Situation worse in California, study concludes
By Joe Goldeen
If 43-year-old Donald Howlin could sleep through the night, chances are his dreams wouldn't be sweet. They'd be nightmares, much like the living nightmare he's going through trying to obtain adequate health care.
The situation for Howlin, a Lathrop father of five who lives with a broken body and chronic pain, is one of millions of complex stories of formerly working Americans with debilitating injuries or illnesses who find themselves dependent on a strained health-care system.
"I don't understand the system anymore," Howlin said Thursday. A new report shows Howlin is not alone.
Approximately 89.6 million Americans - including 13 million Californians - were uninsured at some point in 2006-07, according to a report released Thursday by the health consumer organization Families USA.
Nationwide, that's more than one in three people, or 34.7 percent younger than 65, when federally sponsored Medicare kicks in.
In California, the statistics are higher. It is one of five states, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Florida, where two in five people younger than 65 went without health insurance for some period in 2006-07, according to the report, based mainly on U.S. Census Bureau data.
The Families USA report also showed that most uninsured individuals lacked coverage for long periods: Nearly two-thirds, or 63.9 percent, were uninsured for six months or longer, and more than half (50.2 percent) were uninsured for nine months or longer.
"The huge number of people without health coverage over the past two years helps to explain why health care has become the top domestic issue in the 2008 presidential campaign," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
"The expansion of health coverage in America is no longer simply a matter of altruism about other people but a matter of intense self-interest," he said.
That's the case for Nou Lee, a healthy 25-year-old man from Stockton who let his health insurance lapse for one reason: "I just can't afford it, so I let it expire."
He used to contribute $200 a month for catastrophic coverage and would still like to have some insurance, but it's out of his reach. Lee indicated he wouldn't know what to do in the case of a health emergency.
"The findings of the Families USA report - the fact that nearly 90 million Americans did not have health coverage at some point in the past year - reinforces how important it is that we ensure health insurance is affordable, accessible and available to all Americans," said Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, who represents most of San Joaquin County.
"It is especially ironic that the report was released on the very same day President Bush repeated his pledge to veto health insurance for over 1.3million children in California and nearly 20,000 in San Joaquin County. I stand with Governor (Arnold) Schwarzenegger, hundreds of other local and state elected officials nationwide, and legislators from both sides of the aisle in calling on President Bush to protect health insurance for children in California and across the country," McNerney said Thursday.
The number of states where more than one-third of people younger than 65 went without health insurance for all or part of a two-year period more than doubled - rising from nine states in 1999-2000 to 20 states plus the District of Columbia in 2006-07.
"These trends document the consequences of inaction. The number of uninsured has reached crisis proportions that must be addressed by the president and Congress to ensure that health coverage is available and affordable for all," Pollack said.
Howlin considers himself a victim of the nation's health-care crisis. He has seen his health deteriorate as a direct result of first being uninsured and then hitting numerous roadblocks in the Medicaid system, known as Medi-Cal in California.
In 1983, he was caught between a large truck and a loading dock. His body was crushed, and he spent many months on the mend and in rehabilitation. Despite his injuries, he went back to work for 10 years in a physically demanding job, helping his father renovate apartments in the East Bay until he reinjured his back.
Until a year ago, his doctor visits and medications were largely covered through his wife's employer-sponsored health insurance, and his pain was under control. Then she lost her job, and the benefits eventually dried up. At one point, Howlin was taking 15 pills for everything from high blood pressure to high cholesterol to chronic pain.
Howlin said he just wants the pain to stop so he can go back to work and feed his family.
"I don't want this ... welfare system to do it. I want to take care of my own family," he said.
New Report Finds 89.6 Million Americans Were Uninsured During 2006
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