Linda Smith, 62, was emotional when she spoke about her battles with colon cancer and paying for health care. She gave her testimonial in Marion for Barack Obama’s rural health policy forum on Nov. 12 in the Opera House.
A Mullins resident, Smith said she worked at ArvinMeritor before being laid off in July 2004. She had insurance for six months afterwards. Her doctor, Paul DeMarco, diagnosed her with colon cancer in April 2005. She didn’t have insurance, but still had surgery and chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
“We tried to get insurance but everything was so expensive,” Smith said. She said she has paid some of her hospital bills by withdrawing from her 401k retirement plan. The 20 people gathered for the forum also shared their experiences with paying for health care.
According to Obama’s plan for a healthy America, he would work to provide affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American; modernizing U.S. health care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health, according to the Obama plan.
DeMarco practiced medicine in Marion before becoming the director of rural community health programs at Francis Marion University. An Obama supporter, he presented figures on the nation’s bill of health. His statistics say one third of Americans are uninsured or underinsured. Nearly 80 percent of the underinsured have someone working in their family, he said addressing the myth that people without adequate insurance are lazy.
DeMarco also said that the uninsured are the not the only group that suffers from lack of proper health care. When someone goes to the hospital, someone pays, he said, saying that an insured family pays about $1,000 for each uninsured patient.
David N. Zikusoka, also present at the meeting and an Obama for America policy associate, discussed Obama’s plan for healthy America, saying the plan aims to lower health care costs and ensure affordable, high quality health care for all, he said.
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Campaign forum speaks on health care
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Published: November 27, 2007
Published: November 27, 2007
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