Do we recognize this man? He’s us. Or could be. Ken Kewley, an artist, cut off from health care by cuts in his state. Profiled in the Times, he has been left only with the hope that he will stay healthy until “Obamacare”. You could see this as a necessary cut to afford vast sums to be kept by the ultra rich. They should at least thank him. He had an $85,000 aortic valve replacement recently that cost him under $1000 out of pocket. Budget cuts in Pa. have eliminated a program that helps people like Ken. From the Times piece, ”
Now any minor symptom, like a mild pinch in his chest, prompts a devil’s calculation about whether he can afford to have it checked.
When he noticed such discomfort on Tuesday morning, he broke into a cold sweat, felt his stomach tightening and experienced “a sense of impending doom,” he said. For the moment, Mr. Kewley is trying to convince himself it is just a pulled muscle.
“It’s a worry, and it’s draining,” he said, seated in the home studio where he applies bold acrylics to landscapes of the sloping hillsides nearby. “It’s always present in my mind so it’s hard to come up here and do my work.”
