When Anaheim resident Daisy Chavez lost her job in 2018, she knew she would also lose her health insurance. She also knew that without health insurance, she would not be able to afford the medical bills and prescriptions needed to manage her diabetes.
“I was worried about taking my last diabetes medication, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to run out of medication after this, so I have to be really careful about what I eat,'” Chavez said. Ta.
When the medication wore off, Chavez tried to go without it. She would test her blood sugar levels and if her blood sugar levels rose, she would do something on her own to lower them, such as going for a walk. But the lack of access to her medical care left her feeling helpless.
Chavez is one of millions of Californians who feel unable to afford their health needs, including medications, doctor visits and insurance coverage. On average over the past year, About 1 in 4 Californians say they or a family member cannot afford health care costs. The problem hits Latinos like Chavez and Black Californians hardest.
The problem is that median salaries have not kept pace with rising health care costs. California’s new Affordable Care Agency recently proposed limiting health care cost growth to 3 percent, which my organization, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, believes will increase the number of low-income and non-white people who receive health care. This measure is believed to be able to more effectively support people’s access to the Internet. This means that there is a limit on how much things like insurance premiums and costs for certain medical services can increase each year.
Opponents include hospitals and health care providers who are concerned that the spending targets could further impede access to quality care. It doesn’t make much sense if the patient can’t afford the treatment in the first place.
If you can’t pay your medical bills, your health will deteriorate. In Chavez’s case, the stress of not being able to afford treatment for his diabetes led him to self-medicate in other ways, which compromised his overall health.a 2022 survey We found that half of Californians reported skipping or delaying medical care due to cost in the past 12 months. Black or Latino individuals were more likely to omit or delay care (67 percent and 53 percent, respectively). Half of those who neglected or delayed care said their symptoms worsened as a result. This will increase the burden on already overburdened health systems and drive costs even higher.
Today, Californians, especially Californians of color, are dying from preventable problems because of the wrong incentives in the system. If we truly want to address health inequalities, we must start by addressing health care costs.
After securing another job with health insurance, Mr. Chavez recently found himself unemployed again and without insurance. She has applied for her Medi-Cal, the state health insurance program for low-income people, but her treatment is expected to be delayed by at least three months because the process takes so long. . That means she will once again be abandoning her diabetes treatment.
“I stock up on three months’ worth of (medications), and at the end of those three months, if I don’t have a job or Medi-Cal, I evaluate my finances and say, ‘Is it worth the money? ‘You have to think, ‘Do I take this medication or do I use this money to offset my bills and rent?”’ she said.
She knows it puts her at risk of illness, but has resigned.
“If someone calls an ambulance, I won’t ride in the ambulance because I don’t have money,” she said. “Please leave me here. If I can, I will, and if I can’t, I won’t.”
The Affordable Care Agency is scheduled to vote on a 3% cap on health care spending increases in mid-April.
Kiran Savage-Sangwan is executive director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and serves on the Advisory Board of the Affordable Care Agency.
