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A Congressional Hearings for Artists on Health Care
By admin | May 12, 2006
Homer was born and raised in New Orleans and was a first generation American. His mother is from El Salvador and worked as a cleaning lady, his father is from Honduras and was a merchant marine. Homer’s ticket out of New Orleans was gymnastics. He received a gymnastics scholarship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which is where he discovered dance. Homer was passionate about dance. It wasn’t just a profession it was a calling for him. He worked with several luminaries in the dance world including Twyla Tharp, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Mark Morris. Homer and I met working with Bill T. Jones.
In 1998 Homer started to have an occasional discomfort and pain in his right hip. Neither of us had health insurance, we couldn’t afford it, so Homer tried to self diagnose and ease his pain through massage and advil.
In 2000 Homer had a summer job dancing at the Santa Fe Opera, which was a union position and provided health coverage. When the job ended we debated if he should continue the coverage through COBRA, and if he could afford it. I am so grateful that Homer decided to pay for COBRA for without it our lives would have been hell.
In February 2001 Homer and I completed a job guest teaching and performing at Boston University. Homer was in amazing amount of pain, yet persisted in performing. We were in a difficult situation as we make a living with our bodies, and no performance, no income. On returning to NY Homer made an appointment in March to see a doctor who referred him to a specialist. At this point Homer and I thought he had worn away the cartilage in his hip – a common dancer injury – and would need a hip replacement. It was a shock to see the MRI images and see the cancer that had spread from his hip and was pushing his bladder to the other side of his body. The doctor was horrified that Homer had been dancing as the cancer had so corroded his hip that a wrong move could send his femur bone driving through his body. Homer and I had performances and teaching jobs lined up for April and the rest of the year, however the doctor told us that he wanted to operate in the next few weeks and would need to amputate Homer’s hip and leg. We were devastated.
In retrospect I wonder, if Homer had been able to receive healthcare when his hip first started bothering him, could his leg have been spared and would he still be alive today. In 2003 the cancer metastasized to his lungs and in April 2004 Homer passed away.
What is amazing is that Homer kept dancing after his leg was amputated. It was beautifully bizarre and incredibly inspiring to see him leap, turn and dance on one leg. He performed the last evening of his life. He checked himself into the hospital that night and died the next day.
Disability rights and access to health care became important issues for Homer. I wish he could be here today to speak for himself and the courage it takes to continue when you don’t have resources or support, or when a significant part of your life has been radically altered. He would be delighted and proud to know that his story helped inspire the Artists Access Program developed at Brooklyn’s Woodhull Hospital Medical Center. Artists Access provides comprehensive health care coverage at extremely reasonable co-pays levels – based upon a person’s income level.
Thank you Congressman Conyers and panel members for being here today. My name is Susan Brennan. I’m a member of Acts of Art. I am a poet, screenwriter and actress.
At the present moment, I have a day job and insurance. But for many years, I worked part time at coffee shop and paid for all my health care out of pocket. I could not afford the monthly rates that health insurance cost.
At this time, I was performing as an actress in various downtown theatres, including a community street theatre throughout the boroughs, as well as participating in and organizing poetry readings. My small, radio theatre company produced an award winning radio drama which we performed, edited, and distributed. The hours I spent beyond my part time job, in rehearsals, on the phone planning rehearsals, gathering actors, generating material, talking with kids after shows, and just plain writing, exceeded a full time job hourly schedule without the pay or benefits.
I passionately loved and still love every moment I can dedicate to acting or writing. These arts have crafted me into a person who is a caring, thinking, and active member of the community.
One summer I found a lump in my breast. For several months, I tried to pretend it wasn’t there. But a lump doesn’t go away on its own. I was terrified and in denial. I had no insurance and feared the cost of a hospital visit. Not going to the hospital was not for lack of knowledge. I knew that I should go.
Several years previous to this summer, my mother died of breast cancer. I knew a lot about lumps. I watched her for six years as she not only battled the cancer, but battled insurance companies and hospital bills. I didn’t have a lot of faith in health insurance. Basically, health insurance and hospitals seemed both out of my reach and what I was trying desperately to avoid.
Eventually, I couldn’t avoid the reality anymore. I got very lucky. I met a doctor who severely negotiated his price and a rich relative paid for the hospital bill. And most of all, the lump was not cancerous; but if it had been, I would have missed a very important opportunity for preventative treatment. I don’t think we can afford to leave the fate of our health up to luck – the body won’t always thrive against the odds.
A recent study “found that the uninsured were over twice as likely to forego treatment for serious symptoms, even those for which care
was thought necessary. While this does not necessarily reflect on the health status of artists as a whole, it does indicate that uninsured workers may face increased health care needs due to lack of coverage and resulting poorer health status.”
The creative imagination is responsible for inventing solutions, for remembering beauty, for communicating and contemplating our very existance. If we want a culture which values the imagination and therefore reaps the benefits of doing so – then we need to value the facilitators of the imagination; we need to invest in those who stand guard over the imagination – the artists, the dreamers, the creators.
I have a vision. Based on three things I believe to be true.
1) The imagination is our most valuable resource.
2) Everyone deserves health care.
3) And every one is an artist.
When we care for the artist, we are caring for an element of ourselves and communities which clarifies the meaning of our lives. Although an act of art can transcend its artist, the artist must still reckon with its personhood. Health care is a form of deeply personal praise for the body and soul. And from that praise, the body responds with gifts of song, dance, and inspiration.
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