Health Care System Forces Bad Decisions

Some of us get to the fork in the road, see the sign that advises that the bridge is out ahead, and take that fork anyway.  All of us make some bad choices or decisions.  Some of us make more than others.

My brother has probably made more than many.  One of those was to continue smoking in the face of all the evidence of its harmfulness.  Another was choosing to work jobs that did not require urinalysis as part of the employment screening process.

Don’t get me wrong,  my brother is a hard worker.  He is a conscientious worker, and he prides himself in doing a good job.  He does not partake of substances illegal or otherwise during working hours.  In my opinion marijuana should be legalized, but that is another argument for another day.  The type of jobs that he limited himself to do not generally pay well, often involve long hours, and frequently have little or no benefits.

He had one such job until a few months ago.  Then the recession hit.  They cut his hours in half trying to retain workers until the economy picked back up.  It did not, and they had to lay him off.  Being in your late fifties and looking for work in the middle of a recession is not a good hand to be dealt.  Unlike poker you cannot fold and try again next deal.

So he began to collect unemployment.  As a matter of law he was offered COBRA.  Now if you have not been in this position and seen COBRA rates you might not understand.  It is basically unaffordable on unemployment.  A single person like my brother might scrap by and pay his COBRA, but I do not see how a family man could ever afford COBRA on unemployment.  As a protection of worker’s health care benefits COBRA is a SHAM.

He chose not to get this option for financial reasons.  My brother is not a gambler on any front, but he is known to make a buffalo fart.  For you young ‘ens look up nickels from 1913 to 1938 in a coin book.  Only person I know tighter than my brother would be one of my uncles in Kentucky.  He is legendary in his frugality.

My brother is now on unemployment without any good prospects for changing that and no health insurance.

He came down with the flu, variety unknown as he did not go to the doctor.  They cost money.   Then he got really sick.  Dr.  Mom correctly diagnosed pneumonia, but my brother was still not going to the doctor.  They cost money.  His brothers were calling him telling him to go the doctor or emergency room.  He did not go.  That cost money he has no way of paying.   Finally his son threatened to call 911 and get an ambulance to take him to the hospital.  He relented.   Probably he was thinking about the $500 ride to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.

At the hospital they confirmed Dr. Mom’s diagnosis of pneumonia, and explained that it was complicated by COPD.  Since there were no ICU rooms available in Muskogee it was off to Tulsa.  The cynical part of me wonders if the availability of the ICU room was based on his insurance status, but I have no way of knowing that.

My brother spent 2 days in ICU taking heavy doses of intravenous drugs and on oxygen.  There is no way of knowing the outcome if he had not gone to the emergency room, but I am betting that it would not have been good.   He is still in the hospital and will be for a few days.

When he gets out the real fun will start.  At this point I do not know what his hospital bill will be, but 10s of thousands of dollars will be certain.  He does not have the money to pay.  The hospital will turn the bill over to a collection agency, and my brother will start getting calls from them about the health care expense. 

I’m sure that my brother will eventually go back to work; he generally manages to find something.   They will try for quite sometime to get blood from a turnip.  Perhaps they will even attempt to garnish some of his wages.

All of which brings me to this point.  Why do we let the corporations dictate how we do health care in this country?  In a country as wealthy and advanced as ours, health care should be a basic right like police and fire protection, good roads, safe water, and any of many basic services we take for granted.  No one should be nearly on their death bed refusing to go the doctor because they realize the result of that action will be months or years trying to pay off the debt incurred.   My brother wants to work.  He would have purchased COBRA if it was affordable.  This should not have been a bad decision he was essentially forced to make because of the dysfunctional system we have in place.  The system is geared more towards keeping corporate profits up and denying care and coverage because it is not profitable.  Unfortunately this is a bad decision that millions of our fellow citizens have to make everyday.

I’ve watched the health care debate in Washington and how it has been bastardized by deal making and corporate influence and I am just sick at my stomach.  Add to the mess the fact that the Republicans only know how to obstruct and it has been too much to bear.  When will  our elected officials realize that they are supposed to representing us and not corporate interests?

When will all those so worried about somebody getting something for nothing realize that in the long run that hurts all of us?   In my opinion not providing basic health care to all our citizens belittles us as a society.  I read once that being grown up is realizing when you spill the milk it is you that needs to clean it up.  It is time we grow up as a society and clean up our heath care mess.