Once
Upon a Time.

Bobbie and Mike Groberg are small business owners and have struggled to keep their family insured because of the high costs of private health insurance premiums. Just after having been approved for CHIP, their 13-year-old son broke his leg. About a month after the cast was removed, the doctors called Bobbie and Mike to let them know that tests results showed that their son had Leukemia. The Groberg family took their son to Primary Children’s Medical Center where additional testing and initial treatments took place over the next 12 days. During that time, Bobbie and Mike learned the entire treatment regimen would last three and a half years. If it were not for CHIP, the family’s finances would have been devastated as the bill for the 12 days of testing and treatment would have been as much as the Gorberg’s earned in one entire year. CHIP allowed Bobbie to focus on her son and not worry about bankruptcy. She was able to learn what she needed to do to be able to care for his needs during treatment.

Not only did CHIP pay for this bill, but it will cover the costs for the duration of the treatments. Bobbie believes that, “CHIP has literally save [her] family’s life.”

Tanya Campbell was working as a substitute teacher because no full or part-time teaching positions were available in her area. Her husband is self-employed so they didn’t have any employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Like many other Utah families, private insurance plans were too expensive for their family to afford. After enrolling their four children in CHIP, their daughter had a severe reaction to a sulfa-based antibiotic given to her for bronchitis. They ended up rushing her to the emergency room where she was given antihistamines to help her breath. “Thank goodness we were on CHIP,” said Tanya. “I may have waited too long to take her to the emergency room if I hadn’t known I had the coverage.”

Tanya is now a full-time teacher and has coverage through the school district. “Having my kids on CHIP and then being able to have coverage through my job was like having a safety net while walking on a wire between poles. I am thankful there was the CHIP program to help us out.”

Amanda Peterson was worried about losing Medicaid when her husband graduated from college and got a good job. Unfortunately, his company didn’t offer any health insurance and they couldn’t afford to buy insurance privately. “We seemed to be right in the income bracket where we made too much for Medicaid, but too little to afford anything for ourselves. We felt like we would be stranded without anything,” said Amanda. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have insurance for my kids. It is so nice to know that they can go to the doctor and the dentist. I don’t have to worry about how I will pay because the premium and the co-pays are very reasonable. We need this program.”

Lori Weaver is a single mom to Cierra. While Cierra is covered by CHIP, Lori is covered by the Primary Care Network. Lori works two part-time jobs to support herself and her daughter, but insurance was not available. Lori heard about CHIP and went to a local eligibility office to apply. “I work two jobs, and neither one of my jobs offer health insurance. . . Luckily, CHIP is a great opportunity for us to have health insurance.”