Contact us at Admin@HealthPolicyProject.org if you have a story to share

Living without insurance, being under-insured and the consequences to one’s health and/or household.

• Self Employed Couple Has Few Choices for Health Insurance
• ACA will benefit uninsurable Utah businesswoman
• Students excited to have coverage under parent’s plan
• New parents also newly uninsured
• Health insurance unaffordable due to asthma, a pre-exisiting condition
• Small businesses drop health coverage, as costs rise, leaving Utah families uninsured.
• Swine flu turns to disaster for uninsured Utahn
• Family contemplating dropping health insurance even with a baby on the way.
• Surviving is my first priority I just can’t think about how to pay for my care right now.
• Right now tuition and my education are more important that health insurance.
• Preexisiting health conditions can make it scary to change jobs.
• Insurance would take so much out of my paycheck…
• I wish there were a way for families who make too much for CHIP and Medicaid…
• Student chooses cost of education over health insurance.
• Lack of insurance leads to missed preventative care…
• Can’t obtain preventative care without a medical home…
• Temporary agencies don’t offer health insurance…

Medicaid & CHIP Stories 
Issues: timely access to care, the need for services and
Successes: how these programs helped one get back into or to stay within the workforce.

• Utahns Speak Up: About Medicaid Expansion
• The Health Care Compact Will Saddle Utah with the Responsibility for Medicare without the Needed Dollars
• The Health Care Compact Will Hurt Utahn’s with Disabilities
• The Health Care Compact Will Hurt Utah’s Seniors
• Dental Coverage Would Have Prevented an Expensive Emergency Department Visit
• Untreated Dental Problems Make Other Health Conditions Worse
• CHIP helps make family insurance affordable
• As a single mother and sole provider, insurance was simply unaffordable
• Facing cancer as a single mother is enough stress
• CHIP is a great program for families inching their way out of poverty
• CHIP provides family with peace of mind
• Without Medicaid, I probably wouldn’t have my healthy little girl
• Medicaid provides a critical service for Utah family
• The importance of CHIP Building Blocks
• Providers speak out on critical Medicaid services
• Saved with the support of the Medicaid Breast and Cervical Cancer Program
• Medicaid provides critical coverage for Utah families
• Medicaid helps Utah mother turn her life around
• Medicaid helps Utahn become financially independent
• Primary Care Network is a Band-Aid solution
• Utah’s Primary Care Network creates pool of underinsured
• Critical Medicaid services still need to be restored
• Provider sees benefits of access to comprehensive rehabilitation care
• Providing Medicaid adults with physical therapy is critical and cost-effective
• Optional services are not optional
• Baby Your Baby Program provides vital, cost-effective prenatal care
• Asset test keeps single mom from gaining economic independence
• Physical therapy opens new doors on life
• Medicaid is an important saftey net for hard times
• Medicaid Waiver Programs allow Utahns to live independently
• Caregiver sees negative impact from Medicaid cuts
• Medicaid asset test keeps Utah families in poverty
• Funding for critical Medicaid services needs to be restored
• Medicaid takes a bad page from private insurance: denying claims
• Because I wanted to better myself and not depend on the system…
• It was alot of work to get on PCN and it didn’t help much.
• When my children were uninsured, I was always worried they would get sick.
• Grandson’s social security check disqualifies Grandmother.

Small Business Stories
Small business owner’s ability to offer insurance.

• Small business owner has a hard time providing insurance through Utah’s Health Exchange (New! 1/12/12)
• Providing a choice to my employees is a great benefit
• My clients are looking for lower premiums from Utah’s Health Exchange
• Employer understands the importance of offering insurance to employees
• The ACA provides relief to small business
• Sole-proprietor can’t afford quality health insurance
• Contractor offers employees health insurance but struggles to compete
• Rising insurance costs limit small business’s ability to recruit & retain good employees
• Utah small business and their employees fall through the cracks
• Offering health insurance puts small business at competitive disadvantage
• Changing the definition of small group market would help new businesses
• We need affordable insurance to grow our business
• It’s important to offer good insurance to keep quality employees
• I would like to offer better coverage but it’s extremely difficult and very costly
• Health costs seem to go up 20% each year…
• I got into this business because I couldn’t afford health insurance for myself!

General Insurance and Quality of Care Stories 
Rising premiums, in-between coverage, denial;
Culturally or linguistically appropriate care (personal, family, client, or institutional).

• Couple avoids bankruptcy thanks to federal health reform (new! 12/6/11)
• Discrimination makes accessing health care difficult for Utah families
• Federal reform is helping young adults in Utah pursue their dreams
• Cost-effective health care coverage for legal immigrant kids
• Health insurance benefit caps endanger retired couple’s financial security
• Gap in coverage leads to pre-existing conditions
• Medical bills unaffordable even with insurance
• Supplemental plans too expensive for our seniors
• Having insurance does not guarantee coverage when you need it most
• Cost of COBRA Unaffordable
• Insurance issue more distressing than fear of cancer itself.

Tell Your Story… 
We are collecting stories related to any of the following:

• Medicaid Story (difficulty accessing care, denial of claims, “success story” explaining how Medicaid helped you in the past)
• Small Business Health Coverage Story (difficulty affording coverage for your workers, rate increases,
• Quality of Care Story (experience related to quality of care provided at hospitals or through health plan; stories on language access, culturally competent or incompetent care)
• Uninsured or Under-insured Story (difficulties or success accessing care while uninsured, limitations of coverage or access while insured, etc.)
• General Stories (related to any experience, negative or positive, with Utah health care systems)

 

Storybank – Utahns Share Their Experiences