What a difference a year makes for Flint family

Sara Gorton and Josh Clements, with their son, Kaedin, hope the expansion of SCHIP leads to universal health care. Photo:Sarah Lougheed

Last year Solidarity reported on a young Michigan couple who chose to cover their 5-month-old son, Kaedin, under a state-run health insurance program called MiChild, the state’s version of SCHIP.

Josh Clements, Kaedin’s father, was a nonunion contract worker at General Motors’ Proving Grounds in Milford, Mich.

Kaedin’s mother, Sara Gorton, was a full-time nursing student at the University of Michigan-Flint.

They chose MiChild because Clements’ employer-provided benefits package would have cost him "a good chunk of change" to cover every family member.

What a difference a year makes.

Clements was laid off last October.

Gorton is a full-time registered nurse at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.

Luckily, Hurley provides health care for her and Kaedin, who turns 2 in July.

"It was a blessing," said Berteen Ewles, UAW Local 18 president, who is Clements’ mother and Kaedin’s grandmother, of Gorton’s new job with health benefits.

Head of the amalgamated Flint local, Ewles worked hard to get SCHIP passed on behalf of all children in need of health care, even though her grandson no longer needed the state-run program. "We have to hold our representatives’ feet to the fire," she said.

Clements is a full-time student at Flint’s Mott Community College studying radiation therapy and will transfer to UM-Flint to complete the four-year program.

He receives health insurance through a Genesee County resident plan. It’s free and includes basic preventative care, such as office visits, but doesn’t cover emergency room care or diagnostic testing.

"It’s better than nothing, and I’m trying to keep myself healthy," said Clements, 27, who recently underwent an endoscopy for an acid reflux problem and needed X-rays after a sports injury. "Those tests weren’t covered, and medical bills racked up quickly."

Clements believes the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP just may lead to universal health care for all Americans.

"I hope so, because having health care shouldn’t just come down to luck," he said.

Jennifer John