Jose Garcia’s Story - “Because I am self employed, I can’t insure my family.”
07/04/08 | Comment (3)
I am a married father of one son. I am self-employed working as a mechanic.I have a 7 year old son. My wife works at home caring for our son and volunteers in our community. As a self-employed person I am forced to fi gure out healthcare for myself and for my family. Purchasing healthcare coverage directly through the insurance companies is much too expensive and does not fit within our monthly budget as we have a mortgage. This leaves my self and my wife without coverage as our son is on a low-cost state plan.
Recently my wife became very ill with severe chest pains. She had not seen a doctor since we had no health insurance. We therefore decided to go into the hospital. We were at the hospital for about four hours. They ran tests but in the end they gave her a small prescription and sent us on our way. A few weeks later we received a bill for close to $5,000. We cannot afford to pay this much and have talked with the hospital who refuse to offer us an affordable payment plan. They have said if we do not pay they will take out a lien on our house.
Excerpted from California ACORN's compilation of Health Care stories. Download the PDF. (7.6 MB)
