Sad and Angry
Tuesday book review is postponed, because I’m too sad and angry.
I’m sad because Mr. Badger died yesterday. No, he’s not someone I know in person. He’s the husband of an anonymous blogger, known to me only as Badger. He was my age, with a young son. And just under a year ago, he was diagnosed with liver cancer. Her writings have been heartbreaking.
And I’m angry because of the mess that passes for a health care system in this country. I’m angry because one of Badger’s friends had to pass the virtual hat to raise money to pay for Mr. Badger’s hospice care. I’m angry because Cubbiegirl has a tooth infection and is puking from the pain and can’t afford to have it extracted.
And the scary thing is that neither Mr. Badger nor Cubbiegirl is one of the 45.8 million Americans without health insurance, as reported today by the Census Bureau. Mr. Badger had health insurance, but he ran through the $100,000 annual limit and it only covered a portion of the cost of hospice care anyway. And Cubbiegirl is a veteran, but the VA health system doesn’t cover dental care, unless it’s service related.
This week’s New Yorker has a nice article by Malcolm Gladwell on the problems caused by lack of insurance and under insurance, and how the current Administration is full of people "who regard health insurance not as the solution but as the problem." It’s worth a read. But it will make you angry too.
August 30th, 2005 at 11:08 pm
I just read this article tonight, and it’s really good. My only worry is that, realistically, how many people are going to read it in the New Yorker who aren’t already convinced of its argument? The situation in this country is horrible messed up, and I’m afraid it’s only getting worse.
August 31st, 2005 at 2:01 pm
I read the detailed story of the badger oddysey looking for health care. Thank you for linking it. These blogs have put human faces on so many statistics that I hated, but didn’t really understand.
I remember thinking after the election, that what I feared for was the country, not for me. I can buy healthcare for my children, schools, if schools are failing, and if worst comes to worst, I can flee.
I’m crying, but what else can I do? I vote, I give money, but I’m feeling helpless. I feel like the structure of our country and what I believe in is being undermined and that there’s nothing I can do. I’m scared.
bj
PS: Susan Wood, at the FDA has apparently resigned over the Plan B debacle. I ‘m starting to feel like I’m listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence: I go through my own life, which is fine and pretty and beautiful, but then I read and the horrible words I read get louder and louder.
August 31st, 2005 at 9:05 pm
“I go through my own life, which is fine and pretty and beautiful, but then I read and the horrible words I read get louder and louder.”
Oh, bj. That is exactly how I’m feeling right now. Exactly.
September 2nd, 2005 at 1:50 pm
Elizabeth Warren points out that many who file for bankruptcy thanks to illness actually had health insurance, but ran through their coverage. She also points out that catastrophic coverage can be bought, and so can private disability. Good idea, except that currently it’s hard or impossible to buy these things as an individual. I was able to buy catastrophic through my alumni assoc, and we’re currently living off my husband’s employer’s private disability insurance; unfortunately, I haven’t yet found anyone who’ll sell a writer/mother disability insurance, because there’s no income to insure. So if I get sick too, we have no way to pay to replace my services. Similarly, I haven’t been able to find anyone who’ll sell me AD&D.