A Losing Ticket in the Lottery of Personal Health

The Moore family has experienced their share of bad luck when it comes to personal health. Kenneth Moore’s thirteen year-old-son, Aaron, has asthma. For most of his young life, he qualified for care under Medicare.

After Moore’s aorta ruptured while he was stocking shelves at his restaurant job, he was unable to work.  After three years, he was awarded disability compensation. While the family considered this good news, they soon learned they had another problem. The amount of his disability award was just enough to cause Aaron to become ineligible for health coverage under Medicaid.

Since then, the family has been working to get Aaron approved for medical coverage under the Florida KidCare state insurance plan. The cost of the asthma medication, $190 per month, is out of reach for the family, causing added difficulty during allergy season.

“We applied online for Florida KidCare and sent in all the paperwork,” explains Moore. “I’m hoping we’re getting close. But it’s frustrating when they ask you for the same information over and over.”

“Paying out-of-pocket for doctor visits is very expensive for us because our son is autistic so he can only be seen only by people who know how to work with him. It costs us $180 to get his teeth cleaned.”

Moore tends to his own health conditions as well. “I spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit after my heart attack. When I got back on my feet after that, I never was able to work the number of hours I had been working,” says Moore. “I didn’t have health insurance and ended up bankrupt when they handed me an $80,000 dollar bill.”

Moore’s list of health diagnoses now include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.  “I went from working sixty hours a week to not being able to do much but take care of my wife and son. My wife has her own health problems. She recently had to quit her part-time job at JoAnn’s Fabrics because it was costing more to have the job than it was worth.”

“Right now I just want to get my son back on his medications,” Moore says. “We’re barely surviving.”

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