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Donna, 58, is the full-time caretaker for her 84-year-old mother who is suffering from dementia. Because her mother needs constant assistance, Donna had to stop working to care for her.
That’s why Donna was uninsured when she was diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer on March 22, 2017. Without health insurance, Donna was unable to access preventive care and screenings that could have helped her get an earlier diagnosis. It also meant that Donna was left with a devastating cancer diagnosis, and no health insurance to cover her treatment.
Luckily, Donna was able to get charity care at a hospital about an hour away from her home. “If I didn’t have that, I’d probably be dead by now,” Donna said. A few months after her diagnosis, Donna was approved for disability, but because of the two-year waiting period, her health coverage through Medicare won’t start until June 2019.
Without health insurance, Donna can’t get follow-up treatment or take care of other health issues that she’s having, and fears what will happen if the charity care ends. “I’m grateful for the people who donated their money to help me,” she told us, “but they really shouldn’t have had to. If I had Medicaid, I wouldn’t feel so hopeless.”
