Penalty for being uninsured should not be death
Barb ShellyIt seems like poor form to spit on the graves of dead people, but such are the passions inspired by our health care debate.
Last week I wrote that, contrary to what Mitt Romney has said in his campaign, Americans do die for lack of health insurance. Every day, in fact.
Oh, the fury. E-mails and telephone calls ranged from the generic “you are an idiot” to a reader’s account about a woman who died of leukemia after passing up COBRA insurance because she didn’t want to pay $400 a month.
“You may report that she died because of lack of insurance,” my correspondent wrote. “I believe she might have died anyway, but if it’s anyone’s fault it was her own for failing to exercise personal responsibility.”
The deceased was her sister.
A strain running deep in the American psyche will always want to shrug off the burden of a social compact in favor of the personal responsibility argument. I’m all for personal responsibility myself, but, honestly, we’re talking about people’s lives here.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote this week about a former college roommate who had opted to go without health insurance and doctor’s visits and was seriously ill with advanced prostate cancer.
“In other modern countries, Scott would have been insured, and his cancer would have been much more likely to be detected in time for effective treatment,” Kristof noted.
I figured he’d hear it from the personal responsibility crowd, and indeed he did.
“I was taken aback by how many readers were savagely unsympathetic,” Kristof wrote in a column published on line on Thursday.
Typical was this response: “Not sure why I’m to feel guilty about your friend’s problem. I take care of myself and mine, and I am not responsible for anyone else.”
Kristof’s former roommate, Scott Androes, died this week. He was 52.
There is a distinction between poor choices and calculated risks. Driving drunk is a poor choice. Forgoing a prohibitively expensive insurance policy if you’re a reasonably healthy person is a calculated risk.
But not everyone has a choice. People in low-wage jobs without benefits, or those who are out of work for long periods, often flat out cannot afford to pay for insurance and keep a roof over their heads.
In any case, sick people at some point have to receive care. And we all pay for that through government expenses and higher health care costs.
Last weekend, a musician named Amanda Palmer read Kristof’s piece and fired off a few tweets about her own experiences, which included the death of an uninsured step-brother. Her Twitter feed “exploded,” as she said, with people telling their stories.
Palmer set up an informal poll on Twitter, which users of that social media site can check out at #Insurance Poll. There, and on a related blog, people from around the globe are still sharing stories.
Like this one: “Almost nine years ago I started treatment for cancer. I had insurance and I still have over $50,000 of medical debt because treatments to save my life were not covered. I’m now uninsured with two pre-existing conditions and cannot get insurance. I live every day with the fear that if the cancer returns I will likely die with lack of proper care.”
And this: “Friend’s dad in Texas had a stroke. He worked all his life, owned his own home, had insurance. But the stroke was severe, insurance money ran out. His house will have to be sold. If he ever recovers enough to go home, he won’t have a home to go to.”
The Affordable Care Act provides a way to get nearly all of Americans insured. President Barack Obama will see that the law goes into effect. Challenger Mitt Romney says he’ll repeal it.
Part of what is at stake on Nov. 6 is a question of character. Are we a nation that derides people for being too irresponsible, or too poor, to purchase health insurance? Or do we support solutions, however imperfect, and pull together to make them work?
To reach Barbara Shelly, call 816-234-4594 or send email to bshelly@kcstar.com. Follow her on Twitter at bshelly.
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoms. shelly, I thought state high-risk pools were for the supposedly uninsured.
Your repeated stories nearly always have a case of “I could not buy insurance”. I think this is false given high-risk pools. Is it?????????
As far as people choosing not to buy health insurance, they have taken a calculated risk and have lost. To upend our entire healthcare system because of these dumbasses is insane IMO. Luckily, we will see the repeal early next year of 0’care and install meaninful reforms like cross-state buying and tort reform vs. the big 0’s death panels!!!
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoNever mind, I found the answer myself…
http://www.mhip.org/
So this line you libs keep tossing-out that “I can’t get insurance” is a lie. Please stop perpetuating this farce….
Phil Cardarella
7 months agoHeck, Romney does not believ that folks should die for want of care. After all, he signed Romneycare.
In fact, Mitt has no actual beliefs - except for his core belief that Mitt should get to be President, whatever the price.
Johnathon Busby
7 months agoThere’s only 2 possible solutions;
1) We let the old and sick die, when the cost of their care outpaces their productivity.
2) We care for the old and sick, regardless of cost.
I can see arguments for both. Just cause I’m curious, George, which do you favor?
Joaquin X Santiago
7 months agoI don’t get it. The same folks who are so up in arms about “freeloaders” showing up at the hospital ER and driving up costs and driving down service, are the same folks who oppose forcing those “freeloaders” to have insurance.
What are we to do when an uninsured arrives at the ER unable to pay for treatment for his broken leg? Have him walk it off? Currently everyone but the victim pays. How fair is that?
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoI prefer we meet our promises to seniors, but we do it via vouchers Johnathon. This accomplishes at least 2 things: 1. gets rid of a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats 2. introduces COMPETITION for these vouchers, which will lower the cost.
Just curious Johnathon, which do you prefer? Have you read Ryan’s latest Medicare plan Johnathon? What do you favor for Social Security?
Johnathon Busby
7 months agoRyan’s vouchers won’t cover costs which exceed whatever limit they place upon the voucher, George. On those grounds, I must suppose it is an approximation of the principle that the elderly and sick are only worth so much.
As for me… I’m really not committed. I know a lot of people who had no options before Obamacare. On the other hand, I have yet to see those national-level savings I was told would occur…
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoJohnathon, you do not understand the source of the vouchers. Each year insurance companies submit bids to provide coverage for the basic plan. The base voucher amount is the cost for the second lowest submitted plan. So, your saying the voucher will not cover the cost is wrong. Insurance companies have committed to provide a level of coverage for a price. Give them the voucher, you have the coverage. No exclusions, no preexisting malarkey.
Also, the voucher will be means tested, which means if you are better-off, you get less in your voucer, less well-off, your voucher is more. This contrasts with today’s Medicare which is not means tested, which will be fixed.
Also, if for some strange reason, you want traditional Medicare, which will cost you more, then you have that option….
Do you agree that saying vouchers won’t cover costs?????????????
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoMeant to finish by saying do you agree that saying vouchers won’t cover the cost of the plan is not correct???
I am anxious to see if ms. shelly admits that high-risk plans offered by the state give these people who have gambled and lost coverage. I bet she does not!!!!
George Harris
Kansas City
7 months agoGeorge, here is my understanding of the Missouri High Risk Insurance Pool. Because of Obamacare, there is now a federal option under which an individual who has been without insurance for six months can buy insurance without restrictions on pre-existing conditions. Under the law previously (before Obamacare) an individual seeking coverage had a one year restriction on pre-existing conditions coverage. After a year of paying premiums, the subscriber would be covered.
The Missouri high risk pool premiums are quite expensive. The rates are listed on the web site. There are subsidies for the poor for people who qualify under the federal provisions set out by Obamacare. There were not subsidies previously, making the coverage unaffordable for people with low incomes. People with very low incomes may have qualified for Medicaid, but many of the working poor would spend their entire paycheck on health insurance through the high risk pool. So, of course, people without insurance who got sick before Obamacare, couldn’t just buy insurance when they needed extensive care because there was a waiting period for pre-existing conditions. This is exactly the problem Obamacare tries to fix. Only by getting everyone into the system with some sort of requirement to buy and subsidy for insurance can the problem of pre-existing conditions be solved….unless we’re willing to let people die for lack of insurance.
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoThank you George for CONFIRMING that these comments “I can’t get insurance” are bogus. For people like in ms. shelly’s blog who have CHOSEN to not have coverage and then need it, the pools are there. AND, these were in existence before 0’care and will be in existence under the better plan President Romney will sign.
For those who have made the wager on not needing healthcard insurance and have lost the wager, they can get coverage. Hopefully the ms. shelly’s of the media will stop this sob story crap, but I am not holding my breath!!!
Steve Alleman
Kansas City
7 months agoThank you, George Hunsucker, for confirming that Obamacare has solved the problem in question.
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months agoright steve.. NOT….
I confirmed nothing… As George noted, these were in place BEFORE your beloved 0’care and will be in place AFTER REPEAL NEXT YEAR!!!!!