Man who helped police is uninsured

A Boston Marathon bombing victim who lost both legs and reportedly may have helped the FBI identify suspects from his ICU bed doesn’t have health insurance — even though he lives in Massachusetts, the one state that covers almost everyone.

News reports, as well as the online fundraising drive set up by his family, said Jeff Bauman, 27, lives in Chelmsford, Mass. — and is part of the small slice of the state that doesn’t have health insurance.


He worked at Costco in New Hampshire, had plans to return to school and was uninsured, according to The Boston Globe. Young healthy people who shun insurance are sometimes referred to as “young invincibles.”

( Also on POLITICO: Blast victim helped identify suspects)

A searing photograph of a badly injured Bauman, who was watching his girlfriend run in the marathon, being wheeled away from the bombing site was widely circulated after the explosions.

And a dramatic Bloomberg News account described how Bauman, while still in intensive care, gave the FBI a description of a man who looked him straight in the eye and dropped a bag at his feet that then exploded. His description, Bloomberg said, apparently proved crucial in narrowing down the search for the suspects.

An online fundraising page created to raise support for Bauman’s medical bills is currently about two-thirds of the way to its $300,000 goal. Other offers of support have come in as well, including from an organization called 50 Legs that helps amputees obtain prosthetics. While much of the money is coming online, some is being raised in more old-fashioned ways: An inn near where he works in Nashua is selling a special chocolate and blueberry dessert as a fundraiser.

A 2006 Massachusetts law stipulates that insurance plans in the state provide coverage for prosthetic devices equal to that provided in Medicare.

Because both the state and federal laws allow people with pre-existing injuries to get coverage, Bauman would be eligible for coverage in the future — but his current treatment will not be cheap.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:57 p.m. on April 19, 2013.