>> John Stewartson is up at dawn working for the local 602 Union in Washington DC.

>> No jelly this time?

>> But by 11:30 am he is home fixing lunch for his ailing wife Linda.

>> Thank you.

>> A cancer survivor.

>> I'm gonna have to take medicine for the rest of my life.

>> Diagnosed with a brain tumor last summer she's in remission. Now it's her family's financial health at stake.

>> There's a big one here.

>> In March their health care insurance capped out at $150,000, minimum coverage by industry standards. The cost of treating cancer and its side effects demolished their life savings.

>> I think she's inaudible every cancer treatment and hit every brain cell on the way down.

>> They still owe more than $100,000 in medical bills.

>> We've had to do a lot of balancing act.

>> Dr. Depa Supermanium assumed spelling is counseling more and more patients like Linda forced to decide which treatments are worth the cost.

>> Do inaudible that somehow by choosing a treatment that is less expensive that we are compromising the quality of the care.

>> We have to fix this.

>> Senator Chris Dodd is leading the effort to push the affordable health choices act through the senate. He supports eliminating lifetime and annual caps on all health care plans.

>> The underinsured are critical group, these are people who have insurance and many cases some 53% don't realize that they're under insured so they either have huge co-pays if a problem happens or the deductable is being so high that they might as well not have insurance.

>> The Stewardsons were only offered 1 option with their union which left them uninsured after they reached the cap.

>> I'm callin to check on.

>> John calls his union and the Medicare offices everyday asking for supplemental coverage. He's had no luck so far. Linda knows John has her covered.

>> He has to cook dinner, clean the house, get up, make me breakfast, help me bathe.

>> She wishes her health care insurance plan was just as dependable.

>> He's a good man.

>> Michelle Miller, CBS News Alexandria, Virginia.

==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====

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  •  
    1

    Allen X

    07/29/09 | Report as spam

    RE: When Health Insurance Isn't Enough

    You may need alternatives to solve your problem if this is the case. Not everyone is, and a fair amount of people don't know how to start shopping smart, and saving at the grocery store can add up if you know what you're doing. Clipping coupons is a great start, and keep what coupons you can get a hold of on hand when making a grocery list. Also, any items that you go through a lot of are better bought in bulk ? bulk items often get discounted. Another of the great grocery shopping tips is to buy generic ? it's the same thing, for cheaper. A person who starts shopping smart can keep from needing payday loans to buy food.

  •  
    2

    neilboso

    12/13/09 | Report as spam

    RE: When Health Insurance Isn't Enough

    A great number of small companies who do offer health insurance often have plans with high deductibles. This means the company spends less money and you spend more. A deductible comes out of your pocket, so the higher the deductible on your policy the lower the premium costs.

    For example, if your policy has a $2500 deductible, that means you will be responsible for the first $2500 of your medical costs and after that, the insurance pays for the rest. When you think about it, most people don't spend that much on medical costs in an average year.

    PA Auto Insurance

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