Margaret Cardin
Rolla, MO 65401

I am a 47 year old house wife who was forced to leave my job because of health reasons and subsequently lost my health insurance coverage. When my husband (who also had health insurance) suffered from a heart attack we were both left with tremendous debt. Because the local hospital needed to fly him hundreds of miles to the nearest heart surgeon during his attack, we got into thousands and thousands of dollars in debt. Simultaneously my spinal condition continued to deteriorate but we couldn't afford the surgeries to stop or slow the problem- even with health insurance. Bills continued to pile up and we lost our business, rental properties and home trying to pay for the medical debt. Eventually I gave up my health insurance altogether to pay our bills and now neither of us can get a health insurance plan that we can afford. My husband's heart medication costs $350 a month, which we pay for but we continually worry about money and what we'll do if he has another heart attack. I will always choose my husbands life over any amount of money but it doesn't seem rational that we've lost 30 years of hard work because of health problems - particularly when we're willing and trying to pay our fair share.