Inadequate Coverage Stories:

The Elusive Insurance Card

Diagnosed with cancer, Kairol saw firsthand how difficult it could be to retain affordable health coverage

Chasing the Clock

An Illinois couple searches to find the perfect health insurance match

The Struggle for Early Detection

An uninsured woman faces the frightening possilbility of breast cancer

Alice Byrne
Removing the stigma surrounding mental illness is a prerequisite to achieving much needed reforms in the services for the mentally ill.

Not so Safe in the Middle Class
You wouldn’t expect the Blumbergs to have insurance problems. They do.

Second Class Health Care
Connie Sue believes that she was given substandard care because of her HMO’s cap on referrals.

Walking on Egg Shells
One woman deals with the anxiety of being underinsured until she can qualify for Medicare.

Small Business Owner Struggles With Health Care Costs
Doug hopes it doesn’t come down to choosing between his business and his insurance.

The Tail Wagging the Dog
Insurance companies are increasingly constraining the choices available to doctors and their patients.

Problems of the Underinsured
Despite the fact that Gerard Broeker and his family are insured, they are drowning in medical expenses.

Good Shopping Skills Don’t Apply
With pre-existing conditions, health care options remain slim to none.

Available But Not Accessible
Patients on Public Aid Face Discrimination

Getting Health Care Abroad
An uninsured mother opts to deliver her baby in another country to avoid untoward debt.

Caps and Restrictions on Mental Health Care: Costly and Confusing
An insured family experiences the gaps in mental health coverage, as they try to find treatment for their daughter.

Maureen Craig
Mental health benefits can vary widely, limiting employment opportunities for those with pre-existing conditions such as clinical depression.

High Risk Equals High Price, But Who Can Afford It?
Maureen fears ICHIP may not be an option much longer.

South Side Worker Getting "Dumped On"

A south side worker is stuck with a $70,000 hospital bill because his employers left him without insurance while they transitioned to a different carrier.

An Overlooked Discrimination
A mother speaks out about the need to increase Mental Health Parity Law.

Medicaid Reimbursement Rates
No clinic would accept Sylvia’s medical card, a topic addressed by the Adequate Health Care Task Force.

Why Are Those On Disability Denied Coverage?
William has Medicare but is denied supplemental insurance, fearing someday he will no longer be financially independent.

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Not So Safe in the Middle Class

You wouldn't expect the Bloombergs to have insurance problems, but they do!

Dr. Sherry Blumberg, 60, and her husband are an average upper middle class couple. She’s a professor and he’s an attorney. Because Mr. Blumberg is self-employed, the couple relies on Sherry’s employer-based insurance for their coverage. Like the average American, Sherry has changed jobs several times in her life. And like most Americans she has found out the hard way that job change forces one into a period of limbo with health care.

Until 2004, Sherry worked for a Milwaukee congregation. When her contract was not renewed that year, she decided to purchase COBRA insurance, a temporary extension of her previous health plan. The convenience of keeping continuous coverage, however, was offset by COBRA’s outrageous premiums. For the Blumbergs, that meant paying over $2,000 a month! In the meantime, Sherry found temporary work teaching three classes at local colleges, positions that she maintains to this day.

When Sherry finally secured stable employment, it required a commute to Illinois as well as a six-month wait before her new health benefits kicked in. For 9 months, then, she and her husband dipped into their savings at a rate of over $1,000 per month to pay for health care. And since she now works for a smaller congregation, the new insurance covers less: the deductible is higher, and the co-pays and medications for generic drugs are doubled. For the couple, the cost of medication alone is $300 per month.

“We are people that have to have health care. I had a major massive blood clot and cancer in the past and realize now that we would have been completely bankrupt if I didn’t have insurance.” Fortunately in the past two or three years the couples has been very healthy. They exercise and eat right but were they to have some health issues, she says, “We’re lucky we have savings.”

Since health care is so closely tied to employment, most of us will have to worry about potential lapses in coverage and the financial penalties that accompany them. And if job change is average, is there such a thing as stability for anyone when it comes to health care coverage over the course of a lifetime? Recently Governor Blagojevich announced that as part of his health care proposal, individuals without access to employer-sponsored insurance would be able to purchase Illinois Covered Choice, a quality health plan offered through the state. Because this is a single, large group pool it spreads out risk, thereby offering lower health care premiums than could be purchased in the individual market. Please call your legislators and let them know that you support this push towards affordable, accessible health care for all Illinois residents.