Jason Ison learned about Brightpoint and the Covering Kids & Families program while he was a resident a the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center. Jason was there voluntarily recovering from alcoholism. “I came to the Salvation Army broken,” he says.
Jason had no insurance and was in a lot of pain. He first tried to get insurance on his own, but wasn’t able to. That’s when he was connected to Brightpoint employee Kyle Lowe. “Trying to get insurance was an absolute nightmare, and Kyle just made it right on and easy,” Jason says.
With Kyle’s help, Jason got health insurance through the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) – something he thought was never going to be possible. With his new insurance, Jason was able to go to the doctor and find out why he was in so much pain. At the doctor, Jason discovered that he had previously been misdiagnosed. It turned out he has osteoarthritis, and not degenerative issues caused by playing sports. He had already undergone one hip-replacement surgery years earlier – with $9,000 in out-of-pocket costs that he is still paying off – and now he was being told he needed the other hip replaced immediately.
Because of the osteoarthritis, he found out that he would also need surgery on both of his shoulders. And without the new hip and shoulders, he wouldn’t be able to go back to work as a union plumber. To his amazement, Jason learned that his new insurance was going to cover all the surgeries. “I’m going to like the bionic man,” Jason jokes, but he is clearly excited that he is going to be able to work again.
“They are doing all this so I can work the next 30 years to end my career, and so I can provide fro my family,” says Jason, who is 46 years old. He is a divorced father of three children, and his family is clearly important to him, but he also just wants to work. “Without this, there is no way I would be able to do the job that I do. I need to work. That’s part of me – who I am.”
He had also put off getting his eyes checked for years, but with his HIP PLUS insurance, he decided it was time to do that, too. At the eye doctor, Jason found out that his blurry vison was more than just a little bad – has was considered legally blind! Now he has glasses and is seeing much better.
“I don’t even know what to say. My family is amazed. I haven’t really got the dental yet because I feel like I’ve already been taken care of too much.”
Without the shoulder and hip surgeries, he would be putting himself at risk of more injury every time he went to work. And he realizes now that his bad eyesight was a real danger to himself and others. He is so thankful that he is able to get it all taken care of.
Jason is looking forward to getting past the surgeries and being able to go back to work free of pain for the first time in a long time. He says he knows there is a future now, and getting health care has been part of his overall recovery.
“I just want to thank Brightpoint for the opportunity,” Jason says. “I’m going to have a life again.”