Family Faces Foreclosure As Health Costs Crush Them

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 05 Nov 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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"We have refinanced our home six times in order to pay our medical costs amounting to more than $80,000 over the last few years," explained Deborah Krinsky of Magalia, Calif. "We have had seven different paltry health plans in eight years through my husband's job. Between my husband, my daughter, and myself, we must buy 15 different medications.

"Since 2000, we have been spending up to $12,000 per year in medical expenses. I am unable to work due to my ankles collapsing in 2000 after the birth of my second child. I have had six surgeries on my feet in the last eight years. I filed for Social Security and got turned away three times because I wasn't disabled enough, and my husband Keith makes too much money. Each surgery required complete bed rest and non-weight bearing for at least three to six months. I am still under doctor's care.

"In this same time frame our youngest daughter and my husband had asthma attacks which required missing work and school. My husband finally got a new job that has good health insurance but at a $30,000 a year pay cut. We are uninsurable on our own due to the nature of our health problems.

"Keith's employer went to a Health Savings Account though Blue Cross. We have a $7,500 deductible which includes our medications. After calling every pharmacy in our area, it is going to cost $1,700 per month if we buy all of our medications. We wrote the drug companies asking for help.

"With all these expenses, we have put off having other life saving tests. In March 2008 I turned 46. I had a mammogram for the first time ever and paid $1,200 out of pocket. They found lumps that need to be monitored every six months. I found a clinic to do this service, but it only pays for a mammogram to be done once a year.

"Last month we missed our first house payment. We don't want to lose our home on top of the other stresses that our family has to deal with.

"We want to stay in our home-it was built it with our own two hands."

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Sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

Eighty-two percent of Americans think the U.S. healthcare system should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt (Commonwealth Fund, Aug. 7, 2008). America's nurses know that only single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare for all will fix our broken system and the tragedy of our devastated families. HR 676, by U.S. Rep John Conyers, is the most comprehensive, cost effective way to achieve guaranteed healthcare for all.

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