Testimonials

Without Health Plan, Their Life Savings Would Have Gone To Care

“I’ve been fishing since the spring of 1959. In those days, you could leave high school early in your senior year in New Bedford if you had a job to go to. My uncle, who was the captain of a dredge boat that fished for quahogs, offered me a spot on his boat. I remember leaving school in the morning and running all the way to the dock. The boat was leaving when I got there and I literally had to jump aboard as it pulled away from the dock. I was 17 years old.

“For most of the 45 years that I’ve been fishing, I didn’t have health insurance for myself, my wife, Clara, and our three kids. Once I was covered under a plan arranged through the Chamber of Commerce, but it cost a lot and the coverage wasn’t too good. Eventually, I had to drop it.

“When the Fishing Partnership Health Plan came along in 1997, I jumped at the chance to join. My wife and I weren’t getting any younger, and we were thinking more and more about what could happen if one of us got sick and needed to go into the hospital.

“Both of us have worked hard all our lives and we’ve watched our pennies. There were many days when I was out lobstering that Clara would be on the boat with me, working right by my side. We were a good team and we managed to make a living. We put money into our savings whenever we could.

“We bought the land that our house stands on in 1962, then we built the house on our own and finished it off and expanded it through the years as we got the money. We don’t have a lot, but we don’t need a lot. Our kids and grandkids are nearby.

“If the lobsters would only make a comeback in Buzzards Bay, we’d really be happy. The shell rot disease has devastated the lobsters. Some people say it’s moved up here from Long Island Sound, but the scientists aren’t sure what’s caused it. We’ve barely made a few thousand dollars the last few years after paying for the boat upkeep and insurance, the fuel, the pots and other equipment. Last winter I lost half of my 400 pots because of ice and bad weather.

“In the fall of 2002, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors found she had a brain tumor and they had to operate to remove it. After that, she needed chemo. It’s been a long haul. Her health gradually came back, but she’s still a little weak and she has to take some medicines.

“My health is pretty good. I’m 62 and I can still do a good day’s work, but there’s a couple of medicines I have to take for my blood pressure and cholesterol.

“One of the best things I ever did was join the Fishing Partnership Health Plan. Without the Plan, we would have lost our life saving’s when Clara got sick and needed all that care. Because of the Plan, Clara received the best care there is at one of the best hospitals in the world, right in Boston. The Plan approved everything she needed as soon as she needed it. It also took care of all her medicines. There were no hassles and no delays. I hate to think where we’d be right now if it weren’t for the Fishing Partnership Health Plan.”

THOMAS VITAL, South Dartmouth, MA