This tax season, as part of our free tax preparation services, we also worked with the Consumer Health Coalition to sign some of our tax clients up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA provides tax credits to households living at 100-300% of poverty to help them purchase private health insurance.
Unfortunately, many of these clients could not gain coverage under the Affordable Care Act because they make too little to qualify for those tax credits. They’re in between the rock and a hard place of making too much to qualify for Medicaid – government health coverage for the poorest of the poor – but too little to get help purchasing health insurance.
What follows are the testimonials of some of the people we’ve encountered in recent weeks who came to us with high hopes of finally getting health coverage. Instead, thanks to Gov. Corbett’s refusal to accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid, they are finding themselves in the Medicaid Expansion Gap:
Marie Boggs“I got into an accident and hurt my elbow – it wouldn’t heal and I didn’t have health insurance so I went to Catholic Charities and a doctor there said he thought I might have a chipped bone. But I couldn’t afford x-rays or further care. I was in a lot of pain for a long time and the elbow still gives me problems. And I’ve been one of the lucky ones.” |
Michael Caskey“I went to the hospital to be diagnosed – I found out I had gastritis, which wasn’t a big deal, but the doctor bills sure were. It was almost $3,000 just to get diagnosed.” |
Tara GraceTara has asthma and could only afford partial treatment when she could afford it, and also couldn’t afford medication for her allergies. In combination with her asthma, she found it very difficult to function during the peak allergy season. Tara’s family has a history of breast cancer and lupus, so now she’ll be able to get checked out on a regular basis. “I have a friend who is now out on the streets – he was diagnosed with colon cancer and because of the bills for his treatment he became homeless. So this issue – it really gets to me because it affected someone I care about. I’m very disappointed that Governor Corbett turned down federal funds for Medicaid expansion.” |
Debra Jean Hill“My whole left side is numb, but I’m too afraid of the doctor bills to go get checked out. My daughter has serious heart problems and has had open heart surgery. She’s currently covered by CHIP but what’s going to happen when she’s too old to be covered by that?” |
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Nyesha Neal“As I get older, I get more and more worried. I’ve been in the hospital twice and wasn’t covered the last time because they had just canceled my insurance. It’s very unfair that Governor Corbett turned down funds to expand Medicaid – we’re struggling like everyone else.” |
Elizabeth Smith (Note: name changed for privacy)“I graduated with my M.S. degree in January. I’m currently looking for work and would like health insurance but I can’t afford anything comprehensive on Obamacare. What I could afford has high cost deductibles of $5500 and a 60% coverage rate. That is essentially a low-coverage and barebones plan that would pay for nearly nothing. I would be eligible for Medicaid, but my state didn’t approve its expansion. So I have no health insurance.” |
Deloris Suhoski“I have two bad knees. I’m pretty much in constant pain. My knees make it very difficult to find work. I just think it’s wrong that there’s not coverage. What does Governor Corbett want? Lots of people like me end up on welfare because our health problems keep us from working – is that what he wants?” |
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Thomasina Wilson
Are you also in the Medicaid expansion gap?
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A special thanks to Helen Gerhardt for collecting these stories and to Pennsylvania Voice for funding this work.
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