By MARY JO LAYTON
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS

By the time Elissa Johnson located an oncologist, the golf-ball sized tumors had broken through the skin on her chest.

The Clifton resident couldn't even get an appointment when her breast cancer returned because she is uninsured.

Johnson spent days calling physicians to no avail. The minute the receptionist asked about insurance and she said she didn't have any, "it was like click, the call ended," Johnson added.

The single mother of two is now a charity care patient at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

Now the cancer has spread to her brain.

"The doctor asked me why I didn't come in sooner," the 51-year-old Johnson said.

She is among the growing ranks of uninsured Americans with cancer who aren't benefiting from much-heralded medical advances in early detection and treatment. People without health insurance are less likely to get preventive screenings, more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage and more likely to die of cancer, according to a recent study by the American Cancer Society. The uninsured are 1.6 times more likely to die within five years of a cancer diagnosis than the privately insured, the study added.

Among the 1.2 million uninsured New Jersey residents are thousands of cancer patients like Johnson. They put off treatments and endure long waits to get appointments as charity patients.

READ MORE: http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=34938

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