Why our health system is completely fucked up.

[rinnia]

So say there's this guy, J. J lives in the United States of America. At age 23, J was diagnosed with cancer. At the time that J was being treated, he was between undergrad and graduate school and unemployed, and thus had limited health insurance and no personal income. Thankfully, his insurance did cover his chemo and medications given while

Comments

[albijuli]

Shit like this makes me so angry...

[rinnia]

That just proves you're human. I'd be angry too if I wasn't so tired of worrying over it at this point. It's the people who aren't moved, who don't care at all that are the problem.

Thanks for commenting. It's good to know we're not alone in our frustration here.

[albijuli]

In most cases the people that don't care never had to face that situation- or have a means to never do.

[eidolon_nine]

It is definitely not how things should be. J shouldn't have to make his start in the world under a crushing burden of debt or with a marred credit report simply because he wasn't born rich. (And despite the fact that he HAD the health insurance that everyone seems to think will be the country's panacea. Why is health insurance the desired outcome rather than health care?)

Let's keep pulling for a better country, and put that anger to as productive a use as we can (with lobbying or activism or even just talking to and persuading other people who think our current system is functional or preferable).

[eidolon_nine]

Also, that bottom paragraph is not supposed to be italicized. I must have forgotten the /i after "care." :)

[rinnia]

J wrote up a letter (longer than this post, and more detailed) explaining his situation that he's mailing to senators, representatives, and the president, and e-mailing to Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. He figures that if he has to be part of the statistic, he at least wants his story to be out there, attached to it. It's not like he's the only person who has been or ever will be in this situation. We need to prevent this from happening to anyone else ASAP.

[eidolon_nine]

Awesome, I'm glad he's taking action! Here are a couple more recipients to consider:

1. The Florida state insurance commission. They might be able to investigate or sue J's insurance company for refusing coverage for necessary treatment.

2. The Florida district attorney. Same as above.

Personally, when I was denied health insurance for absurd reasons, I wrote a letter to the DA and the insurance commission and forwarded them to the insurance company, which promptly re-instated me. You might be able to convince the company to pay up if you threaten them (subtly) with legal action. It's worth a shot, anyways!