KCK woman nearly dies from COVID-19, goes without healthcare during pandemic – KSNT News

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KSNT) Sara Lynch, who lives in Kansas City with her mother and father, struggles on a daily basis with complications from contracting coronavirus last year.

On Tuesday, Lynch was informed that her lung volume has decreased immensely, now functioning at 35%. Louise, Saras mother, told Kansas Capitol Bureau about the lasting impact of the disease that she said nearly took her daughters life.

She was put in the ICU for a while. She had about 4 different hospital admissions, Louise Lynch said about Saras condition last year. To have a lung functioning 35% capacity is horrific.

Sara was on track to become an attorney at the time, just wrapping up law school. But, her life took a major turn in March 2020 when she got coronavirus. Already dealing with a slew of other medical conditions, like asthma and joint pain, her mother Louise was not sure that her daughter would make it until a physician stepped in offering charity care.

I have eye issues, I have some brain damage, she said. I see multiple specialists at KU med, and Ive been blessed to be able to get three months of charity care from them.

Charity care is free or discounted medically necessary health carethat some hospitals offer to people who cannot afford to pay for treatment otherwise. However, Sara said once that ends, shes not sure what she will do.

Unlike Louise and her husband, Sara doesnt have health insurance after aging out from coverage on her parents plan at the age of 26. She said shes already witnessed firsthand how some facilities treat patients that dont have health insurance when experiencing symptoms after getting a coronavirus vaccine. She described it as being treated like a leper.

I got my COVID-vaccine and spiked a fever of 104.2 or so. We called the doctor and the doctor told us to wait until it was 105 or 106 to even bother them because I didnt have health insurance, Sara said. I went from being a productive adult, having a job, going on towards a legal career, to now being treated like scum. Because I dont have healthcare my health goes down, and I cant get back into planning for a future.

After three years of searching, Sara and her mother have run out of options trying to find affordable healthcare in the state. When applying for Medicaid, they said that she was ineligible, counting her mothers income and her fathers disability income as part of Saras earnings. Louise, her mother, said this happened, even though Sara is 29-years old.

Sara is one of the thousands who fall within the Medicaid coverage gap in Kansas, one of 12 states that have yet to expand coverage.

One analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that 44,000 Kansans are caught in the Medicaid coverage gap with no way to get affordable health coverage. Its an issue that comes up almost every year in the Kansas Legislature, sometimes attached to other proposals, but has fallen short of the support needed to pass.

Some lawmakers that argue against expansion have said that it could lead to steep financial costs for the state over the years. However, Saras mother Louise said, expanding coverage would allow her daughter to afford the care she needs, along with other people in the state who are struggling to get by.

I refuse to have her go down that track that shes nothing and be what these people quote-on-quote categorize her in.

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KCK woman nearly dies from COVID-19, goes without healthcare during pandemic - KSNT News