By Karen Ocamb
January 21, 2016 :: 8:04 AM
[Editor’s note: Jacques Chambers died last week. You might not have heard of him but he was a hero to the hundreds of frightened HIV-positive people who turned to him for help with the arcane bureaucratic insurance and healthcare system. He was HIV-negative and beloved by many. Here is a respectful obit from APLA’s Phil Curtis, followed by a tribute from Al Ballesteros closing the Jan. 14 HIV Commission – Karen Ocamb)
Thank You, Jacques Chambers
By Phil Curtis, Director of Government Affairs, AIDS Project Los Angeles
Jacques Chambers, longtime insurance counselor extraordinaire and head of the Benefits and Insurance Department at AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), died Monday, January 11, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital after a brief illness.
Jacques came to APLA in 1990 after a 25-year career in the insurance industry. He brought with him an encyclopedic understanding of health coverage and a clear grasp of the peril for people living with HIV and AIDS. Health insurance was hard to come by in those years, and prohibitively expensive. If your medical record showed any sign of HIV—even a test—you could kiss your policy goodbye. Losing a job meant losing employer-based coverage; there was no Obamacare to the rescue. Jacques also understood that health coverage could literally be a question of life or death. Data indicated early on in the AIDS epidemic that people with private health coverage fared better than the uninsured, or those on public health insurance. Either way, the odds were stacked against you.
For 10 years, Jacques offered his compassion, good humor, and expertise to any and all who came his way with an insurance problem. He knew what could and could not be fixed, and his clients nearly always left his office with clarity for the way forward. If need be, Jacques reached into his own pocket to pay a premium to keep coverage in place.
Jacques also managed the benefits staff and a cadre of loyal volunteers. Under Jacques’ supervision, the Benefits Department held weekly workshops to guide people through the application process for Medi-Cal and Social Security disability. Later, Jacques organized ProBenefit$ trainings for case managers and social workers across Los Angeles County and the state.
As a member of the benefits staff and a longtime employee of APLA, I have to say that there was a spark of greatness in all of this. The men, women and families who came to us were desperate. Many had no income, no job, and no insurance. Some had been abandoned by family and friends or fired from work. Nearly all were terrified on the deepest level and most faced their fears with awe-inspiring courage and fortitude.
Jacques believed that our clients deserved to be awe-inspired in return. He did his best, and much of the time, he succeeded.
Jacques left APLA in 2000 and started his own consulting firm, Help with Benefits, where he offered his expertise and compassion to anyone struggling with an insurance policy or a disability claim. He gave away ample advice for free. He loved his work, his pals, his native Oklahoma and his home in Silver Lake, the theater, and the Dodgers. Jacques died surrounded by friends. He will be remembered by everyone who knew him as a consummate professional with a heart of gold.
Tribute from Al Ballesteros, Executive Director at JWCH Institute:
Jacques Chambers, for those of you who knew him, was such a wonderful, wonderful human being. He did so much for people with AIDS from many, many years ago. I remember I first met him in 1990 when I was working for Being Alive and I was working with a lot of people with HIV who were having trouble getting their disability applications approved, or having trouble getting their SSI or SSA or Medi-Cal. And this man—on a volunteer basis—would sit with very sick people with HIV and help them put together their Medi-Cal applications; he would go with them to appeals; he would articles for the Being Alive newsletter; he would give encouragement. I saw him help literally hundreds and hundreds of individuals and he did that work for almost 30 years.
His partner, Milan, would come with him to Being Alive and we would have Being Alive events back in 1990. His partner passed away, I believe, from complications of HIV probably about five or six years ago.
I saw Jacques about seven months ago—I had the opportunity to see him and visit him—and even seven months ago, as an individual who had mostly retired from work, he continued to write articles about the Affordable Care Act, and how to navigate things like the “donut hole” before the Care Act. He was writing articles about care-giving.
So this is an example of an individual that was not living with HIV himself—but his partner was. But when we look back on the history of Los Angeles and who did the work that really mattered—I can’t think of anybody who would have done more than Jacques Chambers, directly with individuals living with HIV.
So I’m glad we’re adjourning in his memory. I’m sad that he has passed. But in my mind he will always live on as somebody who did the most.