Fannie Brown - “…the cost of my medical insurance is skyrocketing through the roof.”
07/04/08 | Comment (1)
Fannie Brown - "“…the cost of my medical insurance is skyrocketing through the roof.””My name is Fannie Brown. I currently reside in Oakland and I am a single mother of six children. Currently I do not work because I am retired. I am a member of ACORN and volunteer for them.
I have five boys, ages: 15, 13, 12, 10 and 9, and a little 8 year old girl.
Although I am retired, the cost of my medical insurance is skyrocketing through the roof. I pay $491 a month for my medical insurance. My union pension is only about $300, so it doesn’t even cover that—and believe it or not, the plan I have only covers me: not the children, dental or vision, just me. The kids’ Medi-Cal is picked-up by Alameda County, but that doesn’t always help. For example, if they need certain medicines, because the County doesn’t cover all medicines, I have to pay out of my own pocket. As you know, medications can be very costly. Sometimes I try desperately to find money for these medications. That expense deeply affects my ability to buy clothing, food for my home, to take the kids on outings—they never enjoy any of that. Even if my medical insurance went down $100 a month, it would greatly help me, maybe allow me to buy more food. But at the rate it is now, I have to cut back on all the things that are essential for my family.
Excerpted from California ACORN's compilation of Health Care stories. Download the PDF. (7.6 MB)
