Linda and Ken Brauer went years without health insurance after Ken lost his job as a salesman in 2007. Ken became eligible for Medicare in January. But Linda, a 63-year-old unemployed social worker with a master’s degree, has been unable to find work and still lacks health insurance. “People are just so vulnerable,” said Linda Brauer, who lives with her husband in Rockford, north of Grand Rapids. “Unless this has happened to them, I don’t think they understand it.”