The Homa Files

Ken’s Take: Didn’t anybody smell a rat when Natoma Canfield — the uninsured leukemia letter-writer — couldn’t appear with Obama because she was getting treatment  … at the Cleveland Clinic no less.

Turns out that:

(1) she is getting healthcare (which is different from health insurance)

(2) she is being treated by the prestigious Cleveland Clinic

(3) The Cleveland Clinic says not to worry about the bills …

(4) … because, Natoma already qualifies for Medicaid. 

(5) She hasn’t bothered to sign up … probably too busy writing letters

* * * * *

Excerpted from WTOP / AP: Woman championed by Obama eligible for aid, March 16, 2010

A woman championed as the Obama administration’s emblem for health care reform does not have to choose between her home and her health, according to officials at the Ohio hospital where she is being treated.

With a self-reported annual income of about $6,000, Natoma Canfield is a prime candidate for financial aid in the form of Medicaid – the federal health care program for low-income and disabled people – and charitable assistance.

And the Cleveland Clinic said it has no intention of putting out a lien on Canfield’s house — or letting the billing process interfere with her treatment.

“It appears that I think she’ll be fine,” said Lyman Sornberger, the hospital’s executive director of patient financial services. “By nature of the fact that she was not early on rejected by either program, that’s a key indicator that she will most likely be eligible.”

Despite the grim reality of Canfield’s fight against cancer, hospital officials say it’s not the case that she can have either a home or her health.

Like any patient who walks through the Clinic’s doors without medical coverage, Canfield was immediately assigned an adviser to help assess whether she was eligible for financial aid, hospital officials said.

Canfield said Tuesday that she had just met with her adviser in her hospital room before undergoing a round of chemotherapy in the afternoon.

“I will have to apply for Social Security disability and then something called Medicaid,” she said.

Asked whether she had understood what Medicaid was, she said: “I heard of it but I didn’t really realize what it was.”

Full article:
http://wtop.com/?nid=106&pid=0&sid=1913750&page=1

This entry was posted on March 17, 2010 at 7:58 am and is filed under Health Care / Medical Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.