Laid-off legal receptionist struggles to stay healthy

Amy Fitzpatrick sounded terrible. A nasty cough punctuated every other word. "I have a headache," she sniffled wetly. "My nose is killing me from rubbing it so much."

With any luck, Fitzpatrick's cold will run its miserable course, but what worries her the most is that it will turn into bronchitis, and she'll be forced to visit the emergency room.

"Last time that happened, it took me two years to pay it off," said Fitzpatrick, a laid-off legal receptionist who has not had a job or health insurance for two years.

So she has little to no patience with what is going on in Washington over health care. "The bottom line is that we've got to get going with this," she said. "We need to stop the political shenanigans and get on with it."

Some unemployed people can get coverage through COBRA, the program that allows laid-off workers to continue coverage under their former employer's plans. But Fitzpatrick's firm was too small.

Luckily, Fitzpatrick has been able to see a doctor at a Philadelphia city health clinic. The clinic also provides one of two daily medications. The other she simply does not take. "I can't afford it."

The irony is that Fitzpatrick, who turns 54 today, caught her cold just as she returned home from Washington. She was one of a small group of Philadelphia activists who trudged through the cold and snow last month to march on Washington in support of a health-care overhaul.

She considers the march important - well worth the misery of a nasty cold.

"People are dying," she said. "We need affordable and quality health care. It's mind-blowing that we don't have it."