"Reviving the Economy: Jobs"-Health Insurance Options For The Unemployed
Thursday, February 12, 2009SUSIE GHARIB: The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits reached a record number last month: more than 4.8 million people. With job cuts every day, laid off workers want to know what happens to their health insurance? It's a challenging question. As we continue our series "Reviving the Economy: Jobs", Jeff Yastine says more and more people are struggling for answers.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Spend some time at La Luz del Mundo health clinic and you'll see how some people are getting by without insurance. The clinic offers free medical treatment to low-income and indigent patients. Some have always been poor while others have seen their fortunes slide downhill with the economy. Like Shirley Deoliveira, who not long ago had a business and a house. She lost both in the downturn.
SHIRLEY DEOLIVEIRA, PATIENT: It's just so hard, because your life is everything. Your health is everything and when they step in, like people step in, so generous and give it to you and you want to give it back.
YASTINE: There other options for the growing number of jobless Americans like Deoliveira. You can continue your company-sponsored health plan through a Federal system known by its initials: COBRA. But that's expensive, premiums for family coverage run about $1000 a month. You can buy private insurance, but it too is expensive and excludes many with pre- existing health conditions. Retail health clinics like these are popular options for minor injuries, routine screening and vaccinations. Luz del Mundo founder Doctor Erwin Vasquez says clinics like his offer a less expensive alternative than going to the ER.
DR. ERWIN VASQUEZ, FOUNDER, CLINICA LUZ DEL MUNDO: I try to advise them not to go to the emergency room because that is not the best place for them. You go to the emergency room for the real emergency and that is what those places are for. This place here is to give patients a resource. So they can move up.
YASTINE: Not having dental coverage is another problem for the unemployed. That's why dental clinics like this one at Nova Southeastern University are popular. Services here can save money because the procedures are done by dental students with professional supervision. Assistant professor Doctor John Seeberg says there's no shortage of patients.
DR. JOHN SEEBERG, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIV. COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE: There's a lot of underserved people in this country. If we weren't here, I think a lot of people just wouldn't get the care. They couldn't afford it on the outside or just couldn't see their way to get it done.
YASTINE: Not getting it done. That's the predicament more Americans, out of work and out of insurance, find themselves in. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Miami.
