Warren

Cancer Patient

“Rebekah was the first person to who actually sat down with us and said, ‘OK, we’re going to figure this out,’”

Five years ago, Warren was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He was a student at the time and working a part-time job that did not offer health insurance. After his cancer diagnosis, he was placed on Medicaid, which helped cover his medical bills as he progressed through treatment. At one point, he was transitioned to Medicare and placed on disability due to the severity of his condition. However, when he received a call from a medical debt collector who said he owed more than $70,000, it became clear that a clerical error was made.

Warren and his wife called every agency that might help them figure out what went wrong with their insurance coverage. Despite their efforts, they found only closed doors and unanswered questions. Everyone seemed to have the same response, “There’s nothing we can do.”

That is, until they met Rebekah Garlock, one of HHF’s insurance enrollment navigators.

“Rebekah was the first person to who actually sat down with us and said, ‘OK, we’re going to figure this out,’” Warren recalls. Rebekah started investigating. She consulted various resources and called the same agencies where Warren and his wife found only dead ends and roadblocks. Through her persistence and determination, Rebekah discovered that Warren qualified for a gap coverage when he went on disability, but he was never properly enrolled for it. Rebekah enrolled him and lowered his out-of-pocket maximum to $5,000 a year – a manageable sum. They were previously incurring $10,000 worth of medical bills biweekly before Rebekah’s intervention. “Thank goodness we found her,” Warren said.