This project, started in late 2009, focuses on the ongoing health-care crisis in America, specifically the impact on patients and caretakers. The subjects of my photographs are unemployed and uninsured, caregivers under financial stress, small business owners who cannot afford insurance coverage and people with pre-existing conditions who are denied health-care coverage for their chronic illnesses. This project confronts the issues that face our legislature by drawing attention to the people who are affected most by the ongoing health-care situation in this country.
Since working on this project, President Obama signed legislation on March 23, 2010, to overhaul the nation's health care system and guarantee access to medical insurance for tens of millions of Americans. Under this legislation most Americans will be required to have health insurance coverage; it would add 16 million people to the medicaid rolls; and would subsidize private coverage for low- and middle-income people. It will also regulate private insurers more closely, banning practices such as denial of care for pre-existing conditions. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office this law will cost the government about $938 billion over 10 years, but also estimated that it will reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over a decade.
IPA awards page: http://photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/zoomwin.php?eid=8-16113-10&uid=&code=Feature%20Story
IPA awards page: http://photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/zoomwin.php?eid=8-16113-10&uid=&code=Feature%20Story
