Working families need universal health care, W.Va. doctors say
Angela Wood thought she had good health insurance until her oldest son got sick. Wood was working as an EMT in Boone County, raising three boys. In October, her 10-year-old son, Nathaniel, was diagnosed with cancer.
Angela Wood thought she had good health insurance until her oldest son got sick.
Wood was working as an EMT in Boone County, raising three boys. In October, her 10-year-old son, Nathaniel, was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors found a malignant tumor the size of a tennis ball near his groin.
Nathaniel, 10, and Smith have become close during his weekly visits.
There were multiple surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Wood's health insurance covered some of the costs, but she was still paying more than $2,000 a month out-of-pocket for Nathaniel's treatment, and another $360 on his prescriptions.
"I couldn't afford what was left over," Wood said. "I didn't expect to be paying in the thousands of dollars. It was everything I make just to buy his medicine."
So Wood did something she never imagined. She took a leave of absence from work and applied for Medicaid benefits. That was the only way she could ensure that Nathaniel would continue receiving treatment five days a week in Charleston.
"We did what we have to do to save his life," said Wood, who lives with her three boys in Logan.
Wood's story isn't uncommon in West Virginia, said Dr. Elizabeth Kurczynski, a pediatric oncologist who treats Nathaniel at CAMC Women and Children's Hospital in Charleston.
"These [health insurance] policies are great - until you get sick," Kurczynski said. "It's the working poor who think they have a decent health plan, and then wind up with these enormous costs. There's an alternative plan that has to be considered."
Kurczynski and about two-dozen other doctors across the state have joined a national group that's pushing for a universal single-payer health plan.
The local affiliate, called Mountain State Physicians for a National Health Program, wants to get doctors, politicians and patients talking about a national health system.
About 300,000 West Virginians have no health insurance. Illness and injury contribute to about 11,000 personal bankruptcies in West Virginia every year. Of those, 75 percent had health insurance when they got sick.
"It's so frustrating to us and so frustrating for the patient," Kurczynski said. "The people who are the working poor are the ones hurt the most."
The notion of a universal health care plan doesn't seem to be getting any traction on the state or national level - even though many doctors and voters support a single-payer system. Politicians acknowledge that something must be done, but most advocate incremental changes to improve health care.
Angela Wood thought she had good health insurance until her oldest son got sick.
Wood was working as an EMT in Boone County, raising three boys. In October, her 10-year-old son, Nathaniel, was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors found a malignant tumor the size of a tennis ball near his groin.
There were multiple surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Wood's health insurance covered some of the costs, but she was still paying more than $2,000 a month out-of-pocket for Nathaniel's treatment, and another $360 on his prescriptions.
"I couldn't afford what was left over," Wood said. "I didn't expect to be paying in the thousands of dollars. It was everything I make just to buy his medicine."
So Wood did something she never imagined. She took a leave of absence from work and applied for Medicaid benefits. That was the only way she could ensure that Nathaniel would continue receiving treatment five days a week in Charleston.
"We did what we have to do to save his life," said Wood, who lives with her three boys in Logan.
Wood's story isn't uncommon in West Virginia, said Dr. Elizabeth Kurczynski, a pediatric oncologist who treats Nathaniel at CAMC Women and Children's Hospital in Charleston.
"These [health insurance] policies are great - until you get sick," Kurczynski said. "It's the working poor who think they have a decent health plan, and then wind up with these enormous costs. There's an alternative plan that has to be considered."
Kurczynski and about two-dozen other doctors across the state have joined a national group that's pushing for a universal single-payer health plan.
The local affiliate, called Mountain State Physicians for a National Health Program, wants to get doctors, politicians and patients talking about a national health system.
About 300,000 West Virginians have no health insurance. Illness and injury contribute to about 11,000 personal bankruptcies in West Virginia every year. Of those, 75 percent had health insurance when they got sick.
"It's so frustrating to us and so frustrating for the patient," Kurczynski said. "The people who are the working poor are the ones hurt the most."
The notion of a universal health care plan doesn't seem to be getting any traction on the state or national level - even though many doctors and voters support a single-payer system. Politicians acknowledge that something must be done, but most advocate incremental changes to improve health care.
"Everybody wants it, but nobody is talking about it on the national level," Kurczynski said. "The problem is the insurance lobby, the drug lobby. They're the most powerful lobbies in the country."
Under universal health care, people would continue to choose their own doctor and hospital, but payments for medical care would come from a single source - the federal government, which already funds health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Kurczynski said health insurance administrative costs account for about 30 percent of health care expenditures nationwide under the current employment-based for-profit system.
"We feel our purpose is to spread the work about a single-payer health plan so people know there's an alternative instead of the incremental changes that benefit insurance companies and stockholders," Kurczynski said.
Doctors believe families like the Woods would benefit most from a national health care system.
Angela and Nathaniel, whose cancer is called a rhabdomyosarcoma, drive an hour every day for radiation treatments at CAMC Memorial Hospital, and about once a week to Women and Children's Hospital's Infusion Center for chemotherapy. Nathaniel receives powerful cancer-fighting drugs through a "medical port" plugged into his chest.
"They stick a needle in my port, and then give me my medicine," Nathaniel explained last week.
The chemo makes him feel sick, so his mother has to buy him extra pills for nausea.
"I work in an ambulance, but I'm in hospitals more now than I was then," Wood said.
Kurczynski expects Nathaniel to make a full recovery, to be one of the 80 percent of children with cancer who wind up being cured.
In the meantime, the Wood family will continue to make the daily trek to Charleston for at least six more weeks. Angela will stay on Medicaid until she's certain Nathaniel is in good health again.
"You have parents like Angela, and if they lose their jobs, they lose what little insurance they have," Kurczynski said. "We're shooting ourselves in the foot when we force families to do this."
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
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