- Health care becomes optional for people who are underemployed, By Aziza Jackson, October 11, 2010, Anniston Star: “It is no surprise that uninsured and underinsured Americans cannot afford to get sick nowadays. Obtaining affordable health care has indeed become a growing problem for many Americans, and, for the residents of Calhoun County, the problem hits even harder. According to a study headed by Dr. Samuel Addy, director and associate research economist at the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Alabama, Calhoun County has the highest number of underemployed workers out of all the other counties that make up the region known as ‘Region 5.’ Underemployed Calhoun County residents are considered employed because they do hold jobs. However, their jobs do not equal stability and do not provide them or their families with healthcare coverage. The underemployed are finding it difficult to make ends meet and afford medication and preventative care. Simply put: They can’t afford to get sick…”
- High-risk insurance pool accepts patients with pre-existing conditions, By Patricia Anstett, October 11, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “Deri Mick is left to wonder whether the health insurance he just got through Michigan’s new program for the hard-to-insure came in time to help. Mick, 46, of Swartz Creek was set to have kidney cancer surgery last week at the University of Michigan. But tests found more cancer than expected. He awaits further tests and possibly chemotherapy. Through Michigan’s new high-risk insurance pool, Mick, who hasn’t had insurance for nine years, was able to get coverage that will cost him $350 a month. The program, which began offering coverage Oct. 1, is open to any adult 19-64 who has been rejected for insurance in Michigan. It will accept the first 3,500 applicants. Mick was turned down earlier in September by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which can legally refuse to offer insurance to people with a pre-existing condition for a period of six months from the time of the request. But the company referred Mick to the new pool. ‘I’m going to be high risk all my life,’ said Mick, a divorced father of two who earns $38,000 a year. He hopes he will qualify for some financial help in 2014, when broader health reforms begin, including subsidies for lower-income people, particularly those earning less than $40,000 a year…”
IRP Poverty Dispatch
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty
