Jul
13
MS patient: Government-run health care system would help patients
Filed Under News, Personal Stories
Had you asked Teresa Crowson her thoughts about a government-run health care plan three years ago, she probably would’ve been skeptical.
That was before she was called “clinically probable” for having multiple sclerosis, a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system.
The disease puts her in frequent contact with the health care system, seeing doctors, running tests, taking medications that will continue for the rest of her life. There is no cure.
“I used to think we don’t need to have government involved. It’s just going to cost more,” the 36-year-old Newport News woman said. “I used to say, ‘It doesn’t matter to me.’ But I never thought I would have a chronic illness.”
Crowson said she’s blessed that her husband has great insurance through the city of Newport News, where he works as a firefighter.
But she never knows when something might change. The rising cost of health care is forcing many companies to drop insurance benefits for employees, or to significantly raise the amount of employees’ co-payments for treatment and medications.
“We will always worry about what comes next and will we be prepared for it,” she said.
Even with insurance, the family still has steep co-pays. Once, Crowson underwent five MRIs in a seven-month span.
With a 20 percent co-pay, each one cost about $200 out of pocket.
“I was crying over the bills at that point, and had to ask family members for some support,” she said.
“We can, for the most part, afford it all. I can’t imagine how people without the coverage we have can handle it.”
So the so-called public option — a government-run health care plan at the heart of President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reform — is looking better than it ever has to Crowson.
There are gaps in our current system and people, through no fault of their own, fall through, she said. There has to be a way to make sure they’re taken care of, she said.
“I look at it not as government control, but government support,” Crowson said. “They’re not trying to take over. They’re just trying to promote options.”
read the rest via MS patient: Government-run health care system would help patients – dailypress.com.
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