Alice
Gallup, NM 87301

My partner was offered a great job opportunity - higher pay and full health benefits for the first time ever after 15 years of working 60-80 hours a week. We both left our jobs in New York and spent about $4,000 to move to New Mexico. After he started his job, as a dialysis tech, his bosses gave him and all of the newbies blood tests. He tested positive for Hepatitis B, which he likely had since birth but never knew about since he was asymptomatic. He was deemed a high risk for dialysis patients and fired after 3 days on the job. He was told that he was welcome back if he could get treatment that successfully brought down his viral load. His bosses never discussed with him how he would get this treatment, since he had just lost his health insurance along with his job. We were lucky enough to be able to get him added to my employer's health plan, for $4,000 a year, though while we waited for that to kick in we had to pay for his health care out of pocket. If he hadn't been married to me, he would have been in huge trouble - broke after the move, trying to shop for private health insurance with a pre-existing condition. I worry all the time about what he'll do if something happens to me.