Huffington Magazine Issue 34 | Page 71

LEFT OUT She spent eight days in the hospital, she says, and she never received a bill. It was clear enough that she could not pay. A hospital spokeswoman declined to discuss the cost of Johnson’s care, citing patient confidentiality restrictions, but estimated that the typical stay there runs upwards of $1,000 a day. Johnson’s doctors discharged her with strict instructions not to go back to work, she says, and with a voluminous list of prescriptions. Her son, Dustin, went online and filled out her Medicaid application. Soon, she had in han d a Medicaid card. She took it to the pharmacy and brought home the shelf-full of pills the doctors ordered, while surrendering minimal co-pays — typically just a dollar or two. She made regular follow-up visits to the doctors, who adjusted her medications when her stomach bothered her or when she felt dizzy. Her health stabilized. Her pain receded. But this past spring, another letter came from the state, this one informing her that her disability payment put her over the income threshold for Medicaid. So ended her subsidized trips to HUFFINGTON 02.03.13 the pharmacy. Forced to fend for herself, she has instead frequented a local Walmart, where she is able to purchase the pills that she needs a few at a time, but never enough for a full course. She visits a community nonprofit pharmacy for the poor that provides her some of her needed medication, but not all. In short, she takes what pills she can get when she is able to af- “IT JUST DOESN’T SEEM RIGHT TO ME. IT JUST DOESN’T SEEM FAIR.” ford them, an ad hoc arrangement that has seen her symptoms return with a vengeance. She recently paid $25 to visit a subsidized clinic where a doctor warned her that her kidney is now failing — probably because of the effects of her medication. She could soon require dialysis. Should that come to pass, she has no idea what she will do. Not for the first time — and probably not for the last — she diagnosed her own condition in starkly simple terms. “I don’t have insurance,” she said. “I don’t have any money. I pray to God I get my Medicaid back. I pray every day, because I’ve got no insurance for anything.”