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Transcript Page 1
NARRATOR: SEVERAL YEARS AGO YVONNE KING WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. SHE THINKS SHE HAS IT BEATEN. BUT SHE DOESN’T KNOW FOR SURE.
Yvonne King
I haven't had any further testing since I had my surgery. Every place I called, every place I tried to go it was "if you don't have medical insurance you just don't even bother"
NARRATOR: IN THE UNITED STATES, THERE ARE NEARLY FIFTY MILLION PEOPLE JUST LIKE YVONNE KING.
John Nelson, M.D.
The estimate is that every year in the United States of America, 18,000 people die of diseases that we can prevent or cure simply because they do not have access to the system.
NARRATOR: FOR YVONNE KING, FOR EVERY UTAHN, FOR EACH AMERICAN, THERE IS A SIMPLE STARK QUESTION …DO I HAVE A RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE?
Yvonne King
It was like being on a roller coaster. I kept thinking, “What am I going to do”?
(Good Morning, Dr. Hawkin’s office. Yvonne speaking.)
NARRATOR: YVONNE KING LIVES AND WORKS IN SALT LAKE CITY. A GRANDMOTHER OF EIGHT, YVONNE STRUGGLES WITH AFFORDING HEALTH CARE.
SEVEN YEARS AGO YVONNE KING WAS DIAGNOSED WITH COLON CANCER. SHE NEEDED SURGERY. BUT WITHOUT INSURANCE, FINDING A SURGEON WAS A TOUGH TASK.
Yvonne King
I really need some form of insurance to be able to get into the doctor. But I was so sick that I couldn't hold down a fulltime job, I was just working part-time. There was no medical benefits, no benefits and I thought "boy this is Catch 22"
NARRATOR: HER SEARCH DRAGGED ON FOR NEARLY A YEAR. WITH EACH PASSING MONTH, THE ODDS FOR HER SURVIVAL DROPPED.
Yvonne King
It was extremely frustrating and unbelievable to me. I thought you know "how could this be, how could this be happening".
NARRATOR: FINALLY, SHE FOUND A SURGEON WILLING TO WORK WITH HER.
Yvonne King
His reasoning for it was "I know that if the circumstances were turned that you would do the same thing for me that I am going to do for you" and I thought "wow, I finally found somebody who really knows what he's doing”.
NARRATOR: BECAUSE SHE WAS FORCED TO WAIT, YVONNE’S CANCER HAD PROGRESSED FROM STAGE TWO TO STAGE THREE. ALTHOUGH THE SURGERY REMOVED THE TUMOR, YVONNE’S DOCTOR WANTED HER TO HAVE CHEMOTHERAPY TO INCREASE HER CHANCES FOR SURVIVAL. ALREADY EIGHTY-SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN DEBT, YVONNE WAS FACED WITH MORE EXPENSIVE TREATMENT. SHE MET WITH A CANCER SPECIALIST TO DISCUSS HER OPTIONS.
Yvonne King
We sat down and started figuring and between what I already owed and what the bare minimum for him would be it was around $125,000 for the both. So I told him "there's just no way, I can't do it. I’ll never in my whole lifetime be able to pay it back. So no, I'm not going to do chemo". So I didn't do it.
(Yvonne reading: “Cowboy Larry was shaking in his boots”)
You know, I have children and grand children and I don't want to leave my bills and my responsibilities on them. And my kids to this day tell me "your life is more important than the money". I tell them "yes it is, however, when I die I don't want you kids to have to be responsible for what happened with me". I know firsthand the consequences of that. Mom died from breast cancer when we were kids and when she passed away after eight years dad was left with astronomical bills that he had to pay and he worked for years and years to get those bills paid.
Yvonne King
I don't know what I'm going to do. I was going to go file bankruptcy. But, I haven't been able to get the money together to go pay for the down payment that's needed, the money that's needed for the bankruptcy. I think, "What am I going to do"? I pray a lot. I get up in the morning. I go through the house, I do what I have to do. I go to work do what I have to do. I come home and do what I have to do. I fall into bed at night exhausted and think "well I made it through another day. "
NARRATOR: YVONNE KING IS NOT ALONE. IN UTAH, AN ESTIMATED THREE HUNDRED TO FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE ARE UNINSURED – THAT’S ROUGHLY TWICE THE POPULATION OF SALT LAKE CITY. NATIONALLY, THE NUMBER OF UNISURED EQUALS THE POPULATIONS OF UTAH, NEW MEXICO, WYOMING, MONTANA, IDAHO, NEVADA, AND CALIFORNIA- COMBINED.
Marc Babitz, M.D.
I think we really are in a crisis in terms of access to health care. I would say that I actually thought we were in a crisis 20 years ago with access to care, and it has only gotten worse during that time. We have several barriers, we call, to access to care and each one of them makes a significant contribution to the problem.
So barriers to care are financial, geographic, both rural and urban, cultural, including language barriers, and the availability of healthcare.
John Nelson, M.D.
Probably the biggest reason patients don't have access to the system is they don't have access to health care coverage--they haven’t got a way to pay for what's there. Isn't it an interesting paradox? We have more care available in the United States of America, more technology available, new innovations that were unheard of when I was a medical student, and yet sitting within the shadows of the wall where that technology is given, people can't get in the door.
NARRATOR: SOME COUNTRIES, LIKE CANADA, ALLOW EVERYONE IN THE DOOR FOR BASIC CARE, BUT RATION ACCESS TO THEIR ADVANCED CARE. IN THE UNITED STATES, THAT GETS TURNED AROUND.
Brent James, M.D.
Within the United States we ration people, not services.
NARRATOR: AS HEALTHCARE COSTS CONTINUE TO RISE, MORE PEOPLE ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND.
Brent James, M. D.
We're currently spending about 2.2 trillion dollars a year on healthcare, that's about $6800 per person in the United States every year. It's 16% of the gross domestic product, and it's increasing rapidly. There are changes in our basic underlying population that are going to drive it up hard, and it's unsustainable.
Consider a typical family of four. It means that a health insurance premium today is almost the same as the mortgage payment on the median American home. Well if you had to choose, would you rather have a home to live in, or would you rather have health insurance. Because that’s the choice that we are coming to.
Mark Babitz, M.D.
The trend is absolutely clear. The fact that you have insurance today, looking at the trend, is no guarantee you're going to have it tomorrow.
Holly Offret
Dean called me one morning and said I'm coming home. And I said oh, what for? And he said because I don't have a job any more. And I thought, great.
NARRATOR: LIKE THE RESOUNDING IMPACT OF A MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS, CHANGE IN OUR LIVES CAN COME IN A HEARTBEAT. Up to that moment, dean and holly offret’s future was looking bright. with an mba from wesminter college, dean was hired by a local company to work in their international marketing department. the PERFECT JOB lasted SIX months.
Dean Offret
At work I had seen other consultants come in and out of the company but no rumblings or no anticipation of losing a job, but I was called in on a Tuesday morning about 10:30 to go see the HR. And then right when that happened my heart started to race and I knew exactly what was going to happen and, there's nothing you can say about it.
NARRATOR: the offrets had lost their only source of income. and for the first time they were without HEALTH insurance. dean and holly decided to start their own business. BUT THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT NOT HAVING COVERAGE-- ESPECIALLY FOR THEIR TEN MONTH OLD SON, EVERETT.
Holly Offret
For the three of us and what we want to be covered for it would be $330 a month and just for Everett it's probably going to be around $65.
Dean Offret
It’s not feasible to pay for private insurance for all 3 of us. As a new business owner, a lot of my money is going into advertising and trying to get the correct inventory. And we consciously are making the decision to take the risk as adults for us to not cover ourselves and to cover our little boy.
Holly Offret
(Oh yes thank you.)
I almost feel like I am at a dead end. I don't have very many options. It also makes me feel not responsible as a parent, not to have insurance for my child. It's almost like a personal failure as well because it something that should be taken care of and I didn’t think health insurance was something that I would have to worry about not having. Because I knew that Dean was employed, that he went to school, he has a degree to work and he’s always taken pride in making sure that he has a good job and is planning for our future.
Dean Offret
But now that we look at our family situation, it doesn't matter our education or where we've been, where we are today is that we need some assistance to build that bridge until we make more money where I can provide for our family. We started looking at Medicaid and CHIP because it was referred to us by a friend. So we thought we would get online and do some research about it.
NARRATOR: Medicaid is a state-run insurance program for low income Utahns, COVERING adults and children. ROUGHLY, a family of three making about TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS a year could qualify. but many FAMILIES FIND themselves making too much money to qualify for Medicaid, yet TOO LITTLE to afford insurance for their children.
IN NINETEEN NINETY-SEVEN, CONGRESS ENACTED SCHIP -- THE STATES CHILDREN’S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM. BUT SCHIP RELIES ON SHARED FEDERAL AND STATE FUNDING. AND IN UTAH, STATE FUNDING HAS BEEN AN ISSUE. Since two thousand and two, the UTAH program has been closed to enrollment at least SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the time. THERE’S NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY THE STATE’S SHARE.
The TWO-THOUSAND SEVEN STATE legislative session, voted to increase funding by FORTY PERCENT. IN JULY OF TWO THOUSAND SEVEN, CHILDREN WERE ONCE again ALLOWED TO ENROLL IN CHIP.
Holly Offret
I'm absolutely glad that Medicaid and CHIP and there's public assistance there for health insurance. But I'm waiting right now to see if I'll, if we'll, even be covered for Medicaid, for example, and for some reason I'm thinking that we won't be covered but I guess we'll see.
Dean Offret
I feel like we are approaching the edge of a cliff. So as we approach the edge of this massive cliff, hope we don't fall off. And even though we are standing at the cliff, hopefully we're building a bridge for the future and we're going to, have something for us in the future.
NARRATOR: BUT IF A BRIDGE IS GOING TO BE BUILT INTO THE FUTURE, IS THERE A SAFETY NET FOR THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF UTAHNS WHO STAND WITH THE OFFRETS ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF?
DOZENS OF CLINICS IN UTAH ARE TRYING TO CATCH THOSE ABOUT TO FALL.
David Sundwall, M.D.
The safety net is efforts on the part of a number of health care providers to care for those without insurance or who are under-insured, in other words those in need of medical care who maybe couldn't afford it or who have other barriers to access be it language or culture or remoteness because they live in a rural area.
Marc Babitz, M.D.
The safety net is an important role and I'm very thankful that it's there because I know that they limit human suffering. The problem is it isn't big enough and a net is a good example. A net catches a lot, but a lot goes through and that's what's happening. We catch a lot of people, we help them but a lot of people still fall through the holes in the net.
David Sundwall, M.D.
So while I'm proud that we as a state have this network of clinics and free care or reduced care and can take care of people when they really need it. It's straining. We got some more funding from the legislature this year so we can fund some more of these clinics but don't get me wrong, it's not a tight safety net. It's pretty porous.
NARRATOR: DURING HER BATTLE WITH CANCER, YVONNE KING EXPERIENCED THE FRUSTRATON OF FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS OF THE SAFTEY NET. AND HER FIGHT IS NOT OVER YET.
DOCTORS RECOMMEND HAVING A PROCEDURE CALLED A ‘COLONSCOPY’ WITHIN A YEAR OF HAVING COLON CANCER SURGERY. THE TEST CAN SHOW IF CANCER HAS RETURNED. BUT IN THE LAST SEVEN YEARS, YVONNE HAS NEVER BEEN TESTED.
Yvonne King
I did have the doctor who did the first colonoscopy contact me and want to do another one a couple of years ago however the cost for that was around 1300 dollars and I told him "I can't afford it. There's just no way". So I didn't do it.
I would like to be able to afford my own medical care and to be able to do what I know I have to do. Because I don't know if you realize but once you've had cancer and you feel that there's a possibility of death...when I came out of the hospital it was like I couldn't live enough. I wanted to reach out and feel and taste and touch everything there was. And to learn everything there was and the possibility of not being around tomorrow was very frightening.
