Health Care for All?

As the political campaigns heat up, I read more and more about “health care for all” or “Medicare for all.” I hear conversations, debates (sometimes fiery ones), declarations—all in tones that range from exploratory to peremptory to homicidal.

Before I go on, let me tell you a story ...

When I was visiting with my oncologist about a month ago up at Seidman Cancer Center, he told me that if my numbers rise much more, the next med he will prescribe will cost $10,000 a month.

That’s right—a month!

As some of you know, I’ve been through quite a bit with cancer in the past fifteen years: surgery (failed), radiation (failed), various heavy-duty meds (they’ve slowed but can’t stop the advance of the cancer), immunotherapy (which empowers my own  immune system to fight the prostate cancer that has now metastasized into my bones), another round of radiation (temporary success). All of this, I know, has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, soon, it seems certain, we will run out of options, and the cancer will smile its victory smile—and do what it does best.

The $10,000/month drug remains—as does chemo. But we’re nearing the end of our options.

There's no way I can pay $10,000 a month for a med. And, yes, my insurance will (probably?) pay a portion of it—but how big a portion?

Here’s one thing I know for sure: I will not bankrupt us to stay alive a little bit longer. That, to me, is unconscionable. I’ll choose palliative care in a heartbeat.

Back to the main point ...

Despite the existence of Obamacare, we still have millions of uninsured Americans. In other words, there are millions out there who do not have the good fortune that I’ve had—receiving insurance from my employer, then qualifying for Medicare. These programs have kept me alive for more than a decade now. And I have cherished every second of it.

So ... do I somehow “deserve” this insurance coverage—and other people somehow don’t?

To me, that idea is obscene. Nauseating.

We have a for-profit medical system—for-profit drug companies. Profits, in many cases, trump compassion and empathy, trump humanitarianism. The companies know that desperate patients who need a drug will pay ridiculous prices. If they can. If not ... well ... buh-bye.

I really can’t understand why so many are opposed to universal health care. The look-what-happened-to-Venezuela argument is absurd. We’re not Venezuela (or any other failed socialist/communist state)—we have one of the most robust capitalist economies in the world. And we have enjoyed —for a long, long, long time—a wide range of public services that any disinterested alien emerging from a flying saucer would have to call “socialist”: public schools, fire and police departments, libraries, highways and bridges, produce and meat inspections, regulations on pollution, aviation—not to mention Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and on and on and on.

Why do we think those things are necessary (maybe even democratic!), but public health care somehow exudes the fetid odor of Evil Empires?

And it just baffles me when I hear/read people who identify as Christians suggesting that some people deserve help, others don’t. In fact, I don’t really know of any religion that suggests we should not help one another.

As I’ve written here before, public health-care skeptics should spend a day in the waiting room at the Seidman Cancer Center. Keep your eyes wide open—your heart, as well. You will see struggling people of all ages, all races, all genders battling cancer, this formidable enemy that has decided they don’t deserve to live.

And those who continue to insist that health care is not a public right--how different are they from a deadly disease?