Kathryn Alexander spent five days in Boulder Community Hospital last year and walked away with a bill for $57,000.
The self-employed Boulder consultant has never been able to afford health insurance, but in this case the Colorado Indigent Care Program picked up much of her tab.
“I still owe $13,000,” said Alexander, 63.
Because she has liver cancer, she is now out of work and collects disability.
Alexander represents a growing number of Americans who are living without health insurance during midlife, when diseases such as cancer and diabetes become more common.
About 46 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2004, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report found. About 7 million are ages 50 to 64, up from 4.4 million a decade earlier. And people without insurance are less likely to get cancer-screening tests, which would catch the disease earlier, according to the report.
“Ultimately, they may require extensive and expensive care because early care was delayed,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, the foundation’s chief executive.
The foundation report drew from a U.S. government survey of adults about their health habits and from U.S. Census data.
Its report on the uninsured was issued as part of a national campaign to have Congress make laws to help the uninsured. The campaign includes about 1,000 events that will take place across the U.S. in the week starting Monday.
The Commonwealth Fund also issued a health-insurance report Wednesday. The New York-based nonprofit shared the results of a survey that found about one-third of adults 19 to 64 had struggled with medical bills in the past year. The group is dedicated to health-care research and said its report is based on a survey of 4,350 people ages 19 to 64.
Separately, a coalition of seven unions is pressuring retail giant Wal-Mart to spend more on health care for its employees. On Wednesday, Change to Win sponsored rallies in Denver and 34 other cities.
Union members say the Wal-Mart business model is hurting the middle class in America.
“They undermine the grocery industry by paying substandard wages and benefits,” said Steve Vairma, principal executive officer of Teamsters Local 435.
Wal-Mart recently announced it would expand its health-care coverage to include half the company’s workforce by 2007. Wal-Mart responded to the Wednesday rallies with a statement on its website that said: “America’s working families must be mystified by any group that would rally against an $11 per month health plan, $3 prescription drug co-pays and expanded health coverage for children. Sadly, these rallies are more about politics and publicity stunts than health care.”
Denver Post staff writer Tom McGhee contributed to this report.
