sooner, he would probably be here today. Last, there is no one to pay his debt, which undoubtedly will passed on to the rest of us. Thank you.

Carrie Geiselman
Camas, WA

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I own a small business that offers health care to its' employees. Today I received my annual renewal and the rates jumped 25.4%!!

This is an astounding number ! No business, large or small can sustain price increases at this rate. I don't know what it takes to make the Senate and Legislature move but I would hope you all get on the ball and help America with this pressing problem.

It is no secret that we are in trouble here, we hired folks like you to solve difficult problems like this so, please, do better than your best. My business, my employees and my family are depending on you to come up with a good, fair and cost effective solution. Best regards.

Mark Peters

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I would like to add my story to your list. First I want to say that I am not asking for sympathy but to show how important medical insurance can be to a family.

First, my father was a juvinile diabetic. He lost his sight when I was 2 years of age. He went to bed being able to see and woke without any sight. Then when he was 38 years old (1958) , he passed away leaving my mother to raise 3 children and sole bread winner in the family. This ment she had to work so the family would have medical coverage. We were living on a famiily farm so my brothers and I were left to take care of the farm. Not an easy task for a working women in the 1950's and early 60's. She needed all of her paycheck for the family but the cost of medical was significant.to say the least.

Second, when I was 13 years of age, I had to have Scoliosis surgery. I was 10 days in the hospital in Seattle and 3 months in bed and unable to go to school. Thank goodness my grandmother came to live with us during that time. But, the medical payments and doctor visits kept my mother strapped for money.

Third, In 1973, I gave birth prematurely to my son. He was 3 months early and 3 months in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Washington ( the only one in the region at the time). His birth at 3 months early and caused him to develop Cerebral Palsy. Shortly after his stay at the Neonatal Center I received a call from the hospital billing department demanding a $500 deposit on my son. The strain of not knowing wheather he would live or die was difficult to say the least but to receive a call like this was devasting.

Mrs. Gail Burris
Shelton, WA

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My friend who lived in Washington State died in the Fall of 2008. It's unfortunate that a mother of a seven-year-old died of a condition that rarely kills because of modern medicine.

Here's what happened. She was laid off from work, which meant she lost her health insurance immediately. Within days of losing her job she got what she thought was the flu. One week turned into two. She waited because she could not afford to go to the doctor. But her condition got worse so she finally made an appointment.

The morning of the doctor's appointment she called the school to say her son would not be there. She was too ill to take him to the bus stop.

Later, the then six-year-old tried to wake her but she didn’t respond. Her boyfriend was at his first week of work at a new job (with the post office, which had no health benefits) and called at the end of the workday, 3:30 P.M. The boy answered the phone and he asked why he was not at school? He said, "Because Mommy was too sick to take me". The boyfriend said, "Take the phone to her so I can talk to her." The boy said, "I can't". The boyfriend said, "Now you go get your mother so I can talk to her." The boy went into the room and she was still unresponsive, kneeling by the bed with her head on the bed. The boy came back to the phone and was clearly distraught, realizing this the boyfriend said, "I'll be right there, I'm on my way".

The boyfriend called 911 to go to the home. Traffic was horrible and by the time he got to their home the authorities had already arrived. Kelly was dead. She had been dead since 10 A.M. She died of an ovarian cyst.

We have the ability to save people from all types of illness and diseases these days. Without insurance a person cannot afford to go. Many times with insurance, a person cannot afford to go to the doctor.

Why is it that people in places like Germany and England can afford health care and yet we can't control the costs?

Mrs. Kathleen Smith
Puyallup, WA

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My sister Janet had a wonderful sense of humor - quick wit and a wonderful smile. That ended after 13 months of treatment for throat cancer in 2005.

She moved into our house in 2004 after being diagnosed through a health clinic. Blood test were drawn and because she was unemployed and had no insurance she paid out of pocket only what she could. She was diagnosed with an ear infection, given some antibiotics and sent home. 2 weeks later she is back, her throat is swollen and she is still complaining of her ear hurting. Another payment out of pocket for both the Dr's appointment and a different round of antibiotics. For the next 2 weeks she is in tears eating soup because it hurts to swallow and I tell her that she needs to seek another opinion " go to an ear - nose and throat Dr"!.

She calls back and told her dr that she needs to see another specialist - she calls them to tell them that the side of her neck has a lump - can't eat and is in pain. She gets a number and calls - it's 6 weeks out before they can see her. She calls back in tears - I call the ENT office and tell them she needs the next available appointment and they can see her in 3 days - she just needs to get through the weekend. She can't afford to go the emergency room - she just paid off her husband medical emergency when he died from liver failure 18 months earlier. What savings they had was exhausted.

Finally the day comes - the ENT Dr is looking at her chart from the information that was sent to him from her clinic. Janet tells him that she thinks she needs her tonsils out. He looks at her and asks what is she talking about? She goes over the last 6 weeks and shows him the 3 bottle of antibiotic that she has gone through. He grabs the bottle and tosses it in the garbage - " I have yet to see that antibiotics cure cancer"! A hell of a way to find out you have cancer. It seems the clinic Dr didn't read the blood test that came back to show high level of white blood cells.

With in 2 weeks with stage 4 cancer - she had a feeding tube in her - moved into my house where I could take her to appointments for chemo and radiation and emergency room visits.

Time after time we heard stories from others while going through Chemo & radiation of not being able to afford nausea medication to keep food down after treatment . Some insurances do not cover or reduce the amount that "they believe" that patients need, limiting them to 24-48 hours of medications. Dr's work behind the scenes with drug companies to handout samples to help those that need the help.

If Janet would have had medical insurance she would have been able to see the Dr sooner - would have been able to get quality healthcare with fearing that her rent and utilities would not have been shut off.

For millions of US citizens like Janet quicker treatment could have saved her life, June 28th would have been her 51st Birthday - let's celebrate her life with National Healthcare for us. Thank you.

Rita Johnson
Seattle, WA

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Twenty-one years ago my husband died from complications of diabetes. I had lost my job, and therefore our health insurance [he was self-employed]. We had been married for 16 years, and decided, after searching and being turned down by every insurer we contacted, that we would get divorced and live together, so that he could receive care if needed. Unfortunately, he died before we could go through with it [and why should that have been our only option?], and I nearly lost our house. I was a widowed single mom [our daughter was 11 years old] and was hounded by medical bills incurred by my husband's death.

Somebody please explain to me just what "health insurance" is and why I need it. Why can't the money I pay for premiums be applied directly to care? Why is insurance bureaucracy better than government bureaucracy? Why can't my taxes support healthcare for all, just as they support public schools and highways?

Ms. Barbara Chandler-Young
Bainbridge Island

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Thank you for reaching out to the constituency for first-hand experiences. I find the current administration’s community service approach to be a glimpse of what government “by the people, for the people” can be. In fact, I have selected a volunteer task on “Serve.gov” to perform.

Throughout my own personal history, medical care has been, for the most part, merely a concept. Children of a single mother, care has never been proactive, but always reactive.

Even as a single itinerant Guardsman, I have elected to use the VA system versus other options available to me. I am disillusioned by a health care service that had me agonizing for two hours in a waiting room to find that I was suffering from a kidney stone. Or waiting nearly half-an-hour in that same waiting room while my hand gushed blood from a work-related accident, the dressings needing to be changed every two minutes while a hospital worker followed me to wipe up the blood.

The nail of my right index finger has separated from the nail bed owing to the long-term interruption of blood flow.

I am aware that the facility that I was treated in was one of two trauma centers in our state and is a military medical center.

Charles Ames
Lakewood