Sitting under a portrait of his favorite president, John F. Kennedy, he quietly details the last 10 years of health troubles stemming from his diverticulitis, inflammation of pouches within the intestinal lining that catch food and can become infected.
His insurance coverage, which cost only $36 a month, ended in March. Within a month, he was hospitalized after the pain grew so intense he says he felt he was given a preview of dying.
He couldn't pay his Riddle Hospital bill but was told a charity was picking up most of the cost. His doctor said he needed surgery.
But Mike didn't pursue that because he didn't have money. He couldn't afford a second opinion. Dolores applied with the state for Medicaid, but they were denied because, she says, the paperwork had been filled out wrong.
Meanwhile, her medical issues remained unattended as well. She's 48, a stay-at-home mother who cares for two kids, ages 9 and 13, in addition to three grown children still at home.
Like her husband, Dolores takes Klonopin for anxiety. She also takes medication for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. With no coverage, she put off a recommended liver test to make sure the pills had no ill effects. She lives with a lump in her chest that she is supposed to have checked every six months.
If you're wondering where the luck starts, it begins with a physician at ChesPenn, a community-health center in Upper Darby.
"His exact words were, 'I have to get you guys insurance,' " Mike recalls. The doctor helped them over the summer to get onto Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities, a more generous Medicaid program for people of Mike's income level and medical condition.
