Art As Social ,
Subject worked throughout cancer treatments. He needed income and health insurance. Chemotherapy halted growth of cancer but subject would always have cancer because he could not tolerate surgery. Doctor recommended a PET scan as the best way to reveal the presence and severity of cancer. The insurance company denied coverage. Subject was able to get PET scan after an appeal but that process took about a month. The PET scan showed lung cancer a year after treatment but all other parts of the body were cancer-free. The subject was 60 years old.
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In 2007, two years later, subject had a grand mal seizure at 62 years of age. Still working and insured, subject was able to have brain surgery. Subject tried to go back to work a week after brain surgery. (Daughter believes he wanted to keep income and insurance.) Employer was "scared." Subject "did not look good." Employer was concerned subject would have a seizure on the job and he was "let go." Family feels he was forced to “retire.”
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Losing job devastated subject. Family had no other income. Daughter said, "The brain surgeries changed his personality. He went from joking and positive to angry. How was he going to survive to 65 when he would qualify for Medicare?" Subject went from earning six figures to getting temporary disability payments. He did not qualify for Medicaid.* Subject now had the additional cost of paying for his health care premium in full from his former employer. He could continue getting the insurance under COBRA† but he would have to pay for it himself.
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Subject borrowed from every person in the family including his aged parents who were in their eighties. (Subject was one of seven siblings.) Daughter believes borrowing came to six figures to pay for COBRA insurance, mortgage, line of credit, living expenses and medical bills the health insurance did not cover.
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COBRA** insurance was running out after 18 months. (Employers are only required to allow the former employee to buy insurance through their group for 18 months.) "Freaking out," subject called insurance companies for individual coverage, and they thought he was joking since he had lung and brain cancers. "He felt he worked his whole life and paid insurance," daughter quoted her Dad as saying. "I did everything right. I worked hard, sent kids to school, paid taxes, kept trying to work even when ill..."
,
For a short period, subject became uninsured after COBRA insurance through his former employer ended. Subject conserved by stretching his oxygen tank while he and the family tried to figure out a way to get health insurance. They managed to get medicine abroad during this time.
,
A friend suggested subject "incorporate" so he could buy a group plan. Subject had been continuously insured for so long through his employer, and then through COBRA that he was able to form company and meet the requirements for “continuous coverage under HIPAA† laws Company was formed. Although legitimate, it was never a business to make money. Family made jewelry and bracelets to sell at fairs. Subject borrowed to pay the $2400/month insurance premium. Although the premium was exorbitant, the insurance coverage allowed subject to get his oxygen, anti-seizure, cancer and other medications which kept him alive for a year until he qualified for Medicare. ‡
,
Subject expressed great relief in getting Medicare coverage. Daughter believes her father was relieved just to have coverage and not have to pay so much. A few months after qualifying for Medicare coverage, subject started moving very slowly and "swelling up." He died from congestive heart failure leaving behind many IOUs for money borrowed to survive financially after becoming ill and unable to work.
,
A note from subject’s daughter: One thing that I want to emphasize is that our broken health care system failed my Dad at the start of his illness. I brought up that he was so good about getting check-ups, but that it took some time for him to find out about his chest x-ray showing cancer. That is relevant to the story because at the time the first x-ray showing cancer was taken, his cancer had not spread as much.
,
It took them over a year to see that report in his chart, with cancer spreading the entire time, even though it was marked by the radiologist for follow-up at the time the first x-ray was taken. Somehow in the process, the report just got filed without the doctor (or anybody) noticing it. It wasn't until my Dad went back to the doctor much later that the doctor saw the first x-ray. After another x-ray showed masses in his lungs, the doctor went back through the chart and finally saw the original report. When they looked back at all the info, we could clearly see the x-ray itself was marked (mass circled on the x-ray). The doctor’s office had billed my Dad’s insurance for the appointment and diagnostic testing. So it's not like they could say they got the report late, it got lost, or anything like that. The report got back to the doctor's office from radiology and however their process worked, for us it feels like the billing was higher priority than the review of the report. Who knows what happened? All we know is the report got filed without review or anybody doing any follow-up. Consequently, my Dad was not diagnosed until the cancer was at stage 3. It may have been a different story if the cancer had been caught at an earlier stage, but we'll never know. My dad was so smart and so funny even after he got diagnosed with lung cancer (but before brain cancer). He had cute little jokes he’d do – one was that he would tell every nurse who ever helped him, “Don’t tell the other nurses, but you’re my favorite.” And he loved the wildly inappropriate. If he was watching TV and wanted something from the kitchen, he would look at you with a sad face and say, “Can you get me some ice cream? I have cancer”…then stick out his bottom lip. It was so bad but so funny. (Interview w/ daughter September 2011) (oil in linen 40x30 in.)
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*Medicaid, a federal system of health insurance for those requiring financial assistance and meeting certain requirements. http://www.medicaid.gov/

**COBRA, a federal law that requires companies employing at least 20 people to provide for a continuation of benefits for former employees and their families under the company's group health insurance plan. http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html
,
†HIPAA, a federal law that: Limits the ability of a new employer plan to exclude coverage for preexisting conditions http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_hipaa.html
,
‡Medicare, a federal system of health insurance for people over 65 years of age and for certain younger people with disabilities. http://www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/11306.pdf ]]> ,
Subject worked throughout cancer treatments. He needed income and health insurance. Chemotherapy halted growth of cancer but subject would always have cancer because he could not tolerate surgery. Doctor recommended a PET scan as the best way to reveal the presence and severity of cancer. The insurance company denied coverage. Subject was able to get PET scan after an appeal but that process took about a month. The PET scan showed lung cancer a year after treatment but all other parts of the body were cancer-free. The subject was 60 years old.
,
In 2007, two years later, subject had a grand mal seizure at 62 years of age. Still working and insured, subject was able to have brain surgery. Subject tried to go back to work a week after brain surgery. (Daughter believes he wanted to keep income and insurance.) Employer was "scared." Subject "did not look good." Employer was concerned subject would have a seizure on the job and he was "let go." Family feels he was forced to “retire.”
,
Losing job devastated subject. Family had no other income. Daughter said, "The brain surgeries changed his personality. He went from joking and positive to angry. How was he going to survive to 65 when he would qualify for Medicare?" Subject went from earning six figures to getting temporary disability payments. He did not qualify for Medicaid.* Subject now had the additional cost of paying for his health care premium in full from his former employer. He could continue getting the insurance under COBRA† but he would have to pay for it himself.
,
Subject borrowed from every person in the family including his aged parents who were in their eighties. (Subject was one of seven siblings.) Daughter believes borrowing came to six figures to pay for COBRA insurance, mortgage, line of credit, living expenses and medical bills the health insurance did not cover.
,
COBRA** insurance was running out after 18 months. (Employers are only required to allow the former employee to buy insurance through their group for 18 months.) "Freaking out," subject called insurance companies for individual coverage, and they thought he was joking since he had lung and brain cancers. "He felt he worked his whole life and paid insurance," daughter quoted her Dad as saying. "I did everything right. I worked hard, sent kids to school, paid taxes, kept trying to work even when ill..."
,
For a short period, subject became uninsured after COBRA insurance through his former employer ended. Subject conserved by stretching his oxygen tank while he and the family tried to figure out a way to get health insurance. They managed to get medicine abroad during this time.
,
A friend suggested subject "incorporate" so he could buy a group plan. Subject had been continuously insured for so long through his employer, and then through COBRA that he was able to form company and meet the requirements for “continuous coverage under HIPAA† laws Company was formed. Although legitimate, it was never a business to make money. Family made jewelry and bracelets to sell at fairs. Subject borrowed to pay the $2400/month insurance premium. Although the premium was exorbitant, the insurance coverage allowed subject to get his oxygen, anti-seizure, cancer and other medications which kept him alive for a year until he qualified for Medicare. ‡
,
Subject expressed great relief in getting Medicare coverage. Daughter believes her father was relieved just to have coverage and not have to pay so much. A few months after qualifying for Medicare coverage, subject started moving very slowly and "swelling up." He died from congestive heart failure leaving behind many IOUs for money borrowed to survive financially after becoming ill and unable to work.
,
A note from subject’s daughter: One thing that I want to emphasize is that our broken health care system failed my Dad at the start of his illness. I brought up that he was so good about getting check-ups, but that it took some time for him to find out about his chest x-ray showing cancer. That is relevant to the story because at the time the first x-ray showing cancer was taken, his cancer had not spread as much.
,
It took them over a year to see that report in his chart, with cancer spreading the entire time, even though it was marked by the radiologist for follow-up at the time the first x-ray was taken. Somehow in the process, the report just got filed without the doctor (or anybody) noticing it. It wasn't until my Dad went back to the doctor much later that the doctor saw the first x-ray. After another x-ray showed masses in his lungs, the doctor went back through the chart and finally saw the original report. When they looked back at all the info, we could clearly see the x-ray itself was marked (mass circled on the x-ray). The doctor’s office had billed my Dad’s insurance for the appointment and diagnostic testing. So it's not like they could say they got the report late, it got lost, or anything like that. The report got back to the doctor's office from radiology and however their process worked, for us it feels like the billing was higher priority than the review of the report. Who knows what happened? All we know is the report got filed without review or anybody doing any follow-up. Consequently, my Dad was not diagnosed until the cancer was at stage 3. It may have been a different story if the cancer had been caught at an earlier stage, but we'll never know. My dad was so smart and so funny even after he got diagnosed with lung cancer (but before brain cancer). He had cute little jokes he’d do – one was that he would tell every nurse who ever helped him, “Don’t tell the other nurses, but you’re my favorite.” And he loved the wildly inappropriate. If he was watching TV and wanted something from the kitchen, he would look at you with a sad face and say, “Can you get me some ice cream? I have cancer”…then stick out his bottom lip. It was so bad but so funny. (Interview w/ daughter September 2011) (oil in linen 40x30 in.)
,
*Medicaid, a federal system of health insurance for those requiring financial assistance and meeting certain requirements. http://www.medicaid.gov/

**COBRA, a federal law that requires companies employing at least 20 people to provide for a continuation of benefits for former employees and their families under the company's group health insurance plan. http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html
,
†HIPAA, a federal law that: Limits the ability of a new employer plan to exclude coverage for preexisting conditions http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_hipaa.html
,
‡Medicare, a federal system of health insurance for people over 65 years of age and for certain younger people with disabilities. http://www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/11306.pdf ]]>
*COBRA The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain conditions.]]>
*COBRA The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain conditions.]]> ,
Later in career, as an archivist/librarian for a global chemical company in 2002, subject lost job when company closed local campus. Unemployed, subject was able to get on her husband's health insurance policy through his employer. Then, in 2007 subject's husband received a letter from his employer saying that he, at 65 years of age, had to go on Medicare and anyone on his policy (the subject) would have her coverage dropped. Subject was offered COBRA* at $650/month which they could not afford. So they turned down the offer of COBRA. Subject then discovered that her medications to control seizures would cost $430/month. Subject started to pay for seizure medicine with money from her 401K and continued to do so for 1½ years.
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From 2007 through 2010 subject spent a total of $37,062.65 from her 401k for medical and dental expenses. In 2008 and feeling desperate, subject responded to an advertisement, " Medical insurance to cover doctor and hospital for $149/month." The company called itself a "limited benefits administrator." Subject signed up paying 2 months in advance, then $149 every month until she realized she was scammed. When subject received her insurance card from this "limited benefits" company, she proceeded to get check-ups. When claims were denied, subject was given the runaround on the phone by company's customer rep. She knew she had been scammed. "I worked for 40 years and now I'm uninsured. This insurance hasn't paid anything. I thought they were going to help me."
,
One of the customer reps "with a conscience," as subject put it, told her about getting medicine cheaper from Canada and gave subject the name of a website. Subject paid $232.22/ month for medicine from Canada that would have cost her $438/mo. in the US. In 2009 and uninsured, subject felt she needed a gynecological exam which, with lab work, cost $350. Gynecologist let her pay off the bill at $25/month. And, subject continued to buy medicine from Canada until October 1, 2010 when she qualified for her state's high risk pool as mandated under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")* With insurance through the Affordable Care Act* costing $283.20/month, subject received her first mammogram since 2007. She also got a bone density test and lab work. Subject's out-of-pocket expense for the $3,840 price tag of these tests was $566.33 which she is paying off $25/month. "I feel lucky, lucky, lucky that I didn't have a medical bankruptcy while uninsured. I sneaked by. I had the means to get by even though I depleted my 401K. There are people who don't have anything to fall back on and are on the street. I lost sleep, certainly, but I stayed active so that I'd be physically exhausted when I put my head on the pillow. I got involved in the fight for the ACA because I realized that so many people were too sick and dying, and I had to speak up. I speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. It could have been me." (Interview August 2011) (oil in linen 40x30 in.)
,
*"The Affordable Care Act creates a high-risk pool program to help adults who are uninsured and have a pre-exisiting condition get insurance as soon as possible. The program is a bridge to the health insurance exchanges that will be available in 2014." ** COBRA Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation ACT is a federal law that requires companies employing at least 20 people to provide for a continuation of benefits for former employees and their families under the company's group health insurance plan. ]]> ,
Later in career, as an archivist/librarian for a global chemical company in 2002, subject lost job when company closed local campus. Unemployed, subject was able to get on her husband's health insurance policy through his employer. Then, in 2007 subject's husband received a letter from his employer saying that he, at 65 years of age, had to go on Medicare and anyone on his policy (the subject) would have her coverage dropped. Subject was offered COBRA* at $650/month which they could not afford. So they turned down the offer of COBRA. Subject then discovered that her medications to control seizures would cost $430/month. Subject started to pay for seizure medicine with money from her 401K and continued to do so for 1½ years.
,
From 2007 through 2010 subject spent a total of $37,062.65 from her 401k for medical and dental expenses. In 2008 and feeling desperate, subject responded to an advertisement, " Medical insurance to cover doctor and hospital for $149/month." The company called itself a "limited benefits administrator." Subject signed up paying 2 months in advance, then $149 every month until she realized she was scammed. When subject received her insurance card from this "limited benefits" company, she proceeded to get check-ups. When claims were denied, subject was given the runaround on the phone by company's customer rep. She knew she had been scammed. "I worked for 40 years and now I'm uninsured. This insurance hasn't paid anything. I thought they were going to help me."
,
One of the customer reps "with a conscience," as subject put it, told her about getting medicine cheaper from Canada and gave subject the name of a website. Subject paid $232.22/ month for medicine from Canada that would have cost her $438/mo. in the US. In 2009 and uninsured, subject felt she needed a gynecological exam which, with lab work, cost $350. Gynecologist let her pay off the bill at $25/month. And, subject continued to buy medicine from Canada until October 1, 2010 when she qualified for her state's high risk pool as mandated under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")* With insurance through the Affordable Care Act* costing $283.20/month, subject received her first mammogram since 2007. She also got a bone density test and lab work. Subject's out-of-pocket expense for the $3,840 price tag of these tests was $566.33 which she is paying off $25/month. "I feel lucky, lucky, lucky that I didn't have a medical bankruptcy while uninsured. I sneaked by. I had the means to get by even though I depleted my 401K. There are people who don't have anything to fall back on and are on the street. I lost sleep, certainly, but I stayed active so that I'd be physically exhausted when I put my head on the pillow. I got involved in the fight for the ACA because I realized that so many people were too sick and dying, and I had to speak up. I speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. It could have been me." (Interview August 2011) (oil in linen 40x30 in.)
,
*"The Affordable Care Act creates a high-risk pool program to help adults who are uninsured and have a pre-exisiting condition get insurance as soon as possible. The program is a bridge to the health insurance exchanges that will be available in 2014." ** COBRA Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation ACT is a federal law that requires companies employing at least 20 people to provide for a continuation of benefits for former employees and their families under the company's group health insurance plan. ]]> ,
Before getting endoscopy, subject tried to purchase health insurance online. She was deemed “uninsurable” and denied. In 2009, subject's fiancee committed suicide, and subject knew she needed mental health care. Uninsured and unable to afford to pay for a therapist, subject was lucky enough to have an aunt who offered to pay for mental health care. Psychiatrist gives subject free samples of medications since subject is uninsured and unable to afford them. In 2010 subject experienced stiff neck and shooting pain down neck, then went to a walk-in clinic. Doctor said she needed an MRI. Without insurance and already saddled with medical and school-loan debt, subject decided to sleep with a hot water bottle on her neck and take ibuprofen. A week later subject experienced a much sharper pain running down the other side of neck. Subject's mother insisted she go to the emergency room to rule out meningitis. A CAT scan and blood work were very close to normal. Doctor said whe would order a spinal tap if subject were insured. Doctor advised that a spinal tap would be very very expensive. Doctor felt comfortable sending subject home without one. It was determined that subject had an allergic reaction to her medication. She received a $2,350 bill for the emergency room visit.
,
Subject admitted to feeling numb and ambivalent. "I figure it's just one more bill to tack on to the rest. And if my credit wasn't already terrible from past due medical bills and student loans, maybe I'd be a little more weary." Subject has used Planned Parenthood for routine gynecological check-ups. Subject feels she can “never get on top of things.” She has no savings and wonders about having a family when she lives paycheck to paycheck. (Interview June 2011) (oil on linen 40x30 in.)]]> ,
Before getting endoscopy, subject tried to purchase health insurance online. She was deemed “uninsurable” and denied. In 2009, subject's fiancee committed suicide, and subject knew she needed mental health care. Uninsured and unable to afford to pay for a therapist, subject was lucky enough to have an aunt who offered to pay for mental health care. Psychiatrist gives subject free samples of medications since subject is uninsured and unable to afford them. In 2010 subject experienced stiff neck and shooting pain down neck, then went to a walk-in clinic. Doctor said she needed an MRI. Without insurance and already saddled with medical and school-loan debt, subject decided to sleep with a hot water bottle on her neck and take ibuprofen. A week later subject experienced a much sharper pain running down the other side of neck. Subject's mother insisted she go to the emergency room to rule out meningitis. A CAT scan and blood work were very close to normal. Doctor said whe would order a spinal tap if subject were insured. Doctor advised that a spinal tap would be very very expensive. Doctor felt comfortable sending subject home without one. It was determined that subject had an allergic reaction to her medication. She received a $2,350 bill for the emergency room visit.
,
Subject admitted to feeling numb and ambivalent. "I figure it's just one more bill to tack on to the rest. And if my credit wasn't already terrible from past due medical bills and student loans, maybe I'd be a little more weary." Subject has used Planned Parenthood for routine gynecological check-ups. Subject feels she can “never get on top of things.” She has no savings and wonders about having a family when she lives paycheck to paycheck. (Interview June 2011) (oil on linen 40x30 in.)]]>