How Many More Have to Die Before We Fix Health Care?, Part 1

In the movie Excalibur, the wizard Merlin intones, “When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.”  Dramatic, but rarely true.  That’s perhaps what makes the current “hold no stops/make up what you have to” tactic of the enemies of reform so galling.  By now, you’ve heard the fabrications.  You’ve seen career political opportunist, corporate schill and “close reading” policy hack Betsy McCaughey proclaiming that the health care reform bill would pressure senior citizens to die faster – causing NPR’s On the Media to report, “That is shocking — also, utterly untrue.”  That didn’t stop Rep. Virginia Foxx from proclaiming on the House floor that the Republican alternative to health care reform (anyone know what that is today?  It changes so frequently… Is it just more tax cuts again?) “is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.”  Politics is a rough and tumble sport, but it is the height of irresponsibility to purely frighten senior citizens based entirely on a lie.

What makes it even worse, though, is this political posturing ignores the fact that people are dying this year, this month, today because we keep putting off fixing our broken health care system.  If these smear tactics succeed, then lies truly will have killed part of our worlds.

I want to tell you the story of three people.  They didn’t know each other.  I didn't know them.  They were young, they were beautiful, and they were loved.  And they have all died within the past two months because they could not afford health care.

You can read the story of Edith Speed in her own words right here on Change.org.  She had insurance for over 10 years when she was diagnosed with breast cancer – specifically intraductal and infiltrating duct carcinoma.  It was bad enough going through the terrifying experience of dealing with breast cancer.  But that wasn't all she was forced to deal with.

The bills began to arrive, from 10 different entities, my surgeon, her assistant (whom I'd never even met, and who I learned was not a preferred provider for my health plan), the anesthesiologist, the hospital, radiology, the lab, you name it, they're billing me. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the adversarial relationship between hospitals and the insurance company, I learned that there are many necessary procedures that the insurance company won't pay for, leaving the patient holding the bag after the fact, I learned that my deductible which on paper is $2,500.00 per year, is actually a $5,000.00 per year maximum out of pocket expense. My 2 hour procedure cost $35,000.00.

I was glad I had kept my insurance, which I'd had for over 10 years. I'd never had occasion to use it and had been thinking it was a huge waste of money, only a month before, I'd considered dropping it. I put one of my two cars up for sale, cashed in my U.S. Treasury bonds, left to me by my aunt, and began to dip into the savings account I'd started towards a down payment on my house.

But then the cancer got worse, and Edith needed a radical double mastectomy.  And she was flat broke.  She thought of just giving up the fight and letting the cancer take its course.  Instead, she found the inner strength to found the Bowling for Boobies charity event.  After her own medical debts were paid, she organized it every year to help more women in her condition, and went on to found the Busted Foundation to financially support women with breast cancer.

So it’s a painful tragedy that someone who gave so much would be faced with breast cancer again.  In April, Edith wrote, “Six years later, I am glad to have made the choices in care that I did, happy to be well and so immeasurably grateful to have had the support network that I do. Still, six years later, my husband and I have not recovered from the financial hit. Our savings remains depleted and I have come to terms with the fact that we may never own a house.  Time has passed, my life has gone on and while I am happier than ever, a dark cloud looms in the distance of my consciousness.”

Fighting here own dark clouds, Edith inspired so many people.  Her friend Christa Faust wrote, "She was a breast cancer survivor, a strong, beautiful Domina and a warm, supportive and generous friend for over fifteen years. She was there for me during a very hard time in my life and I can’t stop thinking I should have done more to be there for her."

In the words of her friend Lisa Derrick, “On June 7th that dark cloud became overwhelming and Edith killed herself.”

In no other industrialized country is the amount you can spend on out-of-pocket health care costs infinite, even for those with insurance.  In no other industrialized nation do you have to give up your financial security to save your life.  Only here.  Only because we still haven't fixed health care.

Go to Part 2, and learn about Angel "Inqy" Yates and Eric De La Cruz.

(Photo credit:  bethboya on Flickr.)