Each and every year, approximately 1.7 million new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed. The majority of them are women, but it can also develop in men. Raymond Johnson was one of those men who develop the disease. He was a 26-year-old construction worker from Charleston, South Carolina… And he didn’t have insurance.
He sought medical assistance from Medicaid, which provides health care for individuals and families who have low incomes or limited resources. Medicaid denied him coverage, however, because their rules state that men are not covered for breast cancer.
When he first began to develop the lump, he tried to ignore it because he didn’t have insurance. He felt that it would be a burden to have the expense of visits to the doctor, as he already struggles to pay his bills.
Eventually, as the lump continued to grow, it caused him excruciating pain and he was rushed to the hospital.
“They thought it had to do with my heart, but I showed them the lump and they sent me to get a biopsy. That Tuesday, I was notified I had breast cancer.”
Johnson was in shock, because he had never had any serious problems with his health in the past. His initial concern was not over his health, it was about how to pay for treatment!
“I get paid $9 an hour, I don’t know how I’m going to pay for it.”
Since Johnson was a single man with no children and was not disabled, Medicaid would not typically cover his medical expenses. He was advised to apply for a special supplementary program, created by the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act. What he didn’t realize, is that the supplementary program was for women only.
By this point, the tumor in his breast and grown to the size of a baseball. He was sent to seek surgery to remove the tumor, and met with a patient advocate and breast cancer navigator for the Charleston Cancer Center, Susan Applebaum. He told her that he was denied coverage from Medicaid because he was a man.
According to Susan Applebaum…
“I told him to appeal and, in the meantime, I started to reach out to the community and anyone that could give me advice on how to help him.”
Johnson began to feel the strain of what was occurring. Because of the effects of chemotherapy, he was unable to work and it was placing stress on his family.
Chemotherapy has been scheduled for once every two weeks over the following two months. It will then continue once a week for 12 weeks, after which surgery will be required to remove the lump.
Of course, the bills continued to pile up due to the treatment, although Susan Applebaum is his advocate and is reaching out to the community leaders, hoping for assistance.
“It’s always one day at a time. We will continue to try our best because we want to help people, it’s our job. For now we’ll put Raymond on a payment plan, even if it’s only $5 per month that he’s able to afford, we’ll take it, and we’ll never send him to collections.”
Cancer is a horrible disease that doesn’t care about who you are or what you do in life. We hope that Raymond gets the support and help that he needs so that he can get through this difficult time and beat the illness.
Via ABC News
Click here to share this story with others…