Deborah Blankenship Galloway: Fighting to Afford Care in Rural Georgia

Deborah Blankenship Galloway lives in rural Troup County, Georgia. She is medically retired from her job in medical billing but worked across counties throughout the state of Georgia during her career. Now, she lives with major mobility issues along with respiratory failure, heart failure, CKD stage 3, diabetes, gout, asthma, allergies, osteoarthritis and pinched nerves.

Currently, Deborah is covered by a Medicare replacement plan, also known as a Medicare Advantage plan, and no one in her home has Medicaid coverage. She recently lost hers and while she is happy to be covered at all, she is feeling the strain on her wallet from not having Medicaid as well. “I’m happy with my Medicare, and I know I’m blessed to have it, but there are co-pays that I have to pay. With me not having Medicaid, it strains my budget to have to pay those co-pays, which makes it harder for me to truly manage all of my health conditions.”

She takes many medications to manage her conditions, including but not limited to 15 different medications in the morning and another 13 at night. These medications are paid for by her current coverage and losing access to them would be life-threatening,

Deborah has been uninsured before and knows how dangerous it can be. “I was uninsured for about 13 years and during that time frame is when I was diagnosed with most of my current health problems. I was near death when I went to the emergency room with my heart and a doctor took me under his wing and took care of me…It was just very, very, very stressful and there was a time where I wondered if I was going to live through not having any coverage at all.”

The lack of insurance left her with lasting debt. “I have a massive amount of medical bills. These bills have been building up for about 7 years now. It has impacted me financially…I had debt collectors calling me day and night, night and day, on the weekends, and I just don’t have the money to pay the medical bills and this is all because I didn’t have health coverage.”

If she were to face losing her coverage and being uninsured once again, she said she could not survive. “If I could not access my medical care, my medications, and the services that I get through Medicare, I would pass away rather quickly.”

Deborah wants to be sure that never happens to her or anyone in her position, pleading with her lawmakers to, “make Medicaid available to everyone.”

“Everyone deserves health care,” she shared, “ we shouldn’t have to worry about whether we’re going to pay a bill or buy food or buy medication or have to try to pay a medical bill…I would challenge my congressman or congress ladies to put themselves in the shoes of an average person that has had to struggle through life without having coverage.”