Profile: Raymond & Mary
The crushing debt of medical bills
Project Access Northwest helps low-income individuals purchase health insurance. Through our Premium Assistance Program, Raymond's family managed to get coverage just in time.
“Without the program, we would have lost our home.”
—Raymond & Mary , Premium Assistance Program
When the company where Raymond had worked for 20 years shut down, he lost more than a job. He lost his health insurance too, and that was not as easy to replace. Though he found full-time work, he could not afford to insure his family of four. Then he suffered a heart attack in 2018, and his family was overwhelmed with medical bills and how to pay for follow-up care.
That’s when our Premium Assistance Program made all the difference…
A financial counselor at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane referred them to Project Access Northwest—and just in time. We were able to enroll the family in Premium Assistance for 2019, months before Raymond suffered his second heart attack! This time, his three-day stay and placement of three stents was fully covered, and Raymond was able to return to his work and family without the crushing debt. Support from donors like you made that possible.
“Without the program, we would have lost our home,” explains his wife Mary. Without insurance, the couple would have owed the hospital $80,000—an impossible debt for a family living below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Project Access Northwest serves dozens of people like Raymond and Mary annually through the Premium Assistance Program and several thousand more through Care Coordination. Please contact us if you’d like to know more.