Diary of a Pandemic: The Price of Almost Dying
Jose Diaz spent more than a month in a coma as doctors battled against the coronavirus tearing through his body.
Landscaper Jose Diaz beat the coronavirus. He came back from a coma and a heart attack and weeks tethered to a ventilator. He returned to the happy embrace of his family. Then he got the hospital bills.
By Jorge Melchor
Jose Diaz spent more than a month in a coma as doctors battled against the coronavirus tearing through his body.
At one point, doctors had to revive him after he suffered a heart attack. He was put on a ventilator, and his family prepared for the worst.
But Diaz beat the odds and left the hospital in June.
That's when his second healthcare crisis began.
"These bills," he said, holding up a fistful of thick envelopes and waving them in the air during a Zoom call with palabra. "This is what has me the most worried because the truth is I can't pay them."
Diaz spent 30 years building financial stability in the US. He arrived here 30 years ago from his hometown of San Isidro Labrador in El Salvador, finally becoming a permanent U.S. resident and starting his own successful landscaping business.
He believes he got sick during a spring trip to visit relatives in El Salvador. When he returned to New Jersey, he started to cough. Soon, he was struggling to breathe. That is when his family took him to the hospital.
He doesn't remember much of the hospitalization that followed.
"When I woke up, the doctor asked me, 'Do you know what day it is today?' and the truth was I had no idea," he said, recalling that it felt like he was asleep for a day or so -- not weeks.
The no-insurance gamble
Most people, emerging from a long coma and a brush with death, would say their first conscious thoughts were about family. Diaz admits his first thought was: “How am I going to pay for all this?”
He’s not alone in asking that. President Donald Trump had promised to help people handle the costs of COVID-19 treatment. He said the insurance industry would waive copayments for treatment. None of that has proven true, except for a federal assurance that hospitals would be covered for unpaid costs of providing coronavirus care.
And none of that helps the millions of people who are like Diaz who live and work without health insurance.
In his absence, the family’s landscaping income was hurt by a declining economy. (palabra. interviewed Gustavo, Diaz's son, in May.)
So far, Diaz has received payment demands for more than $100,000. He has no idea how he will pay.
The hospital that treated Diaz, St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, did not return calls seeking comment about the overwhelming bills being sent to Diaz.
The US Department of Health and Human Services says Latinos have the highest uninsured rates of any ethnic or racial group. In 2017, the Census Bureau found that 49% had private insurance, compared to 75% for “non-Hispanics.”
That means many Latinos are likely skipping even routine visits to doctors, something that has contributed to the catastrophic impact of COVID-19 on the community -- its number of cases, deaths, or long-term health consequences.
“Latino workers are afraid of getting sick due to the high hospital costs and in many cases, they choose to self-medicate, even in extreme cases,” said Rosanna Rodriguez, coordinator for the New York-based Laundry Workers Center, a civil rights advocacy group. “Some had used asthmatic inhalers to help them to breathe. Many essential workers have had the symptoms and do not go to the health centers because they cannot afford the cost of COVID-19 tests”.
An uncertain future
Jose Diaz can't return to work because his heart was damaged during his fight against COVID-19. He is trying to find ways to rebuild the business and begin repaying the hospital. Daiz said his priority is the good credit rating he worked so hard to establish.
Diaz’s wife has gone public with Jose’s plight. She started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay the coronavirus bills.
“I have always paid my bills; I have good, clean credit,” Diaz said. “You know that in this country if you don’t have good credit, you’re dead in the water.”
As a survivor of COVID-19, Diaz said he’s sure of one thing now: everyone needs to pay attention to symptoms, and before that, avoid contact with others as much as possible. He said that he decided to set aside his embarrassment about his financial plight and speak publicly about his experience. He wants to help others avoid his fate.
“This is not a game or a joke,” Jose said, emphasizing that he had never been one for getting sick. “Please follow the health guidelines because, truly, it isn’t easy being sick.”
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Jorge Melchor is a freelance visual and data journalist whose video, online, print and broadcast work has appeared on outlets including NBC News, The New York Times, the History Channel, and the Financial Times. He has worked as a freelance journalist in Mexico and the United States.