It’s Not Just Their Shame. It’s Ours.

When it comes to health care reform, the economy is the new black.  I’ve been giving the economic impact of health care a lot of attention the past two weeks because we’re finally in a place where the American people and our government seem to really get it, that you can’t fix the economy without fixing health care.  In many ways, the problem has finally gotten to the point where you can’t deny it’s a crisis.  All the fighting we do now is about the solution or potential solutions.  That in and of itself is progress and truly remarkable.

But there’s another side to health care.  We may cite the statistic that every 1% rise in the unemployment rate translates to 1.1 million without insurance, but we can’t forget that’s 1.1 million American citizens who are about to go through economic anguish – even more so if they get sick before they get coverage again.  We know that half of all bankruptcies involve medical debt, and of the ones that do, nearly three-quarters were people who had insurance at the onset of the illness but not enough.  But we can’t forget how powerful each of those stories is.  The economic impact may be undeniable, but neither are the moral questions our health care system provokes.  What does our health care crisis do to the American Dream?

Because of the confirmation hearings this week, I’ve been re-reading Tom Daschle and Jeanne Lambrew’s Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.  I’m struck all over again by the story of Donna S. Smith.  Before they got sick, she and her husband Larry lived the American dream.

While caring for six children and with both of them working full-time, Donna managed to put herself through college at night, graduating cum laude.  But then Larry got coronary artery disease, could no longer work as a machinist, and made ends meet working a full week at a hodge-podge of jobs – none of them with insurance.  Then Donna got uterine cancer, and a year later had to have undergo surgery from complications she incurred by rushing back to her job full-time before she had recovered because she was afraid she’d lose her benefits.  And the premiums went up.  And the co-pays went up.  And the prescription drug costs went up.  And they went into debt.  And they sold their house.  And they went into bankruptcy.

They did everything they were supposed to.  They didn't ask for a handout.  They worked hard.  They bettered themselves.  They raised a family.  But they got sick.  And then their American Dream was gone.

Donna told her story before the House of Representatives in July 2007.  She finished with this:

“I am so angry with you.

“I lived the American dream as my father taught me and his father taught him.  I worked, I educated myself, I voted, I bought a home and then moved up into a better home, I raised my children responsibly and I served in my community – and you left me broken and battered because you failed to act on health-care reform.  Just as I have come out of the shadows of economic ruin and shame, so too will others come forward to hold you accountable.  Remember the hardworking people elected you.  Their bankruptcy shame due to medical crisis really is your shame.”

America is still the land of untold possibility, where we believe if you can dream it, you can do it.  If you don't believe that, look at where we are today.  After years of being told it couldn't be done, we’re lucky to be in the midst of the best chance we’ve had to get health care right in a long time.  But even today, there are millions of Donnas out there.  If we can’t come together to fix this broken system, it won’t just be Congress' shame.  It’ll be ours.

(Photo credit:  respres on Flickr.)