National Nurses United

Nurse Patients:1 3/17/08 10:13 AM Page 15 NoImmunity from Insurance Companies TOM ROONEY, RN Princeton, New Jersey "i work in a hospital but can't even use the best doctors there. "I have insurance through my employer, a large teaching hospital in central New Jersey. Having been a registered nurse for nearly 30 years I now have lumbar spine degeneration caused by all the lifting and no equipment to help. "There are a number of surgeons at the hospital where I work who could do the surgery I need, but the best surgeon does not take my hospital-provided insurance. If I were to use this surgeon, my employer would hit me with huge financial penalties. Even though I am a healthcare professional, I cannot choose the surgeon I feel is the most experienced and in whom I would have the most confidence. My employer forces me, through financial penalties, to use their facility but has been unable to persuade some of their own best surgeons to accept the hospital's health plan." SUSAN SIENS Unity, Maine " in 20 0 2, a d riv er making a left turn drove his truck into our truck. I received poor ER treatment, followed by poor care from my primary care physician, and ended up, 11 days later, in another ER with a partial bowel obstruction. My surgeon, who had saved my life six years earlier (I am still paying $24,000 in hospital bills), felt a hernia repair was necessary. I had surgery in April 2002, but was extremely unwell afterwards, and it became clear I was full of infection. "In September 2002, most of the hernia repair mesh was removed, and I spent six days on IV antibiotic for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, after 10 weeks on various combinations of oral antibiotics. A year later, fistulas MARCH 2008 (openings to the outside from abscesses within) opened on my abdomen. I had no health insurance, and have tried many alternative therapies, but four years later, I still have two draining fistulas. "My husband is now an RN, works for a hospital, and we have health insurance, kinda. We now pay $2,000 a year for the privilege of having 'health insurance' with a huge deductible and a maximum charge of $8,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. I am scheduled to see a surgeon in March, but the costs of treatment will add to the debt we incurred for my husband's schooling and living expenses. I am unemployed because I am not well enough to work. I should add that I am 54 years old and my husband is 56 years old." ANTHONY PAZOS Mesa, Arizona "after 20 years of helping patients, my wife, who is an occupational therapist in psychiatry herself, became ill with agitated depression. My 16-year-old daughter and I are her caregivers going on four years. While in Ohio, where she worked, she became totally disabled, lost 30 pounds, would not get out of bed, had ADLs in the negative, and our health insurance company, to whom we paid $400 a month for over six years, sent us a list of psychiatrists for my wife to see. "After calling 18 of them we gave up. None of them would accept patients by this company due to poor payment. Guess who the company is? They start with a 'b' and end with an 's.' Now after paying over $50,000 to this same company for 10 years and never getting sick, when we needed their help we could not get it. "The only doctor we could get was 80 years old and booked for three months so we ended up in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in a W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G state access program and dumped the health insurance company. Now we take the $400 and save it for our daughter's college. My wife is on Medicare. My daughter has insurance at $125 a month and I have none. I am 56 in great health and also a health professional. I can only imagine what it is like for people with no health knowledge." CHARLI MOORE Sacramento, California "the same week that I became a permanent hire at a vascular surgeon's office, we lost our group health insurance. This is a small office, and the other two people I work with are covered by spouses or veterans' benefits. The doctor himself covers only his family and himself. He claims he cannot afford to insure just me. I am unable to afford to see my own doctor on a regular basis for hypertension. When I have the money, I can see him and pay cash. He gives me my medications free (from office samples). When they run out, and I can't afford to keep my next appointment, I just do without. Therefore, I try to manage my own health with exercise, healthy eating habits, etc. "I tried to obtain Medi-Cal, but they said: Yes, you are sick enough but not disabled enough. I'm certainly poor enough to go to the county clinic, so that is my next best hope. Since I work full time, it is difficult to get over to the county clinic for help. I got my mammogram free this year through a Planned Parenthood referral. I am praying that I just have a stroke from the hypertension, then I would be automatically enrolled in the Sacramento County program for the medically indigent. What a great way to go out—working for a vascular surgeon, I could have a CVA [cerebral vascular accident] right here in the office, and the hospital is next door." I REGISTERED NURSE 15

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