In terms of trying to get outpatient physical therapy, Sandy Gubbine, director of patient accounts at AtlantiCare, had this advice for Venezio:
"Contact facilities and wheel and deal. It's like buying a car. Compare and try to get the best deal. If you're uninsured, that's where you are in the health-care arena."
Venezio's struggle for health insurance should end in 2010 - that's when he will be eligible for Medicare, the federal health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled.
When Congress expanded Medicare in 1972 to cover the disabled as well as people 65 and older, it established a two-year waiting period to keep costs down, according to the Medicare Rights Center.
At any one time, a spokesman said, about 1.5 million Americans are in this gap - eligible for disability, but waiting for Medicare. About 25 percent are like Venezio - without any health insurance.
Venezio is still dizzy from the way his life turned around.
"This whole situation kills me," he said. "I've always worked for everything I got. If I could get out of this wheelchair and dig holes to make money, I'd do it. Tomorrow."
at 215-854-5639 or mvitez@phillynews.com.
