As if a diagnosis of breast cancer isn't bad enough, thousands of women in San Antonio also face serious financial pressures due to it, either because of lack of insurance of an inability to deal with massive deductables and out of pocket expenses.
News Radio 1200 WOAI reports an innovative non profit called 'WINGS' is stepping in to help those women receive top notch breast cancer treatment at the area's hospitals and cancer centers.
"We work with a network of over 250 network providers and physicians," WINGS (Women Involved in Nurturing, Giving, and Sharing, Inc) Director Kim Hinze said. "We pay 80% of the Medicare rate, and then they donate the rest of their services in kind."
She says with major advances in diagnosing and treating breast cancer being made in the last two decades, San Antonio is committed to making sure a lack of money will not force any patient to go without that life saving treatment.
Hinze says patents who are below 200% of the federal poverty rate when it comes to income, or without adequate insurance, are eligible for WINGS but she says the group will work with other women as well.
"We take somebody who has been diagnosed all the way through," she said. "Because once you're in it, you're in it for life."
She says despite efforts to extend insurance coverage, in Texas 21 percent of women between the ages of 19 and 64 remain uninsured, and for them, a cancer diagnoses should not be a death sentence.
WINGS will be holding its innovative 'No Show Gala' on October 28th. Its the group's annual fundraiser, dubbed 'The Best Gala You've Never Attended' to raise money by not asking people to put on a tux and show up at a boring dinner, but to instead donate from home.
IMAGE: WINGS