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Sick and poor: Life with a pre-existing condition
Gainesville family has struggled to find affordable health insurance
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Issiah Walker, 6, plays a video game Thursday afternoon at the feet of his mother Nicole at their Hall County home. Nicole Walker was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was a child and her family struggles to make ends meet with medical bills and prescriptions as private health insurance is too costly for the one-income family. Her husband’s employer does not offer insurance to workers.
Health problems dominate life at Nicole Walker’s house on a dead-end street in Gainesville. Walker’s children, Isaiah and Kendra, have state-paid health insurance that pays for their medical care, but she and her husband don’t have health insurance. The mother of two has several medical conditions, including Type 1 diabetes, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure and a heart murmur.