That’s what my doctor’s receptionist, Claudia, told me when I arrived for an office visit this morning. Claudia works, on average, 61 hours a week between her job as a part time assistant at my doctor’s office and her evening position with our local hospital.
This is not breaking news, just another story to pile onto the table regarding a need for support of HR 676.
When I asked her what she did when she got sick, she laughed and said, "Dr X – will treat me when I get sick for free, usually giving me enough samples because I can’t afford to pay for the medications. Claudia is in her early sixties, and has worked over forty hours a week for the past 50 years. She had health care 12 years ago when she worked full time at a local hospital, but her job was put back to thirty hours a week, mainly so they wouldn’t have to pay benefits, and then was cut entirely.
(Picture of Claudia taken with permission )
Claudia spends every day haggling with insurance companies, and she knows the ins and outs of a system that has failed her and many of those who come through her office. She knows that even one major illness could bankrupt her, so she is extra careful in trying to stay well.
"People come in here, begging for some at home alternative because they can’t afford to go to the hospital, even when they have insurance. I had to go into the hospital for pneumonia and I’m still paying the bill six years later. I was there for five days and the total cost was $9,800. That’s more than what I paid for my car."
She doesn’t blame her main employer, Doctor X, who can barely afford to pay her salary let alone what it would cost to cover her health insurance. Under HR 676, the average costs to employers for an employee making $30,000 per year will be reduced to $1,155 per year; less than $100 per month.
When I asked my doctor about Claudia’s situation, she told me that she was hoping for an affordable plan that would allow her to expand coverage to Claudia and herself. Yep, you heard it right. My doctor gets her skimpy insurance through her husband's plan because at cost it would be too much.
Dr. X backs President Obama’s plans for Health Care and states that, "It’s a frightening thing to combine business with medicine. I’ve scraped together boxes and boxes of samples for patients I know can’t afford their prescriptions. A lot of small family doctors are swapping samples with each other to give to their patients in need. I have an excel chart of my patients without prescription coverage as do a few of my friends and we hoard samples of those meds to give to them. It’s a terrible feeling to have your hands tied when you want to treat a patient the best way that you can, but their insurance puts limitations on it because of costs."
I won't give my doctor's name because I'm certain what she and a small group of rogue doctors here are doing isn't entirely legal, but it's honorable nonetheless and I applaud her and others like her who are saving lives any way they can.
I understand this completely, because my husband owns a small business and to cover our young family of four, non-smoking individuals the cost is a staggering $1,800 a month. It’s only slightly less than our mortgage, and if we had the choice between our home and health care we’d quickly become a statistic.
We also talked a little bit about another issue she's seen quite a bit of.
So many people are 'covered' but the exceptions to this coverage leaves them with hardly anything.
Claudia tells me, "Insurance' as a lot of people know it isn't worth the card they print the numbers on." Get more info here at: Guaranteed HealthCare