Los Angeles County Residents Have To Choose Between Paying Their Medical Bills Or Next Months Rent
Manuel Alvarado was one of the millions of people who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Manuel, being stuck in the hospital for two months this past summer meanwhile he was fighting for his life was one of the scariest experiences he had to ever faced. Due to losing his job, he lost his medical insurance and came back home to really high medical bills.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic millions of people across the United States have lost their medical insurance due to losing their jobs. This has put in jeopardy for many people’s lives who live in middle and low income households. If they ever become very ill it is most likely that they will hesitate to get medical attention, since they won’t be able to afford those medical bills. This has put many people in a tough situation whether they should pay a medical bill or next month’s rent.
According to the Health insurance and the COVID-19 shock article, it mentions since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic roughly about 6.2 million of people have lost their medical insurance that they’ve been receiving through their employer. Since the lost of their medical insurance about 4 million people have applied and received Medicaid throughout this pandemic. On a side note Medicaid does not cover every medical care service.
Meanwhile in California as about right now only 1.3 million of people are currently unemployed and are receiving unemployment benefits. According to LA Times, in Los Angeles county it is reported over 600,000 people are unemployed within this year.
Unfortunately not everyone is fortunate enough to receive or even qualify for unemployment benefits. Many people have lost their medical insurance and are left with a difficult decision whether they should pay their next months rent or medical bill.
Here’s how the loss of their jobs and medical insurance affected the people who live in South Los Angeles.
Manuel Alvarado, a 30-year-old man who was fighting for his life in the hospital for 2 months. “This year has been very tough for me, I became very ill and was in and out of the hospital for more than two months. My mother was supporting me financially, but unfortunately she had lost her job. We are currently not receiving unemployment checks because we’ve been having problems with the paperwork. My mother still hasn’t received her IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services) check for taking care of me and we have filed it this past summer. So we’re living off of our savings. While I was in the hospital everyday all I worried and feared about was getting kicked out of the hospital. This has affected my mother and even my blood pressure due to the stress and worries of these bills. We had to pay out of pocket for my medical bills and medical supplies that I really needed.”
Leslie Rodriguez is a mother and a wife to a beautiful family of three, her two-year-old daughter and husband was cut off their medical insurance plan. “My husband and daughter were insured through my work, I’m employed through county contract, we have a union and we have to make a certain amount of hours to have the family plan medical insurance. Since they cut a lot of my hours they cut my husband and daughter from the plan. We have been looking into getting private health insurance but because of my husband’s immigration status, it’s a bit more difficult as we can‘t obtain medical because it may affect his immigration case. My biggest worries is that my daughter or husband will get sick and the medical expenses will be high. My daughter had a wellness check back in August and just the doctors visit cost me $230.”
Rosa Angeles, a 19 year-old college student who had just lost her medical insurance a couple of months fears of getting medical attention anytime soon. “My family and I lost our medical insurance a few months ago for making a bit more than they should. Both of my parents are undocumented and are currently working but got a lot of their hours cut off. My parents don’t qualify for unemployment. My biggest fear right now is if one of my family members needs to go get medical attention, I know we won’t be able to pay those medical bills off. Especially right now since my parents are currently struggling with paying off the bills that they have right now.”
Maritza Franco, a married mother to two beautiful boys was laid off since the start of the COVID- 19 pandemic had lost her family medical insurance. “Losing our medical insurance affected me because I knew if we got sick we would have to pay out of pocket for everything. With unemployment I don’t think it would’ve helped me at all, I feel like I would’ve been in debt.”
Wendy Bermúdez, who suffers from asthma, currently struggles to pay for her own medications and monthly bills. “The unemployment money was good help when the pandemic first started to cover my bills. Where I struggled the most was on September, that was when they started to give us less money on our unemployment checks. I visited my doctor twice this year and I had to over $500 for my asthma medicine. I had to use my own credit cards to pay for my medical bills and I now have to pay it back at least by doing minimum payments.”
Paola Bermúdez worries as she sees most of her community has no medical insurance and are getting sick. “I’ve seen how this has affected my community. One of my friends is undocumented and doesn’t have medical insurance, she had lost her job during this pandemic. During her pregnancy she got COVID-19. Thankfully she got better but unfortunately she is currently struggling to pay off her medical bills.”
