About 100,000 people in NH are without health insurance.
As part of NHPR’s Project Health, our ongoing coverage of health care in the Granite State, we spent some time with one couple that faces this problem.
Like most families that lack insurance, one person in the household has a full time job.
While work is good to have, the income from that job puts this family in the gray zone of health care.
Their wages are barely enough to meet their immediate needs, but too high for them to qualify for government help.
NHPR’s Jon Greenberg reports
Meet Jessica and Adam Brightman. Both 21. Parents of a one-year-old boy. Temporary residents of Hampton Beach. And frequent visitors to Walmart.
Cut: I swear, Adam wants to kill me because my 1-year-old son says Walmart./ Every day “I want to go to Walmart. I want to go to Walmart.” // I like to walk around, even if we have no money, like I say, if I’m in the house all day, it gives me something to do and I love that store.”
Jessica says she goes to Walmart 3 to 4 times a week. And the funny thing is, except it isn’t funny at all, is that they really can’t afford to buy much. Adam works on cars at Jiffy Lube. 80% of his wages go to rent. They have no permanent home. In the past 18 months, they’ve moved 11 times. Before this, they were in Derry, before that Manchester and before that, Lawrence, Massachusetts. Which is where Jessica learned she had MS, multiple sclerosis.
Cut: I went blind in my right eye one day. Ignored it, ignored it. He thought I was lying. I tried washing out my eye with soap. I tried putting drops in my eyes. And my father took my son, sat him on his lap and said “Imagine waking up some day and being blind in both eyes and not being able to see him grow.” And that was my motivation. I went right to the hospital.
Tests at the hospital showed lesions on her brain. With the help of a Massachusetts health insurance program, she began taking weekly shots of a drug to control the disease. The drug costs $1,000 a month.
Cut: .. the computer won’t let them take that into consideration.”
The big question for Jessica is where can she turn for help. Adam will soon be eligible for health insurance through Jiffy Lube but the details on that are sketchy. The company refused to say how much Adam will need to pay to cover his family and even if he has enough money, it is unclear that insurance will pay for the drugs to keep Jessica’s disease in check. Her MS is a pre-existing condition and since she has no insurance now, it is possible that the Jiffy Lube plan would deny her coverage. Efforts to get more details from Jiffy Lube on these points failed.
At this moment, Jessica faces a labyrinth of special programs. If it turns out her condition is bad enough, she might qualify for Social Security. The maker of the drug she needs has a charitable program and she has applied for help. A counselor at Families First, a seacoast health clinic, is helping Jessica look into these possibilities.
Of course, there is the question of whether Jessica and Adam might get help from either of their parents. But that help seems limited.
Cut .. wash their hands of me if I married him.”
I asked Jessica if I could speak to her mother. She said no; that her mother is doing all she can. I asked if her mother knew about her situation. She said yes. Adam said there was no chance that his family could do anything.
There are only so many places anyone can turn to for help with health care, particularly for a chronic disease. If the private sector option falls short, and the family resources are thin, that leaves only the public sector. I wanted to know what Adam and Jessica thought about government aid. I read them a comment posted on our web site. A man had written that the state should cut back on health programs. He said the people who need the help should pay more of the costs.
Adam and Jessica agreed – up to a point.
Cut: “… just don’t care and just take a free ride.”
Even with health insurance, it would be hard enough for anyone to deal with MS. Even with health insurance it would be hard enough to deal with having a low-wage job in a high-rent region. But without health insurance, it is almost overwhelming.
Cut : .. and I ain’t about to do that.
Adam and Jessica Brightman. 21 years old. One child. After May 6th, no place to live. And no health insurance.
For NHPR, I’m Jon Greenberg
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