Working mother can’s son covered by health insurance due to cost of family coverage

Jaime Swift has been faced with making hard choices, again and again. Working in her chosen profession- social work-- was important to her. So important, in fact, that she and her young son, Elijah, moved across the state three years ago to take a job she wanted in Rochester. It seemed perfect, she could be near family in Winona and would no longer need to lean on the welfare and medical assistance she’d received while going to school. Her new position did come with benefits, but Jaime soon discovered that she couldn’t afford regular insurance for herself and her son. “It would have taken half of my paycheck,” she said. Here the choice was insurance or rent, so there was no medical coverage for either of them at first. But, because she had a decent salary, medical assistance was no longer an option.

“Eventually, I was able to get insurance for myself, but family coverage for my son was too much, an additional $200 a month,” she said. Her next choice was insurance or daycare. She opted for daycare.

Jaime and Elijah, now a second-grader have been in this situation for more than a year now and it doesn’t get any easier. Jaime talked to her organization about the problem. They acknowledged the gravity of her situation but couldn’t help her, they said. Health insurance is costly for small businesses too. This month Jaime had her job changed to mental health practitioner and her hours reduced. Now she is worried she will lose her coverage too and still not be eligible for medical assistance.

“It is so stressful,” she said. “Elijah seems pretty healthy, but I worry that we will miss something because he doesn’t have regular check-ups. There were times that I didn’t bring him in for treatment …one time for stitches…because I couldn’t afford it. He’s an active kid and could easily have an accident on the playground or something.”

When she does take him in for minor infections, it is costly out-of-pocket care. “Before Rochester had Urgent Care places, I had to take him to the Mayo Clinic even for strep throat cultures. It was $100 for the doctor visit, plus labs, plus the medicine. And even making an appointment is frustrating. Once I tell them I don’t have insurance, they make me talk to the billing office and the social worker before they will book an appointment. It seems like all they care about is making sure they get paid.”

What would Jaime like to see happen? “People shouldn’t have to choose who in their family will get health care and who won’t. Ideally I would like to see everyone have access to affordable health care. If it has to be through the government, that would be fine too. Medicaid doesn’t cover the cost of health care providers, so it would have to be fair for them too.”