Take a number

Today I worked with the Covering the Uninsured Medicaid enrollment event. I arrived at the Hamilton Kroger at 8:30 with our supplies (which I had to pick up in Hamilton on Friday), and found two people already waiting in line to apply. One woman had been there since 7:30 a.m.! I quickly set up our booth (located by the pharmacy), and got started, anticipating my partners' arrival at 8:45 a.m. But guess what? They never arrived (for many reasons, I would later discover). I did applications for Medicaid, Help with Medicare Expenses, Ohio's Best Rx, and assistance with hospital bills all by myself. To make this process even more exhausting, I had to do everything by hand on paper; I couldn't use the Benefit Bank (mostly due to printing issues). Then, after 4 hours of non-stop applications, I had to drive the supplies down to Cincinnati's Legal Aid office--an hour-long round trip. It was a long, frustrating day.

To say the least, today wasn't well-organized, but it wasn't a waste. I helped 8 families/households apply for help with medical expenses--and I heard a lot of powerful stories. One woman was taking care of her grandchildren when her husband had a heart attack several years ago. As he was recovering, he lost his job and insurance, but the hospitals still expected payment. In fact, the family is being taken to court over these bills and expects to file for bankruptcy this year. I did everything I could to help, but it was just too little too late. She already felt defeated by the system, and as much as I'd love to, I can't change how this system works. I hope legal aid will follow up with her case and help her move forward.