Hogan Gorman

According to the CDC, one in five Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills. With affordable health insurance often out of reach for the unemployed, those working part time, and for those whose employers don’t offer health insurance, many people decide not to shell out their limited, hard-earned cash for insurance — but what happens when, well, something happens?

We had the chance to talk to a woman who lived through just that — Hogan Gorman (@hogangorman), author of Hot Cripple: An Incurable Smart-Ass Takes on the Health Care System and Lives to Tell the Tale.

Hogan was making it in New York as an actress as a lot of people do — working nights in the restaurant business.  Walking to the nightclub to start her shift, Gorman was hit by a car speeding in reverse down a one-way street. Smashing her head through the windshield and flying into the air, Gorman survived the crash, but landed on the pavement.  Instead of the car’s passengers rushing to her aid, she was confronted with the driver’s wife screaming, “Stand up! You’re not hurt! I’m a doctor, and I know you’re not hurt!” (Her place of employment didn’t offer health care, so this wouldn’t be the first unhelpful doctor on her long and difficult road to recovery.)

The accident left Gorman with debilitating injuries to her head and back that caused constant excruciating pain, memory lapses, and blackouts.  This book is her firsthand account of surviving a devastating accident, and what it’s like to deal with our nation’s medical and social welfare system.

Here’s her interview on The Dylan Ratigan Show: 

Hogan’s Hot Cripple show was first performed as part of the 12th annual New York International Fringe Festival where it garnered Hogan the FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for ‘Outstanding Actor’.

Want to read an excerpt of Hot Cripple? Click “show transcript” below to read the first chapter of her book, and watch the video of her one-woman show here: