http://www.ocala.com/article/20080928/NEWS/809280293/0/OPINION
SILVER SPRINGS — Rudy Friece and his wife, Emily, married within a year of dating. It was a simple civil ceremony at a courthouse in Liberty, Ohio on Rudy's 21st birthday.
Nearly 50 years later, following two children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, the couple divorced, for no other reason than that they couldn't afford the costs of Emily's weekly $2,800 chemotherapy treatments for terminal bone cancer.
After learning from a friend that by dissolving their marriage Emily could qualify for Medicaid, the couple walked into a drugstore, picked up a guidebook on dissolutions and then marched into an Ohio courthouse in February 2005, their $75 divorce petition in hand.
"He (the judge) told us, ‘This was the first. I've never given anyone a dissolution that had been married this long,' " Rudy Friece recalled.
Medicaid, the combined state and federal program that provides health coverage for low-income individuals, sets a limit on the amount of assets a person may have before qualifying for help. The asset limit to qualify for Florida Medicaid's medically needy program is $5,000 for individuals and $6,000 for couples.
It's been easier for a single person to get help under the rules. That is, until recently. Now, as of July 1 of next year, it won't even help to go to this drastic measure because of cuts to the state budget.
The Florida Legislature plans to discontinue Medicaid payments to the medically needy, excluding pregnant women and children, and the elderly and disabled — a group that contains 40,000 individuals — effective July 1, in order to save the state nearly $700 million.
Divorce, if only on paper, was always a last resort, said Friece, a 72-year-old retired truck driver who moved to Silver Springs following his wife's death two years ago. "She would cry about it. She didn't want to do it but I told her, she had no choice. She was getting worse and worse, and finally she agreed to it," he said. "After it was done, it was done. I took care of her up until the very end."
The Frieces are part of a small but growing number of elderly or low-income couples who have felt the need to dissolve their marriage in order to qualify for government-funded health coverage for a sick spouse. An Aug. 13 New York Times article pointed out the regularity with which some couples are jumping into marriage or considering divorce so a partner can benefit from health coverage.
Some elder law experts say eligibility requirements for receiving certain types of Medicaid coverage can be extremely difficult to meet, but express wariness over couples' willingness to divorce for medical reasons. "That's a sad day when that becomes a viable option," said John Clardy, a Citrus County lawyer. Ocala-based attorney Shari K. Player equates the cuts to a "death sentence" for those who cannot afford health insurance. "How are they going to pay for it?" she asked.
Silver Springs resident David Rowley and his wife of 13 years, Debra, divorced nearly four years ago so she could receive Medicaid coverage for her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Debra Rowley's trips to the Belleview Clinic were costing $90 a visit, and her twice-monthly medications were upwards of $100 to $190.
"When we got divorced, she got food stamps and medical assistance," Rowley, 55, said. "All medications were free and she got to go to Gainesville for MRIs."
Rowley, a Vietnam veteran who works as a truck driver, said he had been informed by a state worker at Marion County's Social Security Office that the couple owned too many shared assets for his wife to qualify for Medicaid coverage. Together they owned two vehicles, a motorcycle, a vacant lot in the forest and a traveler trailer, mostly items they could not do without
.
If they divorced, Rowley was told, his wife's chance of meeting Medicaid eligibility requirements would vastly increase.
"Neither of us wanted a divorce. We thought we'd be soulmates, forever and forever. But we couldn't afford to go to doctor any more and couldn't afford medication," Rowley said.
Even after their divorce, the couple lived together but their relationship was threatened by growing tensions.
Last month, Debra Rowley, 50, was found guilty by a jury of attempted second-degree murder for plowing her car, in a fit of jealous rage, onto a mobile home porch where her ex-husband and his friend were having a drink. She could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison on two felony counts this Friday.
During deliberations, the jury asked the court what led the Rowleys to divorce in the first place. Because Circuit Judge David Eddy did not allow the defendant's long medical history to come into the trial, the jury's question was never addressed.
Clardy, who specializes in elder law, said nothing in the law prevents such types of divorce from happening. "If you're a single person and don't have a lot of assets, you can get on Medicaid. There's nothing in the rules that says you can't get divorced for Medicaid," he said.
In the Rowleys' case, the Marion County magistrate judge who signed off on their divorce was momentarily taken aback when David Rowley let slip that he had not yet moved out from his wife's home.
"She looked at me and said, ‘Well, who am I to say? Some people get along better when they're divorced than when they're married,"' he recalled.
The resulting stigma of such a legal remedy can leave some spouses, especially those who have been married for decades, feeling stung and conflicted.
After their divorce, Emily Friece wrote a letter to the Ohio judge who approved her dissolution and explained the reason why she felt the need to take the step in the first place.
Rudy Friece, who first met his wife at a roller skating rink, tried to reassure her. "The only thing that (the dissolution) is, is a piece of paper. We still got a married life," he told her.
"She just couldn't be married and couldn't have a thing in her name," he said.
Rowley feels embittered by what he considers a helpless situation. "Our health care and medical system for people is absolutely a joke. You work all your life, then whenever you need something, you can't get anything. You have to be a nothing in order to get anything," he said.
Rowley, who now works for Lowe's as a delivery driver— "a good job with good benefits" — said he would do it all differently if he could.
"I'd marry her again, right back, right now," he said.
SILVER SPRINGS — Rudy Friece and his wife, Emily, married within a year of dating. It was a simple civil ceremony at a courthouse in Liberty, Ohio on Rudy's 21st birthday.
Nearly 50 years later, following two children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, the couple divorced, for no other reason than that they couldn't afford the costs of Emily's weekly $2,800 chemotherapy treatments for terminal bone cancer.
After learning from a friend that by dissolving their marriage Emily could qualify for Medicaid, the couple walked into a drugstore, picked up a guidebook on dissolutions and then marched into an Ohio courthouse in February 2005, their $75 divorce petition in hand.
"He (the judge) told us, ‘This was the first. I've never given anyone a dissolution that had been married this long,' " Rudy Friece recalled.
Medicaid, the combined state and federal program that provides health coverage for low-income individuals, sets a limit on the amount of assets a person may have before qualifying for help. The asset limit to qualify for Florida Medicaid's medically needy program is $5,000 for individuals and $6,000 for couples.
It's been easier for a single person to get help under the rules. That is, until recently. Now, as of July 1 of next year, it won't even help to go to this drastic measure because of cuts to the state budget.
The Florida Legislature plans to discontinue Medicaid payments to the medically needy, excluding pregnant women and children, and the elderly and disabled — a group that contains 40,000 individuals — effective July 1, in order to save the state nearly $700 million.
Divorce, if only on paper, was always a last resort, said Friece, a 72-year-old retired truck driver who moved to Silver Springs following his wife's death two years ago. "She would cry about it. She didn't want to do it but I told her, she had no choice. She was getting worse and worse, and finally she agreed to it," he said. "After it was done, it was done. I took care of her up until the very end."
The Frieces are part of a small but growing number of elderly or low-income couples who have felt the need to dissolve their marriage in order to qualify for government-funded health coverage for a sick spouse. An Aug. 13 New York Times article pointed out the regularity with which some couples are jumping into marriage or considering divorce so a partner can benefit from health coverage.
Some elder law experts say eligibility requirements for receiving certain types of Medicaid coverage can be extremely difficult to meet, but express wariness over couples' willingness to divorce for medical reasons. "That's a sad day when that becomes a viable option," said John Clardy, a Citrus County lawyer. Ocala-based attorney Shari K. Player equates the cuts to a "death sentence" for those who cannot afford health insurance. "How are they going to pay for it?" she asked.
Silver Springs resident David Rowley and his wife of 13 years, Debra, divorced nearly four years ago so she could receive Medicaid coverage for her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Debra Rowley's trips to the Belleview Clinic were costing $90 a visit, and her twice-monthly medications were upwards of $100 to $190.
"When we got divorced, she got food stamps and medical assistance," Rowley, 55, said. "All medications were free and she got to go to Gainesville for MRIs."
Rowley, a Vietnam veteran who works as a truck driver, said he had been informed by a state worker at Marion County's Social Security Office that the couple owned too many shared assets for his wife to qualify for Medicaid coverage. Together they owned two vehicles, a motorcycle, a vacant lot in the forest and a traveler trailer, mostly items they could not do without
.
If they divorced, Rowley was told, his wife's chance of meeting Medicaid eligibility requirements would vastly increase.
"Neither of us wanted a divorce. We thought we'd be soulmates, forever and forever. But we couldn't afford to go to doctor any more and couldn't afford medication," Rowley said.
Even after their divorce, the couple lived together but their relationship was threatened by growing tensions.
Last month, Debra Rowley, 50, was found guilty by a jury of attempted second-degree murder for plowing her car, in a fit of jealous rage, onto a mobile home porch where her ex-husband and his friend were having a drink. She could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison on two felony counts this Friday.
During deliberations, the jury asked the court what led the Rowleys to divorce in the first place. Because Circuit Judge David Eddy did not allow the defendant's long medical history to come into the trial, the jury's question was never addressed.
Clardy, who specializes in elder law, said nothing in the law prevents such types of divorce from happening. "If you're a single person and don't have a lot of assets, you can get on Medicaid. There's nothing in the rules that says you can't get divorced for Medicaid," he said.
In the Rowleys' case, the Marion County magistrate judge who signed off on their divorce was momentarily taken aback when David Rowley let slip that he had not yet moved out from his wife's home.
"She looked at me and said, ‘Well, who am I to say? Some people get along better when they're divorced than when they're married,"' he recalled.
The resulting stigma of such a legal remedy can leave some spouses, especially those who have been married for decades, feeling stung and conflicted.
After their divorce, Emily Friece wrote a letter to the Ohio judge who approved her dissolution and explained the reason why she felt the need to take the step in the first place.
Rudy Friece, who first met his wife at a roller skating rink, tried to reassure her. "The only thing that (the dissolution) is, is a piece of paper. We still got a married life," he told her.
"She just couldn't be married and couldn't have a thing in her name," he said.
Rowley feels embittered by what he considers a helpless situation. "Our health care and medical system for people is absolutely a joke. You work all your life, then whenever you need something, you can't get anything. You have to be a nothing in order to get anything," he said.
Rowley, who now works for Lowe's as a delivery driver— "a good job with good benefits" — said he would do it all differently if he could.
"I'd marry her again, right back, right now," he said.
