Jackson Free Press

Cornelius Harvey was a 27-year-old barber when, in fall 2005, his stomach started hurting. Harvey could not afford health insurance, though, so he waited. Ignored his stomach pains for several days, thinking that he had a virus.

"Not having health care, you've got to put your priorities together," Harvey says. "You can't go to the doctor for a little cold. You have to weigh your options: Am I really feeling this bad to go to the doctor?"

So Harvey waited for four days, until the pain became unbearable. He checked himself into Central Mississippi Medical Center, where emergency room doctors told him that his appendix had been infected and then ruptured, probably three days beforehand. He needed emergency surgery, and because the infection had spread, a lengthy hospital stay.

All told, it took two surgeries and a 30-day hospital stay for Harvey to recover. In addition to the hospital doctors, Harvey also saw an infectious disease specialist after leaving the hospital.

"My doctors said that if I'd come in when I first started feeling sick, they would've run some tests and known what the problem was," Harvey says. "I could've probably been at home within a week."

But without insurance, Harvey was reluctant to act so quickly.

All told, his medical bills totaled $150,000, which Harvey has struggled to pay off in $300 to $400 monthly increments, with the money he makes cutting hair at Miracle Hair Designs.

"If I'd had health insurance, at the first sign of sickness I would've gone to the doctor," Harvey says.