Real News. A Real Difference. In this file photo from 2016, Dorothy Hogan stands outside the room of her son Jim Connor who was in the ICU at Roper Hospital battling esophageal cancer. Lauren Sausser shared his story, shining a light on the many challenges faced by low-income people trying to get life-saving care without health insurance. Jim died Sept. 28, 2016.
By Lauren Sausser
Health Editor, The Post and Courier
I met a man early last year named Jim Connor. He’d been diagnosed with advanced cancer, had no health insurance, and had recently tried to apply for Medicaid coverage in Dorchester County.
When an eligibility worker told him he wouldn’t qualify for the low-income health insurance program, she said that he should go home, research his diagnosis online and drink some green tea. Jim started crying in her office. He was desperate. A doctor told him he was going to die.
I cover health care at The Post and Courier. That means I write a lot about health care reform, insurance, Medicaid policy and hospitals. It also means I get a lot of phone calls from patients. Most of them simply need help finding a phone number or a website.
