September 29th, 2008

The Philadelphia Inquirer today featured the first installment of a series called “Falling Through: Casualties of the Health Insurance Crisis.”  Researched and written by reporter Mike Vitez, the series will tell the stories of working Americans who get sick or need care and collide with the health insurance system.

When the 41-year-old man described in today’s story discovered in July 2007 that he had cancer, he had a job, and health insurance.  But while his health insurance covered his chemotherapy, it didn’t cover the prescriptions he needed to deal with the side effects of the chemo.  As a result, he paid thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for those medications.  He then lost his job after his short-term disability time ran out, and had to receive government medical assistance.  But because he still can’t work, he will soon go on social security– and when he does, he will make too much money to stay on medical assistance.

Read his entire story here.