By the time Derion Blackman collapsed in front of a Dollar General in Kissimmee, Florida, in March, he had been waiting two months to regain access to some of the vital medications he’d been taking since undergoing a heart transplant two years ago.
“He was on a nasty, dirty ground in front of a store,” recalled Sonja Smith, who is enraged about the circumstances that led to her husband’s heart failure. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Problems started last year when the couple learned the monthly premium payment for their Federal Employees Health Benefits plan would more than double to $307 and their deductible would also go up. They decided to switch Blackman’s primary coverage to CHAMPVA, a health benefits program for dependents of disabled veterans, which had no premium and a $3,000 deductible.
Smith thought she and Blackman had carefully prepared so that the transition between health plans would be seamless. It was anything but.
After the new health plan became active in January, Smith said, Blackman faced one hurdle after another getting approval for the antirejection medications needed to prevent his body from attacking his transplanted heart. Patients who rely on these drugs can develop severe and life-threatening heart issues if they miss even a few days. She said Blackman had enough medication to last only about a month into the new plan year. He told her just before his death that he had run out.
