Uninsured and Cancer Care

Over half of uninsured Americans delay care or medication because of costs (“Affordable Health Care for America,” 2009). Patricia Anstett, a Detroit Free Press writer, acknowledges the accommodations for the uninsured and the poor in the current healthcare reform bills in her January 10th article “Breast cancer diagnosis raises health care reform questions,” but she suggests that loopholes in the current system for the uninsured need to be fully accounted for in the new system. Anstett describes 31 year old uninsured cancer patient Rachel Peterson’s various problems finding and getting care. Peterson makes less than $7,000 a year. Her 51 year old mother, Regina, was diagnosed with cancer a few months before Rachel, but her age qualified her for "Michigan's Medicaid program. Her mother qualified because her breast cancer [was] found through the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program that ensures treatment for any woman whose tumor was diagnosed through the program. It serves mostly women ages 50-65.”

Rachel Peterson was too young to qualify for free medical care programs, so she delayed seeking care because she did not have health insurance or enough money to pay for doctor’s visits. Her mother, in a similar financial situation, ignored the lump she found in her breast for four years before seeking medical advice. By the time Peterson’s mother had surgery, the lump “was as large as an orange” (Anstett, 2010, Para. 21). When Rachel Peterson did go to a doctor for “a cough that wouldn’t go away. . . . It took her another five months to get a mammogram and biopsy to confirm the cancer. Along the way, she accumulated nearly $800 in medical bills” (Anstett, 2010, Para. 23). Eventually, Peterson got free care from POH Regional Medical Center in Pontiac. Since Anstett’s article was published, Peterson has received generous donations from the public to help cover the costs associated with her recovery.