I’ve been railing about “health insurance” for quite some time now, and as the debate has deepened it has become increasingly clear that what Americans want, what we need, is health care, not insurance.
When you’re doing without, you do what you can to take care of yourself, and hope nothing ever happens. When you find yourself on the floor with an acute appendicitis, well… you put yourself in debt. By Saturday afternoon I was been prepped for surgery, by Sunday morning I had checked myself out against advice as I just can’t afford it.
I’m extremely grateful to those who were there in my need.
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May 18, 2009 at 10:06 am
Ruth
Hey, isn’t there a clinic somewhere around you? You ought to get some kind of care going. Really.
May 18, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Ten Bears has appendicitis surgery he can’t afford |
[...] Ten Bears comments here frequently. From his blog: I’ve been railing about “health insurance” for quite some time now, and as the debate has deepened it has become increasingly clear that what Americans want, what we need, is health care, not insurance. [...]
May 19, 2009 at 1:53 am
Ruth
TenBears, this from a friend who is a medical professional tho doesn’t practice;
Appendicitis untreated is often lethal. If that’s what he’s got, he needs the surgery. Period. Any hospital that refuses him the surgery is in trouble unless it arranges for him to be treated elsewhere. That being said, the next limb–paying for it–can be done in several ways. The hospital will often be proactive about getting him on Medicaid or some such. They may also offer him some sort of payment schedule, which, depending on their policy, may be more or less kind. Sometimes kindness is in their interest, as it prevents bankruptcy–medical expenses are among the most common causes of personal bankruptcy–and thereby allows the possibility of eventual collection rather than write-off.
Tough situation. Too many people face it. And this for appendicitis, a relatively simple, time-limited thing. Imagine, say, inflammatory breast cancer, or Crohn’s disease, or lupus. Horrible, and unacceptable, or it should be, anyway…