MEDICAID EXPANSION: A hand up, not a handout

This is in response to the My Turn guest opinion by Anne Patterson on Friday, April 12. Her opinion was that we don’t need to expand Medicaid for there is money out there for people to use to get proper health care. She and her family were able to get along over 40 years without any insurance, so why couldn’t everyone else? Mrs. Patterson, I am so glad you made it through raising your children without too many doctor bills but that is not always the case for many, many people. May I tell you my story?

In 2010 my husband and I were living just over the line in Bonner County, but we both worked in Kootenai County. My husband’s job was not going well but at least he was still working. I was working part time and neither of us had any benefits including health care. We went to work every day for a pay check and that was it…but at least we had work.

One morning in July I fell ill at work. I had severe chest pain and they thought I was having a heart attack. An ambulance was called and I was taken to the hospital. That trip alone cost us $850.00 to be taken from Hayden to Kootenai Medical Center. On the trip they gave me four baby aspirin that cost $7.00 each. They attempted to start an I.V. but were unable to get it in; however, the cost of the I.V. starter packs were on the bill. I don’t remember too much about what happened after I got to the hospital except the pain. After all the tests were done, including a CAT scan, ultrasound, ECG, etc. they determined that my gallbladder needed to come out and soon, so they took me to the O.R. To make a long story short, I was in the hospital for three days. The doctor said that if I had not had surgery when I did I probably would have died.

About two or three weeks later I got a bill from the hospital and for the ambulance. The total came to about $40,000. The day after I was discharged from the hospital my husband lost his job as the company he worked for went out of business.

While at Kootenai Medical I was told about applying for aid from the county, but since I lived in Bonner County, I would have to apply there. We did this, but after filling out all the paperwork they told us that “My husband could get a job.” The fact that he was applying for work every day didn’t impress them. So we were left with a large healthcare bill and no way to pay it. Because my paycheck only covered the mortgage, we couldn’t pay other bills and so in the end, we lost our home. Fortunately for us, we owned an old mobile home in Kootenai County, so we were able to move back into the trailer park were we still are. We were lucky we had a place to go, but if we didn’t have the mobile home, we would have been homeless.

Though we cut corners every place we could, we just could not pay the medical bills in the timely way the hospital requested. We had no internet, so almost every day my husband went to the library to apply for work. We only had one phone and that was an inexpensive flip-top for which we purchased time. Neither did we have cable television. Eating out was a luxury we could not afford. In the end, we had to file bankruptcy. We didn’t want to do that, but we had no choice.

There seems to be an idea floating around that everyone who gets Medicaid is lazy and won’t work. That is not true. Most people want to work and do work, but there are not always benefits. My husband was out of work for more than a year and after applying to one place three times he was hired part time…but again, no benefits.

Mrs. Patterson, you said that “Kootenai Health has a similar option” to the county assistance but Just about two years ago I woke up in the night with a racing heart. I ended up in the Emergency Room for about two hours. I received a bill from them for about $4,000. I used their “option” but it didn’t pay my whole bill. It did cut it in half (for which we are very grateful) but then we were responsible for the rest. I offered to pay them so much per month but it wasn’t enough for their requirements so I had to get a credit card just to pay the hospital bill. Now we have more debt and we are struggling. As you said, healthcare is available to everyone. That is true, but the hospitals and doctors deserved to be paid and many people just don’t have the money. And, in the end, does it really matter who collected all the signatures? Are you questioning the validity of the signatures? They WERE collected and more than 60% of the voters voted it in. Many people in this area just need help. Not all the time but once in a while. They are not looking for a hand-out but sometimes they just need a hand-up.