[...]... Priorities, offered their perspectives on the plight of the uninsured in Texas Ileana Hinojosa spent many hours speaking candidly to us about her years of experience in serving uninsured individuals along the Mexican border; and Pete Duarte, administrator of Thomason Hospital in El Paso, described the difficulties in running the area’s provider of last resort Mary Helen Mays, executive director of Community... and whose bodies bear the scars of that burden THE “PROBLEM” OF THE UNINSURED The familiar phrase the problem of the uninsured conjures either an image of troubled, “problematic” individuals or the notion that these unfortunate persons constitute a “problem” for the rest of society The real problem, however, begins at a far more basic level The inability of a large portion of the U.S population to... choosing between buying food and buying medicine, the stress of working in temporary and seasonal jobs, the stress of feeling trapped in circumstances of poverty that she cannot control, the stress of living with a man who is often angry and frustrated that he cannot provide for his family, and, above all, the stress of living with chronic illnesses and chronic pain that she does not have the resources to... making calls for a telephone survey lab She loves the work and enjoys getting out of the house and talking to people Unfortunately, the work is temporary, only part-time, and does not offer health insurance “My husband is one of those [who has], I think, a real macho attitude, where the woman is supposed to stay at home and take care of the children and clean the house and cook the food And he’s going... to take the place of big government bureaucracies, usually seem to flounder, seeing patients only a few evenings each week and relying on volunteer physicians to squeeze in a couple of clinic hours a month on top of their already overflowing private practices So, we asked each other, where are the uninsured? Who are they? Why are they uninsured, and how do they scrape by? What does the absence of consistent... scraping by We ask her how the cost of medicine fits into her very tight household budget “You just find a way Say, for instance, I need a bag of diapers and cough syrup Instead of buying the big bag of diapers, you buy the smaller, and you’re able to afford the one bottle of cough syrup.” What she does when the small bag of diapers runs out, we don’t have the courage to ask THE CASTE OF THE WORKING POOR... the orderly military-base housing in which Loretta, the blue-eyed daughter of a career army man, grew up With a love of literature and hopes of becoming a veterinarian, Loretta believed in the American dream Her father was securely employed in a setting that guaranteed good health care and other benefits for his family Loretta, with her long hair, bright eyes, and glowing complexion, fit in well in the. .. than men shared their stories with us We met with twenty Hispanic families and twenty African Americans These numbers echo the fact that Hispanics and African Americans are more likely to be uninsured than white Americans, though white Americans constitute the absolute majority of the uninsured Our youngest interviewee was nineteen, and the oldest sixty-four; most were in the middle of that age range... recounted the effects of budget crises on the operation of nonprofit, advocacy, and service groups dedicated to the uninsured In Idaho, Michelle Britton was kind enough to set up a focus group in Coeur D’Alene that allowed us to meet consumers, providers, and administrators and hear their viewpoints Laura Rowan, from the Of ce of Rural Health; Mike Wilson, from the business community; and LeeAnn Hall and. .. together with the political dominance of the medical, insurance, and pharmaceutical industries, has allowed health care costs to soar far above the costs for comparable products and services in Canada, Great Britain, and continental European countries As the cost of health care rises, more employers look for ways to avoid providing insurance to their employees The millions who find themselves uninsured . class="bi x0 y0 w1 h1" alt="" UNINSURED IN AMERICA UNINSURED IN AMERICA LIFE AND DEATH IN THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY SUSAN STARR SERED AND RUSHIKA FERNANDOPULLE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY. Congress Cataloging -in- Publication Data Sered, Susan Starr. Uninsured in America : life and death in the land of opportunity / Susan Starr Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle. p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical. together!) John was kind enough to read numerous drafts of the manuscript and spent countless hours brainstorming with me. His insights into the restructuring of the American economy and the