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Local NewsWomen Speak Out For Health Care ReformBy Shelley WalcottMILWAUKEE - A group of Milwaukee area women say the current health care system has failed them. They spoke out Wednesday night at a event designed to highlight the need for health care reform. Mary Kay Wagner's husband died of brain cancer, but not before his insurance plan ruined their financial health. Wagner was one of several women speaking out at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts Wednesday evening, an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health. She told the group how her husband's insurance plan refused to pay for many of his treatments and how the bills just piled up: "I was getting bills and EOB's and statements, sometimes up to five a day during the worst of his treatments." And it isn't always major illnesses that sparks financial fear. Single mom Lashawndra Vernon says anything past a routine doctor visit puts her close to the edge: "Even though my insurance covers most of it, what's left is astronomical. Especially in these times." Vernon worries about what she would do if one of her kids got sick: "And I don't want to have to start thinking, 'OK, do I feed them, or do I get them medication.'" These two women - like many others struggling with health care - say President Barack Obama's health care reform plan can't come soon enough. "One of our basic rights is life," said Wagner. "And you can't have life if you're not healthy." One of the speakers said many of us who think we have good plans could change our minds quickly, if we ever got really sick. |
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