In 2002, health care costs, particularly for cancer treatments, were soaring for seniors in some Medicare HMOs. After negative publicity about one HMO's drastic increase in chemotherapy copayments, the HMO agreed to reduce the cost to make it more affordable for patients.
By Mark Taylor
This story is Part 13 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.
The health of a city’s residents is inextricably linked to its economic vitality, according to historians, and the business and political leaders of Gary.
They said the high rates of chronic disease and infant mortality plaguing Gary did not occur in a vacuum, but resulted from 40 years of urban decline, generations of poverty and high unemployment, a lack of access to health care providers, poor lifestyle choices, historic racism and an evolution in American manufacturing that collectively have decimated industrial urban America.
