The United States has one of the only for-profit health care systems in the developed world. Health care in the US is vastly profitable (http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015...ofits-soar-they-dump-small-business-customers), and the problem is only getting worse. Obamacare has expanded access, but it's done little to cure the underlying problem that there are simply too many people getting rich off of running the health care system who aren't directly involved in providing the care.
Take this example (https://www.gofundme.com/9j9f6cpg). Here's a man who works for a living. He pays his taxes. He has a family. And he has health insurance. However, he also has A-FIB, and he needs heart surgery to save his life. Maybe his insurance company has calculated that he's more liability than profit, or maybe this is just the standard price they demand, but because the most profitable time to hit up a person for money is when their life is in hawk, he also has a deductible to pay to save his life. I don't know exactly how large the deductible is, but he can't afford $10,000 of it, and he's having to rely on the charity of strangers to help him. Maybe it will come through, and maybe it won't, but either way, that's apparently the price of a life in our for-profit health care system. $10k. A decent used car. A plate of food at a campaign donor event for President. Less than a single course of Daraprim (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-turing-doubles-down-1205-biz-20151204-story.html).
I think this should make us all sick. And the sad reality is that even if he raises the money, he's going to largely be feeding the cynical system that tries to figure out just how much money it can extract from him on pain of death. But, if you feel a bit sorry for him, perhaps you could donate to his campaign to save his life. Maybe people at TOL have more heart than his insurance company. But maybe we should ask ourselves if $10k is really worth a life.
Take this example (https://www.gofundme.com/9j9f6cpg). Here's a man who works for a living. He pays his taxes. He has a family. And he has health insurance. However, he also has A-FIB, and he needs heart surgery to save his life. Maybe his insurance company has calculated that he's more liability than profit, or maybe this is just the standard price they demand, but because the most profitable time to hit up a person for money is when their life is in hawk, he also has a deductible to pay to save his life. I don't know exactly how large the deductible is, but he can't afford $10,000 of it, and he's having to rely on the charity of strangers to help him. Maybe it will come through, and maybe it won't, but either way, that's apparently the price of a life in our for-profit health care system. $10k. A decent used car. A plate of food at a campaign donor event for President. Less than a single course of Daraprim (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-turing-doubles-down-1205-biz-20151204-story.html).
I think this should make us all sick. And the sad reality is that even if he raises the money, he's going to largely be feeding the cynical system that tries to figure out just how much money it can extract from him on pain of death. But, if you feel a bit sorry for him, perhaps you could donate to his campaign to save his life. Maybe people at TOL have more heart than his insurance company. But maybe we should ask ourselves if $10k is really worth a life.
