This is an example of a foot that has Fasciitis. This is not Michael Hardy's foot.
We reported recently that the number of Californians getting health insurance through work has plummeted since the beginning of the decade.
Why? Because people are losing their jobs. Or their employers are passing along the costs of increasing premiums. Or the bosses are eliminating health insurance plans altogether, according to a health economist from the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
The problem leaves folks like Michael Hardy, a technical writer, with an added burden when crisis strikes. In June, Hardy was diagnosed with a skin-eating disease. He has been working temporary jobs since February 2007 — jobs that offer no health insurance — so when he was diagnosed this June with a disease that literally attacks his flesh, he had a tough choice: Go to the doctor and risk plummeting into debt, or hope he survives as the disease takes its course.
Here’s his story, in his own words.
I am a 59-year-old male who has worked all my adult life, seldom missing a day of work due to health reasons. I have been medically insured with various employers over the course of my career when the option was made available to me as an employment benefit.
Recently, however, I have been working as a temporary employee for over 20 months (from Feb 2007 to the present) without medical insurance coverage or any other employment benefits for that matter.
And though my wife has coverage through her work, we determined that it was too costly to add me to her premium. Her coverage is reasonable through her employer, so we opted to have her be covered alone.
In June of this year, I contracted a “flesh-eating” disease called Fasciitis. I had never even heard of this disease previously. I was fortunate in that I had the lesser degree kind (Cellulitis) that only attacks the flesh and not the more serious kind that results in amputation or death (it attacks the muscle and bones). This disease can spread to the other areas and can cause these other complications if treatment is delayed.
I was diagnosed with the need for surgery, however, to remove some of the infected flesh. After surgery, I had a 4“ long by 1 ½” wide by ¾” deep wound on my lower leg and a smaller 1” long by 1” wide by ¾” deep wound on my ankle. (The photo above is an example of cellulitis, but not Hardy’s foot.)
I was in the hospital for 10 days and out of work for three weeks while in recovery. I received no pay during this period except for a one time Social Security Disability benefit (State check) that covered my three weeks off from work.
Since I receive no compensation when not working and the company’s position of not allowing me to work from home for compensation, I had to go back to work as soon as I was able to get around. I obtained a release from the doctor to go back to work and subsequently went back to work at the company. I was fortunate that the position was still open for me to return to it after three weeks of absence otherwise I would have been unemployed.
Because the ankle wound is located where movement occurs, the healing, I was told by the wound specialist I have been seeing, would be slower than the leg wound. This has been true so far in the healing process.
Four months after the surgery (currently), I am nearly healed, however, I have incurred over $40,000 in hospital and doctor bills to date. I have no idea how I will pay for these bills. I have applied for Medically Indigenous Assistance (MIA) and been declined verbally. I do not qualify for Medical (no children left at home) or Medicare (too young). I am one of those in the middle without medical insurance coverage. Some of the medical bills are starting to go into collections. I am currently waiting for the MIA disapproval letter to see what my next option is.
It seems unfortunate that a person like me would not be able to receive coverage except at high prices that are cost prohibitive (Cobra or private individual medical insurance). Medical benefits through a company are essential to protect a worker from the high costs of hospital and doctor bills.
As I look back on this experience, I couldn’t help feel that because of my working circumstance, I was hesitant to go to the doctor in the first place for my disease, knowing that we would incur high bills from this. Had I hesitated in going to the doctor early, I might have had to deal with the more serious disease with more severe complications. This would have cost much more.
It seems to me that all Americans should have reasonable health care coverage so that when medical attention is needed, it does not become a financial consideration and thus a burden to the family. Otherwise, only those who are fortunate to be working at a place that offers it as a benefit will be properly protected against the high cost of hospital, doctor and medical expenses.
Do you no longer have health insurance? We want to hear your story. Email Jennifer Muir at jmuir@ocregister.com or leave your story below.
Reasonable health care coverage is probably the main reason why I and my spouse can’t retire. It’s just too expensive without the current assistance from employers, if one is lucky enough to get that.
This is a very sad situation. I also have done temp work and am currently self employed and without health insurance due to cost.
And I also had an instance of being hospitalized last year, although I have contested that as they ignored what I told them was the matter and instead railroaded me–starting with the paramedics to the ER (focusing on ruling out a heart attack when my problem was mild poisoning due to accidentally inhaling something which led to respiratory effects which felt like it might get to where I wouldn’t be able to breath or call for help, leading to making the mistake of calling 911) to the regular hospital for an overnight stay.
I also fell through the cracks, although the hospital did have some sort of fund for low income people but I didn’t get a lot of help or info about that and they wanted intrusive info. Something was said about possibly giving me the Medicare rate but that was only verbal and I never got anything in writing so I don’t remember the details.
But even given all that, the choice is who is to pay for care? The cost of care seems to have risen much faster than inflation and some of it is likely due to all the mandates. In my case I feel that they were trying to cover their backsides, rather than listening to me or making any attempt to really verify whether what I was telling them was the cause of my symptoms. And then I got the bill.
So this is a dilemma but I don’t think that the answer is to have some kind of universal care that all taxpayers have to pay. This person as well as myself have made the choice that we wouldn’t or couldn’t pay for coverage.
I would really like some stripped down options with a high deductible and a medical savings account and without all those mandates for coverage that run up the cost of insurance.
And part of the dilemma that both of us face is age related. I am a couple years older and I have looked at these ads you get in the mail about “affordable health insurance” that are all over $300/mo for my age. And most of those policies would not cover the type of care that I would prefer using natural alternatives when possible.
But another issue is that the govt dictates what they will pay for Medi-Cal or Medicare patients. And insurance companies negotiate rates with the uninsured who are likely least able to afford to be pay not having the clout to get better rates and so in many or most cases being charged more than the insured.
I do think that we need some kind of ombudsperson to help those with difficulty in paying bills or who may dispute the bill without the provider paying any attention.
So I don’t see any easy answers to the problem. I don’t want a the “solutions” being proposed by big government advocates which would being more govt control.
I do like some of the proposals to try to lower the costs of health care in general which would then make insurance more affordable.
Some of the politicians that are trying to supposedly help people by adding on all the mandated coverage don’t seem to consider that it all works to make coverage less affordable to especially those of us who are getting closer to Medicare age, but not there yet.
I’m about the same age as this guy and I have never had a job in my life. I have always worked for myself and paid my own way including my health insurance and medical bills.
I have never applied to the government for anything… not even a student loan. Why am I supposed to feel sorry for someone who lives in the greatest economy in the world and can’t figure out how to take care of himself? Yes, planning ahead is part of taking care of yourself.
I send thousands of dollars every year to help my wife’s family in Africa. If you want to see what a real challenge looks like, come with me into the jungle for a few months then come back to America and tell me how bad you have it here.
Phil Gramm is right. We have become a nation of whinners, and pathetic one’s at that.