ACT1 is excited to announce our new advocacy initiative that spotlights participants in our supply exchange program: ACT1 And Uninsured.
What does an uninsured Adult Coping with Type 1 Diabetes look like?
Much like the rest of us, with many of the same hopes and fears, yet with an added burden of knowledge that they must fight day in and day out to get the medication and supplies they need to survive.
Over the next month, ACT1 will be profiling participants in our Supply Exchange Program. Our program provides assistance to people who have fallen through the many cracks in our health care system and face literally life or death situations.
To start us off, we have a story from Heather and Mark. Keep your eyes out for many more stories to come. We hope that with this initiative we can show the human face of a broken health care system, that while we wait for the implementation and improvement of Health Care Reform, denies health care to people with diabetes who depend on their supplies to live. When one person with diabetes cannot access supplies, all people with diabetes are affected.
Stay tuned and contact supplies@act1diabetes.org to get involved in our program and advocacy efforts!
You are so right – it definitely affects all of us when someone cannot access the supplies they need!
So proud to be a part of an organization that is doing so much good for the D community. Heather and Mark’s story is such a common one these days. It breaks my heart to think of all the folks who have to choose between eating and buying enough supplies to get through the day.
I can certainly identify. Heather, My husband also had a fusion, and although it took 3 years, he finally did get SSD, so there is hope. Our SS attorney told us that fair or not, how long you wait has a lot to do with where you live. My advice, get an attorney that specializes in SS cases, you won’t be sorry and you don’t pay if you don’t win. We had always had great health insurance. We took COBRA after Ken lost his job and went on DB, My jobs did not carry insurance. it ran out in March, he is covered by medicare and I have a crappy plan I was able to pick up but it is not cheap, and I am now laid off, so we were paying over 40% of our monthly income in health insurance. I stocked up on supplies, knowing this was coming, but I don’t know what I am going to do if a job with benefits doesn’t come along soon. Health care reform is too little too late.