AlterNet: Cancer at 23: How Health Insurance Failed Me

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Cancer at 23: How Health Insurance Failed Me

By Carey Purcell, AlterNet. Posted October 15, 2008.

I had a job and health insurance when I got sick, but my claim was denied. And that was just the beginning.



"I'm too young for this," I thought. It wasn't the first time that those words had crossed my mind in the past few months. I thought it when I was diagnosed with advanced thyroid cancer. I thought it when the company I was working for began facing financial problems and my paychecks were bouncing. I thought it when I learned I would be dependent on a prescription drug every day for the rest of my life. And I thought it again when I got the bill. In spite of having insurance, I had been billed in full for my surgery and two nights in the hospital. The total was $20,759.89. I was 23 years old.

I had never felt healthier when I found out I had cancer. I was seeing an allergist in March of 2007 to get a refill of my asthma medicine when she noticed a large lump in the center of my throat. I was immediately sent for an ultrasound and a biopsy. The tumor was more than five centimeters wide and had apparently been growing there for months. The consensus was unanimous: It had to come out.

My first thought was, "I can't afford this." I was making an entry-level salary in the publishing industry and barely scraping by as it was. I didn't know much about cancer, but I knew it wasn't cheap.

Compared to other cancers, thyroid cancer is relatively easy to treat. I would undergo radiation, not chemotherapy. The treatments would carry few, if any, side effects. Still, I needed health insurance to pay for the radiation, and I was about to lose mine. My supervisor at work told me that she could only guarantee coverage for eight more weeks.

Up until that point, my perspective toward health insurance could be described as ignorant bliss. I had insurance through my school until graduation, and my mother helped me set up insurance to cover me until I landed a job. I had no idea how expensive it was or how horrific living without it could be. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/103044/cancer_at_23%3A_how_health_insurance_failed_me/