New York Times Magazine Slideshow
When Sheila Wessenberg's breast cancer was diagnosed and she needed a lumpectomy and then a mastectomy, her husband Bob's insurance covered her care. Then Bob lost his job in December 2001, and they and their two children went from living comfortably on his $102,000-a-year salary to facing bankruptcy. They managed to pay for health insurance out of pocket for six months, until the premiums jumped to $832 a month. After being rejected for Medicaid because they had too many assets, the Wessenbergs joined the ranks of the 41 million uninsured Americans. Sheila, who was forced to quit chemotherapy midtreatment, is tempting the odds.
''We used to have a little left over for nicer things and enough to start saving for a rainy day,'' says Bob, a 51-year-old former Lotus programmer who recently found an $11-an-hour job. ''Then we got a rainy month and now we got a rainy year.'' Things remain dire, so his wife has turned to panhandling. Read the full story.