Shontell's Story

This is the fourth of a 6 week series entitled, "Summer at the County Fair". It is a synopsis of 6 hours I spent meeting and speaking with people who were visiting a county fair in western PA. Over the next few weeks you will see the human faces that mirror our national statistics regarding the uninsured and underinsured. Thanks to the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) for their assistance in this series.

Artwork by:  San Suzie

Upon her chest Doris proudly wore a button that was 5 inches in circumference and bore the picture of her daughter, Shontell.  Under typical circumstances this would seem an odd accessory, but today was different.  In the photo button that this prideful mother showed off to the world, Shontell was wearing her nurse’s whites for a photo taken in preparation for her upcoming graduation from nursing school in October. 

Shontell, a 34 year old married mother of 2 from Clarion County had finally made it.  Standing dignified on her own honor she assertively told me how she had done it all on her own.  When she was turned down for scholarships because she was making too much money at her pharmacy technician’s job, she paid her own way through nursing school at the area community college.

As Shontell takes the final sprint towards the finish line to reach the goal she has been intensely striving for she has one final hurdle.  Just as she is about to grab the golden ring and position herself in a place of financial security, she lost her health insurance.  Just days before I met her, Shontell was informed by her employer that they would be cutting her hours back and she would therefore no longer be eligible for health insurance benefits.  Is this the reward for working hard and doing the right thing by society?  Shontell is merely another example of the force the crack in our system has which has increasing grown wider, hungrier and swallows up its victims indiscriminately. 

Shontell’s story is a rather typical one that has evolved quickly over the past half century.  According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 1980 the number of Americans who were being insured by their employers peaked at 71.4%.  However, 1980-2007 the rates rapidly declined, leaving the number of Americans with employer provided health insurance at 62% in 2007.[1]  As healthcare expenditures ballooned 8 times in this time period and more employers stopped providing it, the crack that sucked up Shontell grew.[2]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will allow someone who has lost their coverage because an employer is no longer offering it to go on the individual exchange.  The exchange will guarantee Shontell essential benefits and because of her income she will qualify for a premium tax credit that will ensure that she does not pay more than 4% of her income on premiums.   The Kaiser Family Foundation also states that the PPACA’s implementation of the Medical LossRatio and the expansion of Preventive Care will also help alleviate the rapid increase in healthcare costs that have partly contributed to employers no longer offing insurance to their employees.

Shontell is commencing into one of the few, yet rapidly growing industries in our aging country.  What incentive will there be if our nation’s caregivers lose their own health security in their pursuit to help others?

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[1]  Cohen RA, Makuc DM, Bernstein AB, Bilheimer LT, Powell-Griner E. Health insurance coverage trends, 1959–2007: Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey. National health statistics reports; no

17. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009.

[2] Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, National Health Care Expenditures Data, January 2010