As a health care navigator, I understand well how health insurance works with working-class and low-income people. And I know how important health care can be in our lives.
My job is to educate and enroll people in the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Every day, I try to enroll as many people as possible into health insurance because I know firsthand how hard your life can be when you are low-income and uninsured, especially when you have a children and family like me. Falling in the coverage gap is upsetting for anyone.
I am a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a child, I was kidnapped and forced to join the Congolese militia at age 17 for six months, until I escaped and fled to a refugee camp in Malawi, and then later to Zimbabwe camps, until 2004, when I came to the United States with knowledge of more than 10 languages — except English.
In Salt Lake City, I realized how hard things were, especially the health care system. After much financial hardship, including a small period of homelessness, I moved to Provo and sought help from the community there. I’d heard about The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints and found peace in the compassionate attitude of the members and leadership. I ended up joining the church and was eventually able to enroll at Utah Valley University. I graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in public health. Even after graduation and all the hard work, life is still not easy for us.
I went without public benefits for long periods of time and have no desire to live off them. It’s not sustainable for my family. But a lack of health insurance is still a barrier to my family’s success.
Besides working as a navigator, I am the executive director of a local nonprofit in Utah County called the Utah Community and Refugee Partnership Center. However, my income is not high enough to be eligible for insurance on healthcare.gov and not low enough to be eligible for Medicaid. My wife and I are in the coverage gap, but luckily our four children qualify for Medicaid.
My wife gave birth four months ago and had no insurance throughout all of her pregnancy but, luckily, qualified for emergency Medicaid at the delivery time. It has been over 90 days since the birth, and so now she is again uninsured. I know better than most the price of medical bills and the problems associated with increasing health care costs. Every day is a risk when you don’t have insurance. Our small children rely on us, and while we are doing the best we can to provide for them, we have temporary needs now that are unmet.
Being uninsured can be traumatizing when health concerns arise and can lead to economic crises. When you are uninsured, you are consumed with worries about health care, so you have little time to think about your limited options for improving your income.
So when the Proposition 3 ballot initiative that expanded Medicaid was announced last year, I quickly jumped on board. It was my best hope to get insured. I campaigned hard for Proposition 3. I exerted my right as a citizen of this country to vote in favor of it and have spoken widely for it.
It has come to my attention that there are talks of “amending” Proposition 3. As someone waiting for care, this is devastating. I encourage the legislators planning on changing Proposition 3 to remember that people in the coverage gap have been struggling for years without access to necessary care, and finally there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Don’t take away our hope. Protect Proposition 3.
Leonard Bagalwa
Leonard Bagalwa is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and came to Salt Lake City as a refugee in 2004. He is a health care navigator at Health Access Project and the founder of Utah Community and Refugee Partnership Center.
