Posted at: 11/09/2009 7:16 PM
By: Donny Rowles

Running Out of Time for Reform

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- This weekend, the house passed its version of a health care reform bill, and while things are moving, what if you didn't have that much time to wait for reform to come?

"I don't want to die, I'm too young, I'm too young to die," says Glenda Scrabeck.

Southern Minnesota native Glenda Scrabeck was living in California when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last march.

"The chemo, I've had two treatments in California," says Scrabeck.

The 47-year-old went on a medical leave of absence from her job to get those chemo treatments, but that only lasted a matter of months.

"They cut my insurance off, they gave me the option of Cobra which was 462 dollars a month, which I did not have," says Scrabeck.

So she moved home to Minnesota; to be with family and see if she could get healthcare here. So far - it's been a no-go. She says local hospitals tell her they can't see her without insurance. She went to Fillmore County for help.

"We look at the eligibility criteria, sort through the circumstances of that individual's situation and determine the applicable program that will best help them," says a spokesperson from Fillmore County Financial Assistance.

However, Scrabeck says the amount of disability money she's receiving from California disqualifies her from getting help from Fillmore County. She also cannot get state healthcare because she hasn't lived in Minnesota for 6 months yet.

She's worried about what the cancer is doing inside her while she waits.

�I know it's growing back, people like me are going to die - if you can't get healthcare and you're really sick, you'll die," she says.

Scrabeck says now she's checking with hospitals in the Twin Cities to see if she could get treated there.