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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2018)
6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL AUGUST 8, 2018 HEALTH CARE from A1 it?” According to a 2018 report released by the Commonwealth Fund which was founded in 1918, the percentage of unin- sured adults jumped from 12.7 there’s a 70 percent chance she’s going to need surgery,” Kurt said. “She needs to go to Portland but the people here said we better have some kind of insurance be- fore we go.” ment. Th e company boasts on the page set aside for users to create to that. campaigns, “We’re the leader in “She didn’t want to go to the online medical fundraising” and doctor because we didn’t have reports more than $650 million any health insurance,” he said. raised per year for those cam- Th e Walkers had paigns. Th e site makes always paid health it easy, letting indi- insurance costs for viduals choose from their employees, breast cancer, cancer, dating back to that IVF, lymphoma, sur- fi rst print shop in gery, leukemia or the California 40 years more-broad, ‘health ago. But 18 months insurance’ to launch ago, the couple their campaign pages. was priced out of On the Walker’s the market. Th ree page, they write that months later, Tere- they’re thankful for sa was diagnosed people who can do- with colon cancer. nate but push an ac- “We make too tion more urgent for much for OHP them: contacting local (Oregon Health government represen- Plan) and it would tatives to ask for solu- cost $2,000 a tions to the health care month for Tere- crisis. sa and me on the “Th ey say they’re marketplace,” Kurt helping us, but they’re said. “So, that’s not,” Kurt said of sena- $24,000 a year I tors and congressmen. would be paying “Th ey get free health for health insur- care but they can’t ance. Th at leaves seem to fi x ours.” me with $10,000 Th e Sentinel reached for the rest of the out to both state and year. So, if I paid federal representatives for health insur- from the Walker’s dis- ance, we would be trict. State Senator below the poverty Floyd Prozanski cit- line and we’d qual- Teresa Walker was diagnosed with colon cancer months after dropping her health ed local options like ify for OHP.” insurance due to climbing costs. the Bridge Assistance 2018 require- program for individu- ments for the Ore- percent in 2016 to 15.5 percent PeaceHealth has been helping als without insurance and said, gon Health Plan, a program for in March of this year. Th e Cen- the Walkers ferret out resources “We, as a state and as a country, low-income Oregonians paid ters for Disease Control places and Teresa said the couple has need to think about our health for through federal Medicaid the number of uninsured adults been looking for grants. To date, care policy to insure everyone and state funds, require individ- at 28.2 million. PeaceHealth’s Bridge Assistance is able to have access to medical uals to earn up to 138 percent “I just keep thinking about program, has paid $7,000 of Te- care when they need it.” He also of the federal poverty level, or that story I saw,” Teresa said, resa’s expenses. off ered to speak with Teresa di- $32,900 for a family of four, to pausing to gather her voice from Cheryl Mallory is the assis- rectly. A representative from qualify. tears, “It was that a woman fell tant director for patient access Senator Ron Wyden’s offi ce said Teresa is in the middle of a onto the subway tracks and at PeaceHealth and said that, po- his schedule did not allow him round of chemo, then she’ll have she just kept saying, ‘Don’t call tentially, 70 to 100 percent of pa- to respond prior to the news another round and then she’ll 911, please don’t call 911.’ She tients’ charges could be covered deadline. Congressman Peter need surgery. Her doctors say couldn’t aff ord it.” by Bridge. Th e program follows DeFazio’s offi ce cited constituent she’s about half way through her In July of this year, CCTV a process dictated by the federal privacy concerns in declining to course of treatment. To date, the footage showed a woman exit- poverty guidelines and off ers set comment. couple is up to $262,000 in med- ing a train in Boston when her discounts. However, only charges Teresa’s numbers are too low ical bills. leg slipped between the platform related to PeaceHealth facilities for surgery right now but she Th e community has rallied and the train. Her fellow passen- and physicians are eligible for always halts just short of fi nish- around the couple, off ering gers stepped in to pull her from the discount. Teresa’s surgery at ing a thought that may lead any- meals and setting up a gofund- danger. Bystanders reported at OHSU would not be eligible. where other than a healthy, safe me page. But Kurt manages his the time hearing the woman beg Kurt has loved Teresa since recovery. When asked if there is a schedule so he can cook most would-be helpers not to call for high school and they’ve hardly debt point or moment when the of their meals and the couple is an ambulance for the leg that was been separated in the 44 years couple runs out of money, if she’ll thankful for the $3,610 raised so cut up her thigh and to the bone they built their family and raised be denied further treatment she far out of a $5,000 goal. But Te- because it was “$3,000” and she their children. Th eir son and pauses. “I don’t know.” resa said it isn’t as much about “couldn’t aff ord it.” a nephew help out at the print Her prognosis, according to the money as it is about the sys- “By the time we’re done, we’re shop tackling the design work Kurt though, is good. “It’s cur- tem. looking at half a million,” Kurt Teresa used to handle. able,” he said. “It’s all curable if “Why aren’t we talking about said. Teresa’s already had a long Th ere's been only one update you have enough money.” this? I’m home more now and hospital stay and if she under- on the couple’s gofundme page To donate to Teresa’s medical watch the news and why aren’t goes surgery, it will be for an es- since it was started and became bills, visit www.gofundme.com/ we talking about the 35 mil- timated eight hours and followed one of the more than 250,000 teresa-and-kurt-walkermedi- lion Americans who don’t have by a minimum two-week stay. campaigns on the platform cal-fund. health insurance and can’t aff ord “Th ey told us last night that crowdfunding for medical treat- HOME PRIDE Painting and Repair LLC Over 30 years of experience Schedule Now For Fall Interior Painting Get ahead of the crowd! Now is a good time to schedule for Spring and Summer 2019 exterior repaints Handguns Long Rifles Concealed carry classes We Buy Guns! 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