The series was an intense look into America’s health care crisis. Texas leads the nation in the numbers of uninsured. The Express-News used the heartbreaking story of Bonnie Terry, a political activist who also worked at a church with the city’s homeless, to paint a picture of how devastating a life-threatening disease can be for the uninsured. After losing her insurance shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Bonnie’s oncologist dropped her from his practice, and she was forced to seek care in the county’s medical program for the poor. Tests took longer. Doctors rotated. Care wasn’t centralized. There were mountains of bills to pay, forms to fill out, documentation to turn in, and public payment programs to apply to. She waged an uphill battle on two fronts: one against an aggressive form of breast cancer and the other against a sluggish and largely impersonal medical system. Many believe poor access to health care hastened her death.
