JONATHAN WILSON / Staff Photographer
Ruby Spencer with her son Dennis at her homein Logan. "I can't wait till I'm 65 to get Medicare," she said. "I'll probably be dead by then."
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A sick woman's odyssey without health insurance
Ruby Spencer had a football-sized tumor in her gut and was turned away at Temple University Hospital's ER.
Schwarz acknowledged that the city clinic should have done more for Ruby. "We should have been an advocate," he said."We do have an enormous burden. But I'd like to think we can prioritize."
When told that Temple sent Ruby to a city clinic, Schwarz added: "We can't treat a tumor. We don't have surgeons. We do primary care.
"One would expect that a nonprofit charitable institution like a hospital would be able to provide a way to find service for someone like this," he said.
After the newspaper referred Ruby to the health-law project, that organization helped her complete an application for the MAWD program.
She asked her pastor at Greater Harvest Baptist Church in North Philadelphia to write a letter, and he agreed to pay her $100 a month to help clean the church, which she had been doing anyway for years as a volunteer. So she was now employed and disabled and eligible for MAWD.
She submitted the application last week.
Once contacted by the newspaper, welfare officials in Harrisburg took an interest in Ruby's case, and on Monday she was told she had been approved for MAWD - a process that can take 45 days - and will have insurance.
The health-law project last week scheduled her an appointment for Oct. 30 at an outpatient clinic for women's health at Temple for which she does not need insurance. But now she will be covered for any tests and procedures - most likely at Temple.
One final footnote: Two weeks ago, Ruby received a $700 bill for her ER visit from Temple University Physicians, broken down into two charges.
One was for $230, for "emergency department visit," according to the bill. She intends to pay that. She was, after all, seen in the ER, even if she was unsatisfied with the outcome.
The second charge is for $470 for "Incise/Drain Bartholin's Abscess."
She has no idea what that could be but is sure that "nobody drained anything. I'm going to fight that one."
Cacciamani, the head of clinical operations at Temple, replied: "That must have been a mistake."
"She needs to call up our billing office. Sometimes there's paperwork from hell."
The bill was due last Tuesday.
"The last thing I need," Ruby said, "is collection agencies calling me."
What Went Wrong
Ruby Spencer, 61, has
a football-size tumor in her belly but no health insurance. A physician assistant sent her to
