06/03/2012

Health care: The pre-existing condition
Argus Leader features Jennifer Lee, patient at Falls Community Health.

Jennifer Lee, 35, is uninsurable.

She has little money and suffers ailments from asthma to cellulitis, depression, anxiety and a chromosome disorder called digeorge syndrome. Discovery last year that she has fibrocystic breast disease indicates a 50-50 chance of cancer, she said.

She is a stay-at-home mom who looks after sons Ross, who is 6 and in good health, and Kaden, 4, who also has digeorge and has needed heart surgery. Her husband, Scott, works half the year as a concrete finisher, bringing home about $1,200 a month, she said. That in the summer and food stamps in the winter put food on the table.

But health care is a problem. She’s solved it for the most part by going to Falls Community Health, a public clinic in downtown Sioux Falls. The clinic is a safety net for the poor and a fallback for others.

It’s a workable arrangement, Lee said, except for situations such as last summer, when she needed specialized help. She went to a Sioux Falls provider and ran up a $49,000 bill that remains unpaid.

“A lot of insurance companies won’t take me,” she said.

She hopes the Affordable Care Act survives in the Supreme Court and with it the guarantee of insurance coverage starting in 2014 for people with pre-existing conditions.