Woman declared dead by government must prove she's still alive

And just think: these are the same people who might soon be in charge of our health care!

"I'm not dead yet! I don't want to go on the cart!"

Terri Thompson of Maynardville, Tennessee has been classified as "dead" by the government, because she has successfully fought off a disease for most of her life in defiance of every prognosis by her physicians. Thompson had been told years ago that she wouldn't live to see age 25... and she's about to celebrate her 49th birthday.

According to the United States Government however, she should be dead...

An East Tennessee woman has spent her entire life fighting a disease, living more than 20 years longer than doctors told her she would.

But on Christmas Eve, she found out the government classified her as dead, cutting off all her coverage.

Leaving Terri Thompson to face one of her toughest battles.

She calls herself a fighter, finding out at 6 year sold that she has a rare and incurable blood disease.

Terri says, "It's called Hypogammaglobulin Anemia." "It affects my immune system, when I don't have enough white blood cells." "It's caused many of my organs to stop on me."

"I've been a fighter, and a fighter, and I've had 6 doctors give up on me," says Terry.

Laying in her Union County apartment, hiding from the germ-ridden world, she leaves every 3 weeks for treatment.

But, on Christmas Eve, she needed to go by the bank to take out money for dinner with her son.

"When I showed that lady my license, she turned white as a ghost." Terry says the bank employee, "said, I got a note that you died, that you're dead. So, I sent your Social Security back to the Social Security office."

Then when she got home, she found a letter in her mailbox saying her medical coverage ended.

"That letter stated to my family my condolences, and sympathy at the death of Terri Thompson, and I'm reading that myself."

Tearfully, she called the Social Security Administration in Knoxville. "They really couldn't tell me nothing. They told me I've got to come into the office and talk with somebody, and that they didn't have an opening until the 14th."

That's 3 weeks from the date of the call, and in between, Terri has a treatment, and several bills, that she can no longer pay for.

"I can't understand how they can make a mistake like this," as Terri chokes back her emotions.

Now she faces two fights: one to keep her life, and the other to prove she is still alive.

"I'm taking a chance at losing my life over somebody else's mistake."

So... anyone else feeling confident about health care "reform" now?