Medical costs put families on edge
David Lazarus
"Consumer Confidential" column
Los Angeles Times
Healthcare has been much on my mind in recent days as I take my first steps down the lifelong path of dealing with a chronic disease. As I wrote last Sunday, I've been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and now rely on five insulin injections daily.
While deeply grateful for all the resources available to me as I learn to manage my condition, I also can't help but fear the possibility of my family being wiped out financially should I ever lose my employer-based insurance.
It's a fear I encountered again and again as I communicated by phone and e-mail with the hundreds of people nationwide who contacted me over the last week with their own stories of medical hardship and insurance woes.
The calls and e-mails were passionate, well informed and, all too frequently, heartbreaking.
Downey resident Julie Dugan said she could appreciate my anxiety about losing insurance coverage. She lost hers when she was fired in December from her job as an administrative assistant.
Dugan, 54, suffers from chronic kidney stones and requires costly medical treatment if a stone is too large to naturally pass through her system.
"It's scary," Dugan said. "The last time I had surgery, I had to take money out of my house to pay for it. Now, I'm afraid of losing my house."
There are a lot of reasons that people can become homeless. Kidney stones shouldn't be one of them.
Chicago resident Suzanne Elder told me about her 8-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year.
October 14, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Blog Reactions
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