The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., Shawn Vestal column
By Shawn Vestal, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
He showed up at a cardiologist's office
"They said, we've got to fix this right away," Hancock said.
One six-day hospital stay later, his heart is all fixed up -- with a new valve grown from pig tissue -- and he's mostly recovered. Crucially, the cost didn't bankrupt him.
As he puts it: "A government program saved the farm."
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act are struggling to come to grips with the inescapable reality of the law's mere existence: Witness the inane and vicious drubbing
For Hancock, the ACA is not a solution, but a good step toward one.
"It's far from over," he said. "But I think we're headed in the direction of less expensive, better quality care."
The 61-year-old Hancock, who really does live on a farm north of
During his years of symphony work, he was covered the way most Americans are: through employer-provided insurance, for which he also paid a share. A tall, lean man, Hancock says he has enjoyed "excellent general health," with an interest in natural, holistic alternatives to traditional, drug-based medicine. When he became his own boss, he discovered what many others in the same boat have long complained about.
"As a self-employed person, I found insurance to be too expensive," he said.
So he went without. When the ACA passed, he hoped it might provide him a more affordable way to get health insurance. Last fall, he went to the Washington Healthplanfinder website; because he and his wife had different health care coverage -- she's enrolled in
"It took the intervention of my insurance agent," he said, "to sort that out."
He found that he had made little enough money in the previous year that he qualified for
"And on
He went to his new family doctor. She told him it wasn't a heart attack, but she didn't know what it was. He saw a specialist and underwent some tests: Still no answer. Meanwhile, he was out of energy, sleeping poorly and sometimes feeling a fluttery heart.
"The most frightening part was: Is this what old age feels like? Is this what life will be like from now on? Have I just been diminished by age? I didn't want that to be true," he said.
At that point, he ran into the limits of his
He had to wait a month for the new policy to take effect before he visited the specialist, who scheduled his surgery immediately. One of his heart valves had failed and needed to be replaced.
"The valve was not holding and my blood pumping was diminished by 30 or 40 percent overall," he said.
Hancock feels lucky to have gotten excellent care from his team at
But in the bills he has received, you get a clear picture of the deep-rooted problems in the system that have nothing to do with Obamacare: a method of pricing and payment that is opaque, expensive and absurd.
The total cost for his care is still being tallied. But the bill for his six-day hospital stay alone came to
Someone just like
But the negotiated discount for
It makes no sense. Which is not to say Hancock isn't grateful. He's "98 percent" recovered, and he's back on the farm.
"I'm a really lucky guy," he said.
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