To Insurance Companies, Pharma, Repubs and Blue Dogs: Why Do You Want to Kill Me?

That's not a facetious question. It is a very real one.

On June 1, I joined the 47 million other Americans who do not have health insurance. I could not afford to pay what COBRA was asking and so if any of my ongoing health problems reoccurs, I'm a dead duck.

Having had three major surgeries over the past six years, there is no way I can get new health insurance, even if I could pay for it.

So my question is very real. I wish I were sitting across the table from an insurance company CEO, one from Pharma and any Republican or any of the Blue Dog Democrats who are trying to block the public option. All I want to find out from them is their answer to my question.

Why are you trying to kill me?

Really. Why? Me, the person sitting across from you. Why would you deny me medical care?

I know the answer, of course. It's money. Greed, to be more specific, because there's lots of money to be made in health care without killing me. How much money do you need to make? How many of us are you willing to make suffer and die to make that money?

These people are terrorists in the truest sense. They kill indiscriminately. Greed is their reason for their jihad. They'll kill me indiscriminately unless Congress passes a public option.

Wait. There's more.

Not only do they want me dead, they contributed, along with the banks to the bankruptcy I never envisioned.

See, I had health insurance. But I also had three major surgeries and another out-patient hospital procedure. I ended up owing thousands of dollars even after the insurance paid their part. At the same time, I got laid off from my job. At the same time, I was flooded with credit card "approvals."

Out of work, faced with all of these bills, and with access to the credit, I pretty much lived on plastic. Until it all caught up with me.

I hope you never owe money. After your debt gets passed on to the collection companies, you can expect daily calls, sometimes twice daily, many time harassing calls. And if your debtors number 5 or 10 or more, you can expect that many calls per day....or twice that many.

So the banks screwed themselves. The number of bankruptcies are at an all-time high.

All of this stemmed from medical bills.

Look me in the eye CEO. Look me in the eye Blue Dog Democrats. Republicans, too. My death is going to be on your hands unless you vote for the public option. Mine and hundreds of thousands of other people caught up in this mess.

I ask again. Why do you want me to die?

Comments

[johnashman]

12:41 AM on 07/30/2009

Actual solution to these problems here -

http://64.­203.97.61/­SolutionsL­ab/Solutio­n.aspx?Gui­d=2d50363e­-00be-44e8­-9251-9a65­89ba820d

[NoFactsJustTruth]

07:50 PM on 07/29/2009

You can't be any clearer than that, and their unspoken reply is ALWAYS inevitably that they don't know you - and they JUST DON'T CARE!

It's an organized and even legalized 'no-protec­tion' protection racket, and with the exact same motive$ of all such real criminals.

[Ponderus]

07:32 PM on 07/29/2009

Tom, just be glad HP allows you to post this blog: I tried to post a similar comment on the main story and it was scrubbed.

Fanned and faved.

[unionave]

04:36 PM on 07/29/2009

If you want health care , ask your State to use the stimulus money to expand their existing health care facilities and employ more local peole in that area . We must get our life decisions closer to home . More local where we can be heard . With Washington making decisions about your life you are in trouble . They can not hear you . Too much noise from lobbyist .

[Tom D'Antoni]

05:07 PM on 07/29/2009

You'd rather have insurance companies making decisions about your life based on their bottom line?

[den1953]

01:53 PM on 07/29/2009

I don't know if this is legal but i would be willing and able to start petitions in every up coming state,come election time to circulate around petitions that take away all Senate and congress health care that they enjoy at the tax payers expense . There is no doubt in my mind these corporate hold outs will vote for some bill!

[gigihoffman]

01:45 PM on 07/29/2009

According to Bill Kristol, none of us deserve decent health care unless we are in the military (or congress, of course).

I had to cancel my health care in May due to lack of work. I know that I deserve health care. I'm 57 years old. I was a military daughter and wife for more than 30 years. If this bill doesn't pass or get's so watered down that it means nothing, then hopefully I can hang on til I qualify for medicare. It's just not right.

[gorideabike]

11:59 AM on 07/29/2009

Sen. Orin Hatch R, Utah, on July 27 told Andera Mitchell he was in favor of health care for "those who really deserve it." No, she did not follow up on it.

[clevelandchick]

12:05 PM on 07/29/2009

Gee....and just who would old Orin deem as deserving?

[gorideabike]

12:31 PM on 07/29/2009

I am deserving. I think I am owed health care for two reasons.
One. I PAID for private health insurance. But now they want to drop me or at least not pay for my claim. They said they would insure me and lied. It should be a felony to sell for-profit health insurance.
Two. The common welfare of American Citizens is the strength of America. Healthy productive people contribute to the wealth of the nation. It leads to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. I have 45 years of tax returns to prove: I PAID for it.

I do not ask much. Certainly no more than Senator Hatch receives in his health care package. Which BTW. I PAID for too.

[sdskelton03]

10:16 AM on 07/29/2009

That's like someone in need of a kidney transplant accusing people of his murder for not giving him/her a kidney. What is killing them is the kidney disease, not the other persons desire to keep their own kidney.

[Tom D'Antoni]

05:08 PM on 07/29/2009

Giving a kidney is not the same thing as paying taxes, except for greedy conservati­ves.

[dwatkins9]

09:27 AM on 07/29/2009

Why do you think that you are owed medical care? Why do you think that you have a right to burden your fellow citizens with your own personal needs, without their express consent? And where are your family and friends, who presumably love you and thus have a natural reason to want to help you? Where do people get this overwhelmi­ng sense of entitlemen­t? These are not facetious questions. They are very real ones.

I hate to be so harsh, but you are pretty harsh yourself.

That said, the first nine months of COBRA is now heavily subsidized­, and much more affordable­.

[rbenjamin]

10:03 AM on 07/29/2009

Dwat, farm animals get better medical care than many Americans, because it makes economic sense to do so. Universal medical care isn't about some abstract notion of entitlemen­t, it about making our country productive­. Sick people aren't productive­, sickness costs. Ever notice that our military services embrace universal health care? Unhealthy soldiers don't fight very well. Country, patriotism­, that sort of thing. From your perspectiv­e, why are you entitled to fire protection­? Or police protection­. Or NORAD. Call your friends and family when threatened with fire, burglary or suspected missile attack. I respect your self-suffi­ciency, but for the sake of consistenc­y you might want to consider building a wall around your house, declaring yourself a sovereign state and never setting foot outside your frontiers. Good luck with it.

[gorideabike]

11:38 AM on 07/29/2009

God forbid these people should let themselves fall to the level of "do gooder".; a perjorativ­e term that sums up their motivation of hatred and greed.

[lletaa]

02:13 PM on 07/29/2009

You said it perfectly, good post!

[clevelandchick]

12:02 PM on 07/29/2009

He and everyone living in this nation is owed medical care. A civilized society does not let people die. Only greedy selfish people do. Until of course, they find themselves in a similar predicamen­t.

You want harsh? I hope you get a serious illness, it's not fully covered and you owe tens/hundr­eds of thousands of dollars in medical debt you can't pay, then you lose your job and can't find one for a year. Let's see how harsh you are then. You'd change your tune in a milisecond­.

[tbone99]

08:32 AM on 07/29/2009

Each person here should write a letter of their situation and send it to 20 Congress people. We need to flood their offices with the stories of what is happenng on the ground. After all since they have the best insurance money can buy - they don't have a clue.

[Indedave]

02:43 AM on 07/29/2009

I am in the same overcrowde­d boat as you and thousands, maybe millions, of other Americans, Mr. D'Antoni. To make matters worse, I was so careless in my choice of parents that last month my back gave me a post-docto­rate-level lesson on the meaning of degenerati­ve disc disease. So not only am I uninsured and uninsurabl­e, I am disabled. Appropriat­e therapy and/or surgery might allow me to participat­e in the workforce for a few more years, but even considerin­g this possibilit­y still puts me on the wrong end of corporate America's cost-benef­it analysis. Never mind the 40 years I have paid into Social Security and Medicare, neither of which I am likely to receive a dime from. The message is, instead, "Thanks for playing," but without even a token parting gift.

[gorideabike]

11:42 AM on 07/29/2009

Same condition with me only I had insurance until I needed it. So you got to pay SS and Medicare. I got to pay the health insurance extortioni­sts too.

Question: if you have a health insurance policy, what makes you think you are insured?

[robinhood1]

12:11 AM on 07/29/2009

Mr. A: I guess all those Right to Lifers in the Republican Party and in the conservati­ve wing of the Democratic Party don't think YOU have a right to life. These are the same people that treat gay Americans as second class citizens. It's probably too late for you to move to another country that offers its residents better access to health care. But for those readers who are young and healthy, think about making the move. You really won't want to be paying for the Baby Boomers' Medicare in a few years, and for the country's bloated military and for bailing out so many of the country's financial institutio­ns.

[Rogan]

06:18 AM on 07/29/2009

I second your remark.

If I'd worked hard to get out of the country when I was young, and healthy, I wouldn't'v­e been crippled by our medical system.

Now I may never be able to work again, and I may never be able to afford to leave.

[tbone99]

10:08 PM on 07/28/2009

Please send your letter to every Congress person.The­y need to know the consequenc­es of their actions.
I am sorry that you have joined the thousands of people who have basically been crippled financiall­y and healthwise through our greed driven healthcare system.
Consider moving to a country that has some - Taiwan has great healthcare for everyone .

How much have you paid in taxes for our country to to protect them?

[PlaceboStudman]

09:04 PM on 07/28/2009

Mr D'antoni,

You are not alone. There are tens of thousands, if not millions of us who are all but dead already, and it has little or nothing to do with insurance issues. I must admit, I've been incredibly­, mind bogglingly fortunate to have had health care for my entire life (36 years so far), but despite this, I find myself functional­ly terminally ill, with +/- 5 years to live, if I fall within statistica­l norms. I was born with Spina Bifida, and the life expectancy for those born with my level of spina bifida or worse, is "early adulthood" under the best of conditions­, due to decreased liver, kidney and lung function since birth. Add onto that dozens of surgeries and other hospitaliz­ations, the literal years of antibiotic regimens and other prescripti­on medication regimens for basic life maintenanc­e, and it is very highly unlikely that I will beat the odds (though, yes, there is always the chance, if one believes in miracles).

So, rest assured, you are not alone, and whatever happens to us after death, know that you will be surrounded by good company, for the most part

[Policon]

06:47 PM on 07/28/2009

Why do you think the government will do a better job? Sure, the government might make things more "fair," but how do you know that "fairness" will reach you?

Take the case of Barbara Wagner. She had lung cancer and was recommende­d a specific drug that happened to be very expensive. She lives in Oregon, where there just happens to be state-run healthcare­. The state refused to cover the drug since they do not cover drugs that are only meant to prolong life. Instead, Oregon decided to help Barbara out by paying her bills for a doctor to help her kill herself (assisted suicide is legal in Oregon). Good ol' government­!

This is a problem facing universal healthcare­. Don't be fooled to think a government program will do better than private issurance, because they will decide who lives and dies in the name of "fairness.­" Don't think that can't happen here, because it already has.

[jamaicalover]

08:13 PM on 07/28/2009

Why do you think the government won't do a better job?

I get the feeling a lot of details have been left out of your post.

[LeftRight]

09:30 PM on 07/28/2009

And the insurance companies decide who lives and dies TODAY based solely on profits! I'm sorry, but fairness is a better choice for health care than PROFIT!! And since there won't be the BILLIONS of dollars going to profit, the whole thing will be MUCH cheaper, for more coverage, for more people!