As luck would have it, we arrived in Charleston, West Virginia on Saturday to find an arts festival in full swing, with live bluegrass music and some of the area’s finest artists displaying their work.
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The kids are on state-assisted medical benefits, and her husband’s fully covered through his job. Jessica, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom, is the only one in this Elkhart, Indiana family of six who doesn’t have health insurance.
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On Thursday morning in Nashville’s Centennial Park, we stood alongside Tennessee health advocates and public officials pushing for health care reform – right beside a life-sized replica of the Parthenon.
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We unhooked the RV and bid farewell to the Midwest on Wednesday, heading south out of St. Louis along the mighty Mississippi River
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We drove with Reverend Jim through miles of soy bean and corn fields from the United Methodist church in Princeton, Illinois, where he’s been a pastor for the last 13 years, to the free medical clinic where he volunteers every Tuesday in Depue, about 10 miles away.
When 33-year-old Diyon and her husband adopted a child earlier this year, they quickly learned some demoralizing news. The only way to cover the new expenses related to their new son Jayden's multiple health conditions was for her to leave her job and for the family to shed some of it’s limited assets to qualify Jayden for Medicaid. In the process, the family went from a combined income of over $65,000 to filing for bankruptcy within a few months.
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Pics from Cover America Tour adventures in the Midwest
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Uninsured families in Detroit rely on the Cabrini Clinic for care that would otherwise be out of reach.
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Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania – struggling to buy insurance on your own proves to be a common thread through many of the states we’ve visited on the Cover America Tour
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Laurel developed epilepsy, had to stop working, and paid for COBRA insurance coverage until it ran out. Individual coverage is too expensive.
Peter had to make the "economic decision" not to get his thumb reattached after an accident. Every day, he looks at his hand and wishes he could have made a different choice.
On Friday we drove up the long driveway past the pond to Marty’s beautiful home in West Jefferson, Ohio, a rural hideaway outside of Columbus. It was hard to believe that the person lucky enough to live here could have trouble affording health care.
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Five months into pregnancy with her first child, Tina began receiving big bills from her insurance company – but hadn’t they assured her that her policy included maternity coverage?
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After four days, three cities, two stories and one media event, we rolled out of Pennsylvania and into Ohio.
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Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have just published an amazing investigative report detailing how credit card companies and other lenders are increasingly working through doctors and hospitals to pitch high-interest medical financing plans to their patients. The cards and financing are promoted to doctors, dentists, and veterinarians as a way to make more money and get paid promptly, according to the report.
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Nicole’s credit card bill skyrockets every September – time for back to school clothes and the annual check-up at the doctor for her two girls. Clothes, sure. But doctor visits? Since they can’t afford health coverage, she says, “My Visa is my insurance card.”
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Twelve days into the Cover America Tour we’ve heard overwhelmingly from people about problems with the cost of health care, but there are other critical issues such as quality and safety we’ll be exploring as we make our way across the country this summer.
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Plans to pull into the Brattleboro farmers market and talk to folks were rained out, so we kept on rolling across this glorious green state.
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Several of New Hampshire’s leading voices for health care reform partnered up with the Cover America Tour Tuesday in Portsmouth to speak for change.
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Rainy weather has been as much a fixture at Portland’s Old Port Festival as the lobster rolls in recent years, so we felt especially blessed when we got both a gorgeous day and a sea of Portlanders ready to talk health care on Sunday.
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