JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) — A New Jersey mom has been fighting for six months to get her son health insurance coverage as he battles cancer.<\/p>\n
When he couldn’t get approved, she asked 7 On Your Side to diagnose the problem.<\/p>\n
It was an unexpected diagnosis for Wanda Roberson’s youngest, Tareen.<\/p>\n
“You never think it’s going to be your child,” she said. “But it was devastating the way we found out he was sick.”<\/p>\n
Doctors told Tareen he had leukemia in 2024. For a time, his medication, doctor’s appointments and chemotherapy treatments were all covered under his father’s insurance.<\/p>\n
“So when their father retired, the insurance went with him, so they have no insurance,” she said.<\/p>\n
Roberson applied for NJ Family Care, the health insurance program through New Jersey providing Garden State residents who quality with affordable health insurance.<\/p>\n
She said she sent in the paper work and kept getting told it was pending. That was back in November of 2025.<\/p>\n
“Seven months I’ve been dealing with this, and they would send paperwork in the meantime, because the hospital bills were piling up as well,” she said.<\/p>\n
The family had to rely on temporary Medicaid and charity to afford Tareen’s ongoing care.<\/p>\n
“I don’t understand…he’s a cancer patient…we’re not faking a disease, we’re not scamming anybody so what’s the problem?” Roberson said.<\/p>\n
After months of waiting for approval, the single mother was told to restart the entire application process – leaving her to pay for Tareen’s expensive treatment out of pocket.<\/p>\n
With nowhere else to turn, the Jersey City mom sent an SOS to 7 On Your Side.<\/p>\n
“I watch you all the time, I watch you all the time, and I see how you get things done,” she said.<\/p>\n
7 On Your Side contacted the New Jersey Department of Health Services and by the end of the week, Roberson received good news.<\/p>\n
She soon learned all of her son’s treatment costs from doctor visits to drugs would be retroactively covered in full.<\/p>\n
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