[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 87 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    FACES OF THE HEALTH CARE CRISIS

  Mr. RIEGLE. Mr. President, I rise again today in my continuing effort 
to put real faces on the health care crisis confronting our country. I 
want to tell you about Ruth Ristola a 56-year-old woman from Ontonagon, 
a small town located in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan.
  Ruth's health has suffered as a result of chronic respiratory 
problems ever since her childhood bouts with pleurisy and whooping 
cough. She now struggles with asthma, environmental sensitivities, and 
recurring episodes of pneumonia. Her fragile health has made it 
impossible for her to find affordable insurance, and crucial surgery 
has left her thousands of dollars in debt and dependent on government 
assistance to live.
  Ruth and her children first lost their insurance coverage in 1978. 
That year, her husband filed for divorce and Ruth and her two children, 
then age 11 and 16, were refused continued coverage under his 
comprehensive health insurance policy. Ruth lost everything in the 
divorce except her home, which she subsequently sold on a land 
contract. Because her ex-husband did not pay his court-ordered child 
support, the land contract payments of $660 month provided the family's 
only income.
  In the 15 years since then, Ruth has tried several times to purchase 
health insurance for herself and her children. In 1980, she bought an 
affordable health insurance policy that provided minimal benefits. But 
the company canceled her policy just 2 months later when she filed her 
first claim, because they did not want to cover treatment for her 
respiratory conditions.
  Fortunately, her children were healthy and Ruth was able to manage 
the usual childhood illnesses and injuries. However, it was not always 
easy. Ruth recalls when one of her children had a tooth knocked out--
she had to hold a garage sale just to raise enough money to have her 
child's mouth examined.
  Ruth, however, faced far more serious and costly health problems. 
From November 1981 to July 1983, Ruth incurred $25,000 of hospital 
bills for emergency services, inpatient treatment and outpatient 
therapy for pneumonia and other respiratory problems. That's an average 
of $1,250 every month.
  Because she did not have health insurance, Ruth was forced to drain 
her modest savings, and then make monthly payments against this 
substantial debt. These payments, combined with her asthma prescription 
drug costs, consumed 30 percent of Ruth's total monthly income. Almost 
2 years later, in June 1985, she received a lump sum final payment on 
her house and used it to pay the hospital the remaining $16,000 she 
owed.
  Later that summer, she tried again to purchase individual insurance 
through Blue Cross Blue Shield. They offered her a premium of $400 per 
month, and they would not cover any pre-existing conditions for the 
first 2 years. Clearly, this kind of coverage was neither affordable 
nor useful, and so Ruth was still without insurance coverage.
  Unfortunately, Ruth faced further medical problems the very next 
year. She had an emergency appendectomy in October 1986, during which 
surgeons discovered both a calcium-filled gall bladder and a large 
uterine tumor. Sadly, Ruth had to have a hysterectomy, and have her 
gall bladder removed. In order to pay her $10,000 hospital bill, she 
had to spend the rest of her house sale income.
  Her savings now completely gone and without further resources, Ruth 
finally turned to the State in 1988. Michigan does not offer cash 
assistance, but she did qualify for limited outpatient medical and drug 
coverage, as well as food stamps and subsidized housing. However, 
Ruth's State assistance did not cover any inpatient hospital care, so 
she continued to go without complete insurance protection.

  Ruth faced more surgery in 1992 when her scar tissue from the 
previous operation herniated. As a result of this operation, Ruth 
cannot lift or move anything weighing more than 25 pounds without 
potentially tearing her abdominal wall. After Ruth's surgery, the 
hospital waived all their charges except for the surgeon's fees, so she 
is back to paying $20 a month on a bill of $1,400.
  Ruth's health conditions and her need for government provided health 
insurance limit her work options, but she continues to work as much as 
she can. Because her lungs function better in the clean air of 
Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Ruth has made a conscious decision not to 
move to larger towns even though they offer better employment 
opportunities. Since 1989, Ruth has worked as manager and curator of a 
small museum through a local nonprofit organization, which does not 
offer health insurance. So Ruth's income for full-time work is limited 
to just $2,400 a year--because to make more would mean losing her State 
medical coverage. She has had to make a choice that too many Americans 
face: she must remain poor to have access to medical care.
  Ruth is a proud and independent woman who has raised two fine 
children under the most difficult of circumstances. She has spent over 
$47,000, or 64 percent of her total income for the last 14 years on 
medical and hospital debts. These costs have required her to raise her 
children on less than $2,000 a year.
  Mr. President, our present health care system has failed this woman 
and her family. Her chronic medical frailties have left her 
uninsurable, taken all of her resources and forced her to remain poor, 
all because we do not guarantee every American affordable coverage. 
Pre-existing condition exclusions and high prices for individual 
coverage leave mothers like Ruth no alternative but impoverishment and 
overwhelming debt. I will work with my colleagues here in the Senate to 
ensure that we help individuals like Ruth, this year, with 
comprehensive health care reform legislation.

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