Family illness gives state aide a personal stake in health debate

SPRINGFIELD - As a press aide to the governor, Annie Thompson helped promote a plan to improve health care access, but didn't think much about the realities of facing serious illness without insurance. Now she can think of little else. In early May, Thompson's uninsured mother finally agreed to see a doctor for her abdominal pain. The doctors found a softball-sized mass. Her mother, Pat, underwent surgery for colon cancer and spent about two weeks in the hospital, piling up nearly $100,000 in debt. After a delay over money, she's starting chemotherapy, with most of the cost covered by a state program she can join only because one of her daughters hasn't yet turned 19. &#8220I realized what a struggle it is when you don't have health insuran