Thursday, December 3, 2009
When Tanner Willbanks has an anxiety attack, it looks, feels and reads like a heart attack.
The difference, he said, lies in the mind.
“Mentally, you think the worst things in the world are happening to you,” the Lawrence senior said.
His anxiety attacks are tied to finances and academics, so the attacks usually coincide with budget crises and final exams, he said.
So on the first day of class three years ago, when his chest started to tighten and his right arm burned with pain, Willbanks knew he was in the grips of another anxiety attack.
He sought sanctuary at Watkins Memorial Health Center, only to meet a staff that knew his family’s medical history of heart problems — his mother died of a heart attack when he was 22.
Fearing the worst and lacking the means to help should those fears be true, the staff called an ambulance to take Willbanks to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
For most students at the University, this would have been no sweat; their parents’ health insurance plan would cover to make them better.
But Willbanks doesn’t have health insurance; he hasn’t had it consistently since he was 18 years old.
Realizing the ambulance trip alone would cost him $1,500 out-of-pocket, Willbanks said his attack worsened.
As a 30-year-old senior, Willbanks wouldn’t qualify as a dependent even if his mother were still alive and he had contact with his father. The average plan cuts dependents off at age 19.
And Willbanks is paying his own way through college by working 30 hours on top of a 15-hour schedule at Instructional Development and Support. That leaves just enough money left over from tuition and rent to buy food each the month, rendering the cost of a private policy impossible.
If those impediments weren’t enough for Willbanks to receive health insurance, his diagnosis with an anxiety disorder would prohibit him from receiving health coverage by almost every carrier.
Willbanks became one of the 40 million Americans with an anxiety disorder when he was 14 years old.
He racked up $10,200 worth of medical costs from his stint in LMH three years ago. Although Willbanks was able to negotiate the price down to $5,000, he still owes $2,500. He pays his debt $75 per month.
Well before his trip to LMH, Willbanks began self-treating his anxiety. Calling friends, drinking, even submitting to the compulsions brought on by the attacks to avoid seeking medical attention. He simply can’t afford it.
“I’ve learned ways to cope with my disorder without having to go to a doctor because I can’t afford to go to a doctor,” he said.
Willbanks said the United States needs health care reform to live up to its claims of the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness to its citizens.
“I’m embarrassed to see that this is even a debate,” he said. “Is there a more basic human right than the right to live?”
— Edited by Tim Burgess
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