Linda Teague knows first-hand how financial problems associated with medical insurance — or its lack — can overwhelm a family. Teague worked part-time with her husband, since 1974 the self-employed owner of an auto repair shop. To reduce their medical insurance expenses, he switched to a low-cost insurance carrier, only to discover when he became ill that their new insurer didn’t provide coverage adequate to meet his medical bills. Then, when she became ill also, their insurance was cancelled, and their medical expenses began to spiral out of control. When they tried to obtain better insurance, they were quoted a rate of $800 per month. “We just couldn’t pay that,” she says. Their debts grew, and in February 2003 a judgment was levied against their home. Situations like that facing the Teagues led to the creation of the Forsyth County (N.C.) Medically Uninsured Committee, a group of community leaders and health care providers that works to provide a comprehensive network of services for uninsured patients at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. The network provides centralized eligibility and enrollment, case management and referral, medication assistance, and primary and specialized care for patients at no cost, with the county’s two major hospital systems offering their services at no or reduced cost. Once the Teagues were enrolled, “It made a big difference in our medical bills, and our doctors’ bills,“ Teague says. Her husband died of cancer in October, and she continues to need treatment for diabetes, gastritis, and hypertension, and takes five prescription medications daily — expenses she could not afford if not for the network. “It really has helped us,” she says. “I just wish people would do this all over North Carolina.” | 
