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Breast Cancer Killing U.S. Women Unable to Afford Health Care |
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There are many people suffering—and dying—in this nation from lack of health care, and Rachele Huennekens, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, describes how this nation’s growing health care crisis affects women.
Amy, a woman in Pennsylvania, prays for good health. Without health insurance, prayer is her option.
I’ve decided that the next time a lump is found I will NOT be getting the mammogram. I can’t afford it. I pray nothing bad ever happens to my family or myself.
This situation may be much more common among working women today than we realize. Amy, who submitted this story to the AFL-CIO-Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey, is among thousands of working people across the country who have shared their experiences with America’s broken health care system on the site.
Nearly 17 million U.S. women—including nearly one in four women between ages 19 and 54—were uninsured in 2006, according to AFL-CIO health facts on women.
Sadly, their stories are affirming some chilling national trends. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that insurance co-payments are deterring women from getting breast cancer X-ray screenings known as mammograms. The study, conducted by researchers at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, found that screening rates were 8.3 percent lower for women who had co-payments than for women whose insurance coverage paid for the exams in full.
Dozens of responses to the Health Care for America Survey reflect this alarming statistic. Working women are being charged outrageous fees of $100, $300, even up to $1,000 for mammograms, and they simply aren’t able to afford it.
Laura from New York shared her experience:
I was told by my OB/GYN that considering my family background, I am at a very high risk for breast cancer. I went to get a mammogram as prescribed by my doctor. [Afterwards] the company that manages our health costs refused to pay…[and] kept billing me and sending me collection letters for over two years before they finally settled. I have not gone back to get a mammogram since…[and] I know for a fact that several women in my office have also put the test on the backburner because of this same situation.
In California, Gabriela is living with constant fear of breast cancer because she can’t afford a biopsy.
Last September I noticed a lump in my breast, [so] I went to a local clinic…[to get an] ultrasound, [which cost] close to $200. The doctor did see a lump, but without a biopsy they couldn’t tell exactly me what it is. The biopsy cost around $350–$400. Because I couldn’t afford it, I will have to return in six months for another ultrasound….I hate living with this fear of “not-knowing!” I try not to think about it but it’s impossible not to do. Because I’m only 31, I don’t qualify for breast cancer prevention programs that are funded by the state. So all I can do is wait.
The experiences of these women go a long way to show just how badly this nation needs health care reform. Mammograms are widely accepted as a vital preventative procedure for cancer, recommended by the American Cancer Society, for example, for women older than 40 to get annually.
Dr. Amal Trivedi, lead author of the Brown University study, explains:
Mammograms are an essential service for older women, yet many women avoid that service when they are required to pay out-of-pocket. By eliminating co-payments for mammograms, we could get more women tested. More testing would mean earlier breast cancer treatment and improved chances for breast cancer survival.
Ilene, a retired union member from New York who volunteers for a cancer hotline, put it even more clearly on the survey website:
This is one of the wealthiest countries in the world but women are dying needlessly because they are being denied health care.
(Click here to fill out the Health Care for America Survey and tell your health care story. You can vote here on the stories you think make the most impact.)
4 Comments
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And our dictator wants to step up Health Savings Accounts, which studies show are more costly to women.
Single payer health care would cover these women, isn’t it time we thank Rep. John Conyers for a great bill? HR 676, The National Health Care Act, isn’t it time Congress get off their a—s and get this implemented? They voted themselves yet another pay raise, and many Americans cannot afford the basic human right of having health care. What a country!
Medical insurance is the biggest scam this country has ever had, and the exploitation of both patient and provider is enormously sinful. I am fortunate to have health insurance, because I am a retired educator, and we have a union, the NEA; through it we have received good benefits, with an excellent health insurance and retirement package.
However, what I did not expect was that I would be permanently disabled long before my retirement age, so I received a disability retirement. Once this happened, my benefits changed, and I had to go on Medicare; I had no choice. I therefore had to take an HMO as my secondary insurance, which pays for my prescriptions and other costs Medicare does not pick up. The total cost is not that bad for myself, but we have had to get additional insurance for my spouse and children. To make a long story short, my insurance premiums for my family and the co-pays has cost us almost four times as much as I paid when I was working. I still consider myself lucky that I have coverage for myself and family, but I no longer have my income, except for a very small pension (because I retired ‘early’), and we are now paying over 10% of our gross income for medical expenses. Ironically, I still consider myself fortunate to have medical coverage; without it and without my medicine, I would not be alive.
The really strange thing though is that when I see the statements I receive from my insurance companies as to what they pay for services, I am shocked. They pay 30-40% of my doctor’s fees, and about 20-30% of hospital and related costs, sometimes even less. For example, if I am billed $100 for an x-ray, they may pay the Imaging center about $25. You see the opportunity for fleecing both patients and providers, and ALL insurance companies do it all the time. That’s why premiums are so high; somebody has to pay, and guess you gets the profits.
If this country had universal health care for every citizen and legal resident, our country would actually save money. Providing medical care for everyone, without the inflated costs, waste and unnecessary bureaucracy would actually be more economically efficient, and we would have a healthier society. Our leaders really need to start looking at the bigger picture here and make decisions that are beneficial for ALL of us. Is it expecting too much that our government should use common sense and have compassion for its citizens?
I WILL SAY THIS AGAIN SINCE NO ONE OUT THERE GOT MY LAST POST AND I WILL USE CAPITAL LETTERS SO IT CAN BE SEEN!!! MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR WORKED FOR CENTEL/SPRINT/EMBARQ FOR 30 YEARS AND THEY LAST YEAR, N0T LONG BEFORE CHRISTMAS CANCELLED HIS HEALTH INSURANCE… NOW, YEARS BEFORE HE RETIRED HE WAS TOLD THAT THER WOULD BE A CAP ON HIS LIFE INSURANCE OF $40,000.00 AND HIS HEALTH INSURANCE WOULD STAY INTACT. AFTER HE RETIRED HIS LIFE INSURANCE WAS REDUCED TO $10,000.00 AND JUST NOW AS OF JULY OR AUGUST OF 2007 ALL EBARQ EMPLOYEES RETIRED LOST THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE SUPERVISORS AS WELL AS REGULAR CRAFT EMPLOYEES. SO MUCH FOR BENEFITS!!! IS ANY ONE LISTENING. JUST A UNION PRESIDENT/ CHIEF SHOP STEWARD IN MY LOCAL 2560 NALC.
I hear you, Dogman; all the more reason why every worker needs UNION protection, and every union needs to provide excellent benefits that live on after the employee retires. But UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE SHOULD BE A GIVEN. ONE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO WORK FOR ANY SPECIFIC COMPANY TO BE GUARANTEED HEALTH INSURANCE!!
Back in the 50’s, my grandfather in-law, just months before working 30 years for Westinghouse was fired so they would not have to give him a pension, and they didn’t. He worked for them faithfully for almost 30 years, and ended up with nothing - NOTHING - To this day I have yet to buy a product from Westinghouse. This has happened and continues to happen all the time.
As I said, I worked under NEA union protection, but after I retired, my life insurance was not only capped, but each year after my retirement, I lose the equivalent of one year’s salary on my plan. I think I have about 10K left, and that will soon be gone.