The Cover America Tour trekked across America's heartland for a second time on our way from the Democratic National Convention in Denver to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. On the way we interviewed Barbara from Le Mars, IA.

In her home hidden among corn fields, she shared her story of struggling to obtain affordable and high quality health insurance and provided yet more insight into the experience of ordinary citizens. In reviewing her options she’s been forced to settle for the best of the worst.

Barbara’s employer provides health insurance through her job as a medical transcriptionist, but at a high monthly cost of over $400 and huge out of pocket expenses. The family has to pay 30% of all claims until they’ve spent $19,000 out-of-pocket annually. Working on a nearby dairy farm, her husband’s employer can’t afford to insure its workers so the family began looking for private coverage in the individual insurance market.

Barbara eventually found a seemingly better insurance option, one with a monthly premium of $330 and a family deductible of just over $5,000 per year. It provides 100% coverage once the deductible is met. Still, the prescription drugs they need are not on the plan’s formulary so they’ve had to purchase them from an online pharmacy based out of Canada.

Furthermore, the premium recently jumped to $420 per month and with their high deductible, Barbara is being forced to put off care. "I am scared to death to take my children or my husband or myself to the doctor. Yes, we have insurance, but let's face it, it is only for emergencies," said Barbara.

Last year she was faced with one of those emergencies when she accidentally cut a tendon in her hand. The family had to find the money to meet their annual deductible and its left them searching for ways to pay off the debt. "I used our (federal) stimulus and tax (refund) to help pay it down."

Her story is not unlike many others that we've heard this summer, but Barbara brought up an important point others haven't mentioned. If she were to opt for her less generous employer provided health insurance, the cost would be paid with pre-tax income under current federal law. But as an individual health insurance consumer, she isn’t getting the same benefit and she wants to know why her premium costs aren’t tax deductible.

This is yet another hardship faced by Americans attempting to purchase health insurance on their own. Not only are the options often expensive and limited, consumers aren’t eligible for the benefits others with employer-based coverage receive.

Barbara’s now looking for a job again, hoping she can find one that will provide a better option for her family’s health coverage. "No one’s willing to step up for us, in the government or private sector," she said. "I know we can do better. We can put people on the moon, send satellites to the edge of our galaxy, take pictures of galaxies we will never even get to, and we cannot put together a system that is economically feasible to provide healthcare to our citizens."

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