My neighbor, who lives kitty corner to me died last night.....

He lost his job a couple months back, and he lost his health coverage. He had been working partime at any job he could find, trying to keep from losing everything.

He started having chest pains yesterday evening, and decided to lay down. His wife begged him to go to the hospital, but he said that they could not afford it, and that it would probably turn out to be nothing. So he asked her to just let him lay down and get some rest. (She told me this morning that he has been having panic attacks recently because of all the stress, so she figured that was what the problem was.) Long story short, she went in to check on him to see if he was feeling any better, and she found him dead.

A husband, a father, a grandfather...Dead. (He was 51) All because he knew he could not afford the hospital bill. The family will be "okay" financially because he did have a good life insurance policy. But the money aspect is trivial, they lost him. (My hubby is over there right now trying to get everything in order for the funeral arrangements, and see if any of his credit cards or his mortgage had payoff clauses in them.)

No one will be able to convince me that he couldn't have been saved, if had gone to the hospital to get treatment. He didn't want to go, because he didn't want to put his family in worse financial straights than they already were. As far as I'm concerned he was murdered, murdered by the "compassionate conservatives" that think health care should only be for those who can afford it.

She just came over 5 minutes ago to give us the news, and I'm super red hot pissed right now. I'm going to go take a shower and go see what I can do to help. I won't be able to reply to this thread for awhile, because I'll be over there. I just had to get this crap off my chest.

Stories like this make me so mad I could spit!

I am so sorry for your neighbor. :cry:

You're right. With medical attention there's a good chance he'd be alive today.

I'm in pretty much the same boat. If I get sick, I'm screwed.

What a sad thing to happen to a family.

How wonderful it is to be part of conservatives' "Culture of Life." :sarcasm:

everyone else. I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor... god rest his soul.

May he rest in peace :(

my sympathy to your neighbor, 51, people die in their chairs in this country for lack of health insurance. It is all so sad.:cry:

... while our fearless (cough) leaders are out shopping for new designer shoes, taunting the dismantling of our Social Security to Republican voters only, and enjoying *cake* w/McCain for his birthday.

Gawd knows these things are so much more important then people dying, like in chairs in NO (photos don't lie)....

and it reminds us all, if you have chest pains get to the hospital. Forget about the money. They will treat you.

And then they will hound you for whatever amount they figure it is you owe. For years! And then they will sell it to people who will call you every day until you "settle". Once they get you to go that far, they will then send you lots more bills broken out from the amount you allegedly "settled" and hassle you for that. It is a no win, but if you are in that position tell them to get bent & pay them nothing.

Otherwise you end up with more (actually the same) bills and your credit still blows. I went to the hospital, paid everything I allegedly owed and still had this happen to me. And I had insurance when these bills were accrued.

but personally I'll take the bills and my life.

He's lucky in that his family has caring neighbors to help them now.

so if you have a chronic condition, you are probably fucked. yeah, you can get emergency treatment, you just can't get regular care.

and find out after all that the society has disposed of you. Too many are finding this out. We will lose the collective wisdom of our culture when the average man and woman start dropping younger and younger from neglected health care.

The young adults will be viable, but will lose the benefit of parents' years of observation. The young adults will be victimized even more by powers who will prey on their naivete and inexperience. They will be exploited more because there will be fewer older adults to warn them of traps and pitfalls. They will fall more and more under the control of corporate feudalists

And in the meanwhile, even people who do manage to keep their insurance are finding it is not as helpful as they were led to believe when they signed up to pay for it.

To OP: Vent here with us when you need to release the anger, and be calm for your neighbor. Lean on us so she can lean on you and your kind husband.

Folks, we are ALL in this together. We all need to rattle cages in DC and get health care addressed in this nation. There is no excuse for this problem and the only reason for it is greed.

Scientific American about how poor people in the US are dying of diseases usually thought to be diseases of the elderly.


Would this guy have fared any better under a conservative Democratic administration gung ho about cutting welfare rolls and cutting the number of government employees? I think not.

This is neither a Republican or Democratic issue it is an issue of the lack of compassion many Americans of all political persuasions have for those who fall upon hard times. We are told in this country that to ask for help is to lose one's "pride". F**k PRIDE! We are told it is our fault if we don't have money in the bank for unexpected hard times (only the other day on the Today show a financial advisor was again saying that one should have three to six months income saved) and if we don't it's not because wages have failed to keep up with inflation it's because of our profligate ways.

It's never the fault of the system, or so the dominant American narrative goes, that people are poor or down on their luck, it's the fault of those who are suffering. Never mind that for most working class Americans there is more month than there is money, we are programmed not to blame capitalism's excesses but rather ourselves and that leads us to not getting out into the streets and really taking back what is ours.

What a screwed up culture and nation we have!

I'm going to the funeral tomorrow, and I don't want make a "political" scene, but I sure as hell want people to know how I feel about the situation. How does one strike the balance between not being "political," and still the point across?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2014333

if that doesn't put this in poignant perspective....

51 is way to young. I went to funerals for 2 neighbors last week. Its a shame our country the supposed leader of the free world and we can't develop an affordable health care system.

and probably much more common than ever given aging baby boomers and declining rates of health coverage.

less egregious than this. When will the sheeple wake up? :grr:

I often think that my British grandsons will have more freedom, and certainly better health care, than my American granddaughters. This country seems to get more unfair every year. I don't know if I'm angrier than I am sick about it, or sicker than I am angry. When I hear stories like this the two converge.

of the guy in LA that closed the 105 by setting his truck on fire and blowing his brains out because of how badly he was not treated by his HMO? I was really upset then by the M$M coverage of his tragedy and suspected it was just the first of many more to come.

When we debated the Garden of Eden vs. evolution, I asked her how she explained the cave men. Her answer - "Oh, I don't like to think about that." I get so angry and so upset over what's going on in this country, that I think maybe I'd be better off doing what I did during the eight years of Reagan - tune out and don't think about it. At least my blood pressure would stay normal. What is going on over here is so awful, and so sad, and so enraging, and you wonder how anyone can vote R and live with themselves.

people living in the streets and doorways.

http://www.utahphillips.org/songbook/pieinthesky.html

And the starvation army they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin on the drum,
Then they tell you when you are on the bum.

If you fight hard for children and wife,
Try to get something good in this life,
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell.

Workingmen of all countries unite,
Side by side we for freedom will fight;
When the world and its wealth we have gained,
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:

Final chorus:
You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and to fry;
Chop some wood, do you good,
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.
(That's no lie!)

A life of giving, for what? So our tax dollars can be spent on death and destruction, instead of health and creation of a better America, a better world. 51 years ago, he was born into a world that seeded a promise in his heart. Now that promise has been broken and another life has been tossed into the endless void of the heartless GOP.

May his spirit live on in his children. May their future be better than this.

...but this is happening all over America....every minute! Health care is out of site!

I broke my leg this spring in a freak accident. It required arthrosocpic surgery and they placed two screws in my upper tibia. I was in the hospital less than 24 hrs. The total costs of the broken leg will exceed $50 thousand!!!!! WTF?
After scrutinizing my orthopedic surgeons bill, they had charged me for a second surgeon in the OR, which was my surgeon's PA! When I called them on it, they agreed to remove the charge. How many times have they gotten away with this, and why do the insurance companies not scrutinize these bills more closely?
I am self-employed, retired actually, and I pay in excess of $10,000/yr for a catastrophic policy which requires I pay the first $5000 and 50% of the next $10,000. I am limited to $10,000 out of pocket expense each year. We have been out $90,000 the last four years with my wife's breast cancer and reconstruction and my broken leg! That would ruin most people, however, we are fortunate to own an apartment complex in Dallas that makes it possible for us to pay the bills.

When these kinds of expenses are so outrageous, it's no wonder half the people getting treated are indigent!

in Congress, those burdened with health care expenses can't get out from under that debt by declaring bankruptcy. :grr: Sickening that this Country refuses to take care of its every day average citizens. The GREEDY Rich don't worry about chest pains and not being able to afford a hospital visit. No, they worry about which luxury resort they'll vacation at or where to buy their second home etc. They disgust me! :puke:

Luckily they caught the deadline but I feel for those who missed it. Instead of trying to find out why people file for bankruptcy, the Congress decided to dance with the credit card industry and screw all of us. When you break your leg, you don't fix the shoddy sidewalk; you get freaking crutches!

I had a cast first, then a walking air cast, then had to buy a magnetic stimulator because it wasn't healing fast enough. Then I had to have surgery, pins and plates, and a bone graft at the beginning of this month. It's costing a fortune.

And the worst part is....I work for the state and got a crummy review because I "missed so much work". I used my vacation time and never took a sick day! My pay increase for next year is bupkes. I'm so upset.

This doesn't even compare to a person dying from a lack of basic medical care though, I know it. It's just all so screwed up. :(

the system is set up now to get rid of people not to give an inch. :hug: :kick:

The only thing saving me from losing my job is my union.

Thanks for the hug! :hug:

They would have treated him and then he could have worked out a payment plan with the hospital. I did that twice when I didn't have health insurance and they worked out a $50/month payment plan for me (based on my ability to pay). I'm pretty sure there's a federal law that covers this, and I think that law states that they cannot turn your case over to a collection agency as long as you are paying a certain amount each month. They will work this out based on your income, and some hospitals will even reduce the rate. Getting paid something is better than getting paid nothing. It's too bad he didn't know about this option. :(

and they ain't required to do anything for you, if you don't have the cash.
you think he didn't know that? he probably didn't want to have to give away his house to pay his bills.
tks for blaming the victim here.

You obviously missed the entire point. Emergency situation, requirement to give care/save life, etc.... It's all there in my post. No one is blaming the victim, unless you call pointing out some facts "blaming." If the standard here is simply to cast blame on the industry (while ignoring some relevant and contradictory facts) then this isn't really much of a useful discussion at all. And I'll leave the rest to you. Happy New Year.

It is drummed into our collective phsyce that an the American spirit of Independence requires us to shun being a burden pretty much at all personal cost.

He was probably the kind of man who would have made that kind of arrangement you mentioned with the hospital for one of his kids or wife, but has bought the lie that a real man has to sacrifice his own health rather than take a "hand out" or "help" from the government.

We've gone back in mentallity to the way things were before the "New Deal". It's like that movie Cinderella Man with everyday folks working themselves to death while those at the top of the chain (Oil Companies for ex.) make unheard of profits.

This man who was in terrible circumstances still felt it was HIS fault and that it was HIS responsibility and HIS alone to make things work for HIS family when EVERYTHING this DAMN Administration does balances the burden on the backs of the poor and the working class poor and gives all the breaks to the upper wage bracket - who don't NEED another ...jet, yacht, golden toilet bowl or whatever.

Student Loans - slashed.
K-12 Education - slashed.
Programs for the elderly - slashed.

Why? To balance the budget they said.

THEN WHY did they turn around and give tax breaks to the rich that cost TWICE as Much as they slashed out of the poor side of the budget?

NEXT PROTEST in Washington DC should lay the DOMESTIC CRIMES at the DoorStep of the White House.

WHOSE HOUSE? OUR HOUSE! Time to Evict/Impeach those squatters who have NO BUSINESS in OUR HOUSE. They lied and cheated to get in and they are committing crimes constantly to hold on to their power. THEY MUST GO. NOW.

tests done and perscrptions filled in order to survive a chronic illness. he couldn't afford all that without insurance.
i think whatever "industry" you are defending is part of a system that has failed us miserably.

for potential heart attacks.
Willingness to go into debt isn't always enough. I have mild MS and know people who could no longer work due to symptoms, but to get diagnosed they needed an MRI. They had to come up with about $2,000 first. They called around, all prices were the same.

That didn't work out for the one who actually had a brain tumor, not MS. They died.

You can't get treated unless you're dying anymore. I know people who have been turned away from the ER with cuts requiring stitches because they weren't serious enough. Yes, the man would probably be alive and in a hospital. But once stabilized, anything else he would need would be cash on the barrelhead. Times have changed. Life threatening disease isn't the same as dying on the spot anymore. They don't treat it.

My neighbor went to the ER for a sore throat. She had to wait over two hours but they saw her, did a strep test, etc. My two trips to the ER weren't life-threatening but I was treated each time.

If what you say is true then the hospital in your example is in violation of federal law.

As for long-term sustained care after the ER visit, that's when the hospital's patient representative in the accounting department comes in. You work out your payment for the hospital stay and also at that time you can apply for Medicare and/or Medicaid. I was advised on it but didn't sign up.

People need to make themselves aware of their right to receive care in an ER and they also need to educate themselves on various programs available at the federal level and investigate the assistance they can receive from local groups. (For instance: there are two organizations in my area that provide assistance for prescriptions. If someone doesn't have that in their city --and I bet they do-- they can find certain drug companies that offer discounts to people without insurance. Go to Pfizer's website, for example, and check out their discount program.

EDIT: Browse this website for some interesting information: http://www.needymeds.com/

One, no ER has to treat anybody who doesn't have a life threatening situation. They usually will, but they don't have to. My hospital has started telling people with things like strep to go to the clinic, it's not an emergency. Wake up, they have a right to do that and they will.

Two, if your situation was life threatening and they admitted you, then that's when you meet with the hospital representative. If it isn't, you're alive and walking around but need threatment, then you better bring insurance or cash. I am deaf in one ear and can't get treated. My husband needs hernia surgery and can't get treated. My son has a herniated disc and can barely walk, he needed to see a neurosurgeon and needed $350-$500 to even get his first appointment. Treatment??? lol. If I had cancer or needed a bypass, I couldn't get treated. In fact, I wouldn't even know because I can't afford diagnostics anyway.

Medicaid? We work. We make too much.

And prescription drug programs. My mother had a heart transplant. She was on Medicaid because the drugs are so expensive, but Arkansas only covered 3 drugs a month. So she still needed help. NONE of the companies offer permanent help, it's all short term. Guess what. Short term doesn't do much good for someone who is going to need those medications the rest of their life.

Wake the hell up Pollyanna. People are dying out here.

personal levels. ("Wake the hell up Pollyanna.")

If your argument could stand on its merits, there would be no need for that.

You are mistaken about the ER requirements. The hospital I went to two times had a sign in the ER waiting room (and in the examination room), in English and Spanish, advising patients of their rights. Among those rights were the right to be evaluated and stabilized. The bottom of the sign cited the federal law. I also signed a piece of paper (AFTER being evaluated in the triage room) that advised me of my rights regarding financial responsibility and that I could request to meet with a patient's rep from the accounting office.

As for prescriptions, I posted a link that was very helpful to me and another family member. You should take a look at it.

For the record, I don't think any rational person would argue that the state of health care in this country is anywhere near acceptable. But my point in this discussion was that there are ways to get medical care (the ER), there are ways to work out a financial agreement with the hospital, and we as individuals have the responsibility to educate ourselves about these things. I can't understand why anyone so concerned about their own health (or the state of the system in general) wouldn't investigate every possible avenue to receive care.

Also, if you think you're dying and you don't go to the ER, sorry but there's only one person responsible for that decision.

I am telling you that hospitals are changing. Just 2-3 years ago, I would have agreed with you. But it just isn't that way anymore. Evaluated. You aren't dying, therefore you are stable, so get out. That is ER care and my local hospital is a Catholic non-profit. If your hospital isn't that way, believe me, it is just a matter of time until it is. Show up at my hospital with a sore throat, you're going to get told to go to the clinic unless you have a life threatening fever. The prescription programs are helpful, but they are SHORT TERM. That is just a fact. People ARE dying from a lack of medical care and it has absolutely nothing to do with whether they went to the ER or not. Frankly, Pollyanna is polite considering what I really think of people who deny the state of medical care in this country.

talking about how things used to be. the current reality- the programs that have been eliminated or slashed to the bone are not something they are willing to accept or own up to. complete bullshit.
thanks for the reality check!

I feel so bad for this man and his family.

Those of us scratching around at the bottom of the rung know all too well
how precarious our positions are. I know what can happen if you have to face a serious medical crisis with no health insurance. You can loose everything you have. I did.

There`s just NO excuse for this in a land that can afford tax breaks for the Donald Trumps and a military-industrial complex with enough weaponry to blow up the world.

I am so very sorry to hear bout your loss. My heart goes out to his friends and family in this terrible time.

At the risk of politicizing this tragedy, I do want to point out that this same life and death decision is faced every day all over this country. With the growing number of uninsured people, it will continue to be an issue until we have Universal Health Care.

What makes this feel even more bitter is the knowledge that your local hospital quite likely is a non-profit hospital--meaning it is tax exempt (about two thirds are, I think.) Your friend, and everyone else in your community has been supporting that hospital for a very long time in the form of property and sales tax exemptions along with federal tax exemptions. Where were they when he needed them most?

We have GOT to demand a better job of providing charity care in our local hospitals. Until we actually have single payer health care that charity care program is the only hope we have of saving the lives of the uninsured and the "medically indigent."



Laura

because he didn't want to put us into debt also. He wouldn't put his name on the transplant list for a liver. He had, had Hep C. sometime in his life and his body had cleared the virus but left him with a damaged liver. He was offered the chance to be placed on the transplant list by his Doctors. When I tried to get him to, he just said that it would cost too much and he didn't want to create an enormous debt that I might have to pay. He thought he could live the rest of his life with what he had left. He was just 49 when he went into Hepatic Failure and passed away. This was in the fall of 2002 exactly 1 week before our son's birthday. Our son had to go to his fathers funeral instead of celebrate his 14th birthday. :kick:

:hug:

:kick: I am just so angry about the way these big companies are treating their workers. My husband worked the same job for 17 years but had to go on social security in 1996. The long term disability insurance, he had been paying for the whole time he worked, left him in the cold. The (company) doctor wouldn't state that my husband was or was not disabled, so my husband had to go on social security. He was very sick and could never have gone to work at that time. :kick:

:hug:

:kick:

My mother has no insurance, needs to go to a doctor for a couple of issues and won't go due to the cost. She's going to wait to see if social security helps in a few years, but she didn't work much in her life, so I don't know that she'll have much to help out. I'm very worried about her and I can appreciate how helpless and frustrated you must have felt - still feel I'm sure. I am so sorry!

You are right, he may be alive today had he gone to a hospital.

On the other hand, my BIL was jogging and dropped dead of a heart attack. He was 43, never smoked, exercised daily, took very good care of himself. And he had just had a complete physical and was given a clean bill of health 3 months earlier. So you never know - sometimes people just die.

who have died prematurely due no job, no money and no health insurance

this country flat out sucks in its utter subjugation by giant corporations and the piss poor way it treats its citizens

we have to end corporate rule. corporations, especially financial services corporations, are psychopaths, protected by our laws and government, rampaging through our culture and destroying our planet. Your neighbor is one of their victims.

It's truly horrifying.

Lots of info.

if we don't stop the psychopathic corporate destruction of our species and our planet, we are doomed.

Have you read "The Corporation" by Joel Bakan?

that this is how I will die.

I'm diabetic; I've got to cross my fingers that I can get a job with a decent health plan right out of college or else I'm dead from the lack of medicines.

I am Diabetic with Hypertension and have had a stroke and 2 heart attacks on the same day 4 years ago.

I am living on disability insurance from my old job, but since I take about 13 pills a day... well. I don't know how much longer I will be able to afford medicine without insurance.

I am 50, and make no bets on 55.

Bless you both for trying to help your neighbor's wife through this shocking discovery. It isn't enough that she found he was gone, but to know he might have been helped if he'd gone to the ER. To lose him at 51 is even more tragic...just when you are at the age where you can start to backpeddle and smell the roses. He'll smell the roses now, thanks to our messed up health care system.

As someone said, feel free to vent to the DUs and continue to be a tower of strength for his poor family. I'm sure he is grateful that you are both there to help her and the family. Bless them all.

for us plebes: Don't get sick.

Sad and tragic.

The lack of healthcare in this country makes our healthcare no better than any 3rd world nation, and often worse.

And how 'pro-life' they really are (not)

:mad:

My uncle died earlier this year under similar circumstances. His symptoms were far worse-- he was having severe stomach pain and ended up throwing up blood. By the time he was convinced to stop worrying about the cost, it was too late. He had a ruptured anuerysm and died.

My heart goes out to that family.

Compassionate Conservatives are all about the LIFE.

LIFE is good to keep - if you are but a fetus.

Yessirreee....they are pro life all the way, huh?

But I wonder why folks like Cheney don't use your neighbor's health plan?

Same kind of story, different person.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/12/30/2242/3618

This is heartbreaking.

maybe we will have a civilized health care system.

i would only add my thoughts and prayers for them and all those suffering in so many various ways in no small part because of greeds far-reaching hold on this world
its a bit more complicated than that but not much

That is why it is so important. The right wing's policies actually kill a helluva lot of people, from small children dying of lung-related problems owing to the pollution, to your neighbor, dead from outsourcing, poor economic policy, and a horrendous health care system.

It is despicable.

It's indecent that people are dying in what is supposed to be the richest country in the world. It might be rich, but it's only for a select few, and instead of providing health coverage for people like your neighbor, our politicians have decided to add to the national debt by giving the wealthy more tax cuts. This country has hit moral bottom.

This is genocide. Plain and simple. PNAC culling the population. Creating more chaos for the citizens so they can rule out of all the chaos.
This is a nightmare, a third of this country has no or now you see it- now you don't coverage for their well being.
We have Health Insurance companies stockholders so proud of their profits. Profits that deny care and murder for the bottom line
Corporations, stockholders will watch passively as friends, family and neighbors die. Hey they got theirs and screw everyone else.
They don't need concentration camps--the corporations have something that works so much better. We actually pay them to insure us and watch our friends die..
This is beyond sadness, it's oppression.
And it is all intentional.

she had ovarian cancer, but did not see a doctor about her symptoms until it was too late, because she could not afford it. She was 42.

I have no health insurance and I completely understand how it affects decision making. Its a tragedy that human life has so little value in this country.

We lost her to ovarian cancer and no insurance almost eight years ago.
She, too, did not see a doctor until too late because she couldn't afford it. She was 43. :(

The republinazi "culture of life" strikes again. :mad:

As other DU'ers have pointed out, healthcare is a winning issue for dems. I think many people in this country have no idea of just how well off people in other civilized countries are, which have universal healthcare by making responsible use of taxpayer money.

We have socialized police force, socialized fire dept., socialized road repair -- if the nazi party members object so badly to socialized medicine, let them first avoid ever calling for help from the socialized police force, socialized fire dept. & refuse to drive on our socialized roadways first, before they open their idiot mouths.

recently. You are right compassionate conservatives murdered him. Again, I have to ask them is this REALLY what you believe Jesus would do?

Sorry about the loss of your neighbor...and so young. I know some people that get sick like this but are too afraid to go to the emergency room. They realize you can register with no insurance and be accepted regardless but they know the bill comes afterwards and they will be hounded for years because they don't have the money to payback. So they rather take chances they'll feel better. :-(

where health coverage for all is a "sin".

If Katrina didn't convince you, stories like this one should.

It's true, even people who think they have decent insurance can lose everything once they get sick. The bill collectors are relentless and the new bankruptcy bill has taken out all the protections.

They're all going to the ninth circle of Hell!

People need to wake up and see what is going on around them. I have one prayer and that is, people will wake up and take our country back!

The chances of a health problem killing you (in lieu of medical care, if you cant afford it) is about a zillion times higher than getting killed by alQaeda.

May he rest in peace. :-(

:cry:

:( :hug: It's horrible. I'm sure if he could've gone to the hospital he would've gotten the help he needed too. Bush doesn't give a damn about us. He cares more about Iraq than he does us. Why doesn't he just go there and give us a president who does care about us? :cry: I wonder how many other people this has happened to.

and as evidenced by the posts here, this is going to become commonplace, and we know it.

the low life scum who deem this okay are creating a future that even they won't want to live in. they just don't have the intellect or the reasoning ability to see that.

i had a run in with one of them at the grocery store yesterday. nearly lost it completely....this self-proclaimed spokesman of the "right". worried to death about the death of our capitalist republic (wouldn't ever be a concern except for the greed of the corporations!) and as for our democracy? he couldn't care less. dictatorship fine with him long as it gets rid of people like me!!!

AAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH. :nuke:

On the other hand, he shouldn't have worried about it as most ER's have to medically screen you by law, and he would likely have been hospitalized, would have qualified for a medicaid spend down or some other charity.

It isn't a pretty financial picture to go through, but it beats dying.

It also isn't uncommon for patients having a heart attack to have some degree of denial about their condition.

I'm sorry about this situation.

God Bless

if he had a middle-class income?

spend downs are calculated based on income vs. medical costs

He might not qualify

He could worry about that later though as his life could have been saved vs. being dead.

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to these people, who should have been able to receive medical care without worrying about going broke.

but do you want health care professionals to work for free?

Universal health coverage would be cheaper than current models of insurance and would probably cover more. US spends more dollars on health care per person than any other country, and yet we don't cover everyone. Shame

However, if it makes her feel better, he might have died anyway before help got there. This is what happened with my husband. He died in his chair right in front of me while I was calling 911. Some of these heart attacks are so sudden that even CPR can't help them. My neighbor, a doctor, tried to administer CPR before the ambulance arrived, but could do nothing. It was very fast.

I hope there is enough support out there in your community to help out his widow. This will be a very trying time for her and she's going to need all the help she can get.

(which they make us pay for) but denies us similar care.
They're supposed to be working at our behest, but instead, they're trying to turn us into serfs.

I am so very sorry to hear about your neighbor.

who wanted to give us the same plan Congress has. But he was boring.. and and.. voted for the war. :eyes:

Kerry wasn't "boring" enough to lose the election.

I am so sorry for you and the family of this man. I find this absolutely heartbreaking and there is no f**ing excuse for it in a nation as prosperous as ours. No excuse. :grr:

I am sorry! Thank you for sharing!

You're neighbor should still be with us. And we're the reported one-time best, most-powerful country in the world.

Heartbreaking...

Wait till hospitals start turning down the uninsured, and no-gap holding Medicare & lost Medicaid insured beginning just after midnight, tonight.

Congress has no shame, no conscious. Sorry for your neighbors horribly sad, tragic loss.

for the loss of your friend.

And I am angry at the RW corporate a**holes who have assumed power in this country! :grr:

Yet this story and others like it need to go somewhere and put a face on the news that shows America, wake up stupid, it could be you next.

This guy sounds like an A-1 person just trying to do the right things. His story should be out there, more important than what's her name in Aruba. Many more of us have a chance to be at death's door due to lack of health care than might get abducted in paradise.

When you sort yourself out, maybe there is a news media outlet that does in-depth stories you could approach. Or William Rivers-Pitt is someone who posts on DU and does investigative reporting. Maybe he could recommend someone to do justice to the story even if he couldn't take it on himself.

His memory and the injustice of his death deserve OUTRAGE on a National Scale.

I'm not going to let this go...

Reminds me of a student who was in my class last semester. She had a seizer but refused to go to the hospital; she kept saying that "I can't afford, I just can't afford it!". Finally she was "forced" to seek medical attention. How sucky does our great health care system have to be when the term "it doesn't pay to get sick" rings true??? It's just so sad and really burns me up.

:argh:

Only those who are rich, and those who are lucky enough to have insurance, are bequeathed health care. Everyone else is left out in the cold. Health care should be a basic right, not something only the rich and lucky are afforded. Unfortunately we live under the "Compassionate Conservatives", who fend only for themselves and the unborn.

You might also want to try Dear Abby et al.

I'm sorry.

in this situation. US policy kills...:cry:

:hug:

My husband has PLS, related to ALS, but not exactly the same, and emphysema. He can hardly walk, but continues to work as long as they will let him, because without insurance, we could never afford his medications and doctor visits. I'm scared to death of what will happen when he can no longer work. I don't make nearly enough to pay for his treatments and to keep up with bills and mortgage payments.

If THEY weren't spending $800 billion/year on the War Machine and looting the treasury and killing brown skinned people around the world and... this man and the rest of us would have health care. He wouldn't have had all the stresses, wouldn't have.....

THEY are killing us in a thousand ways.

www.costofwar.com