Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: No Health Insurance but I'm Still a Survivor!

According to the Census Bureau, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage is at its highest level on record. In percentage terms, 15.6 percent of Americans - almost one in every six people - were uninsured in 2003, an increase from 15.2 percent in 2002. This is not just news to report; this is becoming an epidemic in one of the richest countries in the world. Many of us scratch our heads and wonder how this could be.

Meet Haskell Smith, a 50-something working class man, in pretty good health by all accounts - with the exception of managing asthma over the years. Mr. Smith worked hard, paid his taxes and was by most standards, an upstanding citizen. As a hardworking American citizen, even with a full-time job, he was without healthinsurance.

Haskell Smith had only been hospitalized for severe illness once, maybe twice in his lifetime. In fact, the last time he was sick was in the late 80's when he had a bout with pneumonia. Although he didn't have healthcare coverage, he was in pretty good health, or so he thought, and managed to control his asthma with over-the-counter medication. It wasn't until he was in need of his asthma inhaler and went to a local pharmacy to get his over-the-counter med (as he'd done for years) that he ran into the issues of not being insured. "It was kind of unusual how this all came about." says Mr. Smith. While at the neighborhood pharmacy to pick up his routine asthma medication, he was given the shocking news that his over-the-counter medication had been pulled from the shelf due to government regulations. "I had been getting Primatene Mist asthma inhaler over-the-counter for years." Confused, upset and concerned about his health status, Mr. Smith began pondering how he would get the money to afford a doctor's visit to treat his asthma. The grim reality of not having health care insurance had finally come home to roost.

I Don't Have Health Insurance, Now What?