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Like thousands of Wisconsin residents, Chris Viola and her two young sons--Brandon, 6, and Anthony, 4--do not have health insurance. In fact, the last times any members of the Viola family had insurance were when Chris was pregnant with each of the boys, and for the first six months of the boys' lives. The Viola's represent a prime example of the kind of family who could benefit tremendously from the proposed BadgerCare Plus program. (For information about BadgerCare Plus, see our one-page summary at http://www.wccf.org/pdf/badgercareplus_summaryonepager.pdf). Chris is a certified personal care worker (or "live-in") for a wheelchair-bound client named Dan. She and her children live with Dan in a small apartment on Milwaukee's south side. Chris has been providing care for Dan for the last ten years, seeing to all of his needs: She bathes him, dresses him, prepares his meals and feeds him. Chris has worked as a live-in since she was 19 years old; it is the only work she has ever done. She says, "I always thought this was what I was meant to do." She enjoys the work and is good at it. She has worked for the same company for the last 13 years, and currently earns $11.35 per hour. To bring in extra income, Chris also works a few hours each week for two other home health care agencies, buying groceries and preparing dinner every night for two other clients with disabilities who live in the same apartment complex as Dan. She earns $8.00 per hour for this extra work. In addition to her salary, Chris and her children receive free rent, though she admits that the apartment is quite cramped. Chris and her children do not currently have health insurance because her combined income from her home health care jobs puts her roughly $400 per month above the income limit for BadgerCare. The company Chris works for offers dental insurance to its employees, but not health insurance. Living without health insurance is terrifying for Chris. "It makes me feel really helpless, like I'm not a good mother," she says. Her boys have had two health scares in recent years. In 2006 Brandon developed bronchitis. Chris remembers feeling "absolutely petrified" when her young son could not breathe. She knew she had to get him treatment, but did not have health insurance to cover the cost. Chris qualified for "charity care" through Brandon's treating hospital, so most of the fee from Brandon's illness were waived, but she still owes $700 in medical bills from the breathing tests, medication and clinic visits related to the bronchitis. And last year, Anthony fell off a piece of playground equipment and broke his leg. The broken leg necessitated trips to the Emergency Room and, later, St. Luke's Children's Hospital, a radiologist, an orthopedist and follow-up clinic care. This left Chris with a total of ten different accounts totaling nearly $5,000 in medical bills, all of which have gone unpaid and are now in collections. This medical debt is compounded by the nearly $2,000 she owes for treatment she's received herself. In 1999, Chris' daughter, Jasmine, died at age two after suffering from seizures and other disorders. Chris accumulated nearly $20,000 in medical bills related to Jasmine's illnesses, and after daughter's death, Chris filed for bankruptcy. Chris says her current medical debt is "heartbreaking," since she had tried so hard to repair her credit and achieve financial stability after this bankruptcy, and had been making progress toward those goals until recently. In addition to worrying about the health of her young sons, Chris also has her own health issues. She takes medications for depression, anxiety, high blood pressure and sleep problems. She estimates that she pays $300-400 per month for her own medications. She sees a therapist and receives a discounted rate of $50 per visit, but says that she cannot go as frequently as she would like - or as frequently as her therapist indicates she might need - because of the cost. She has a primary care physician who she has seen for years and feels very comfortable with, but she must pay $160 for every visit to this doctor. She takes the boys to Aurora's Quick Care - mobile health care booths set up in shopping malls and grocery stores - to see nurses or get medication for common illnesses like strep throat and ear infections. She also takes the boys to a free clinic for their yearly check-ups and immunizations. After Anthony's broken leg and Brandon's bronchitis, and because of her own continuing health care issues, Chris applied for private insurance. She says the only insurance she could find was the Wisconsin Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan (HIRSP), which offers health insurance to Wisconsin residents who, due to their medical conditions, are unable to find adequate health insurance coverage in the private market. Even for HIRSP, though, Chris was told that coverage would cost $300 each month, and that was just for her, not the children. Chris says, "I've been very lucky - and that's what it is, pure luck, that nothing really awful has happened to me or my kids while we don't have insurance." She says that having health insurance would mean she would not have to "live in fear" anymore that a common childhood illness or accident could wipe her out again financially or worsen her already precarious situation. Under current law, the only way Chris can become eligible for BadgerCare is to cut back on the hours she works for her two neighbors. She has resisted that idea because it would reduce the disposable income she has available for occasional treats for the boys, like a trip to McDonald's. And besides, she likes working for her neighbors. If the Governor's BadgerCare Plus plan were adopted, Chris could at least get affordable health care for the boys. "I want to give my kids everything. I want to be able to take care of them if they get sick," Chris said. "Not having these medical bills and not worrying about what I'll do if my kids get sick would change my life." | ||||
