Health Care Story of the Week - 9/2/09

Ann B., though sick, is full of life. Ann wants to live for her son, to see him go to college. She lives in Memphis with her husband and 18 year-old. Her husband is a military veteran and receives his health care through the VA, and her son, who will graduate high school this year, is on TennCare. These programs help her husband, who is 67 years old, nearly blind, on oxygen, and barely able to walk and her healthy son get the medical care they need. Ann, however, was recently cut from TennCare due to a change in the program’s eligibility categories. TennCare sent a list of private companies from which Ann could purchase insurance. She called them all, and the lowest monthly premium was $600, almost 30% of the family’s monthly income, and much more than they can afford.

Ann relies on about 15 medications daily, as well as regular lab visits and doctor’s appointments to stay healthy enough to care for her son, husband, and herself. She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, and without a chemotherapy medicine and regular lab checks, she would not be able to bathe, brush her teeth, cook, write, or drive. With the medication, she can do all of these things. Ann also has thyroid disease, congestive heart failure, blood clots, anemia, and other serious conditions, all of which require medicines and ongoing medical treatment.

She’s 62 years old – too young for Medicare – and she cannot get onto the Medicare program through a disability determination because she stopped working due to illness one quarter too early to qualify. Ann is calling prescription assistance programs, calling her elected officials, and telling her story to the media in hopes that someone will help her get her medicines and afford the doctor’s visits. But, Ann feels hopeless, as if there is no help to be found. She says that losing her TennCare is like a “sentence to die.”

Right now, Ann is completely out of her chemo pills and is already foregoing care. The household relies entirely on the fixed retirement income of less than $25,000 per year. After paying their house note, utilities, and gas, there’s virtually nothing left. They applied for Food Stamps, but were a few dollars over the limit. Ann knows from previous experience what it feels like to choose between food and medicines. She said that “when your stomach is grumbling, you’ll always choose the peanut butter sandwich over a pill.”

Ann is one of the thousands of Tennesseans who have fallen into the cracks in the health care system. She warns others, “don’t get sick like me,” for there may be little help to be found. For now, Ann looks for help wherever she can, and wonders why the richest country on earth continues to leave behind its own citizens.