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Pay or Die
An old friend came over today.
Hadn't seen him in a couple of years.
He's a self-employed contractor.
He's uninsured.
Two weeks ago, he was driving home from a job.
He felt a severe pain in the back of his head.
His right arm was going numb.
His chest was getting tight.
He drove to his family doctor.
The doctor called the ambulance to take him to a hospital 35 miles away.
He said no, he couldn't afford the ambulance ride.
He got someone to drive him.
Jun 05, 2011
An old friend came over today.
Hadn't seen him in a couple of years.
He's a self-employed contractor.
He's uninsured.
Two weeks ago, he was driving home from a job.
He felt a severe pain in the back of his head.
His right arm was going numb.
His chest was getting tight.
He drove to his family doctor.
The doctor called the ambulance to take him to a hospital 35 miles away.
He said no, he couldn't afford the ambulance ride.
He got someone to drive him.
He was admitted for one day.
They did a catheterization.
Cost -- $18,000.
Doctor tells him that he has an aneurysm on his aorta.
Needs an operation.
He asked the doctor -- how much?
Doctor says $180,000.
Can't afford it.
The doctor sent him home with a warning -- don't lift anything heavy.
He drives home.
He has worked all his life.
He refuses to take handouts.
He's going to pay the doctor for the catheterization at about $200 a month.
He's 63 years old.
He figures if he can live two more years, Medicare will kick in and he'll get the operation.
If not, he says he'll die knowing that the system is corrupt to the core.
He says that it's so corrupt, there is nothing you can do to change it.
You can't go through a month here in West Virginia without running into someone holding a raffle, or a yard sale, or a party held to raise money for someone who is sick without insurance.
My buddy came over to do some work on our place.
My wife and I were talking to him on the porch.
I asked him how he was feeling and he told me the story.
When he told us that he couldn't afford the procedure that would save his life, and he was resigned to it, my wife excused herself, stood up, and went inside.
She came back and apologized.
I just stared at the floor.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
An old friend came over today.
Hadn't seen him in a couple of years.
He's a self-employed contractor.
He's uninsured.
Two weeks ago, he was driving home from a job.
He felt a severe pain in the back of his head.
His right arm was going numb.
His chest was getting tight.
He drove to his family doctor.
The doctor called the ambulance to take him to a hospital 35 miles away.
He said no, he couldn't afford the ambulance ride.
He got someone to drive him.
He was admitted for one day.
They did a catheterization.
Cost -- $18,000.
Doctor tells him that he has an aneurysm on his aorta.
Needs an operation.
He asked the doctor -- how much?
Doctor says $180,000.
Can't afford it.
The doctor sent him home with a warning -- don't lift anything heavy.
He drives home.
He has worked all his life.
He refuses to take handouts.
He's going to pay the doctor for the catheterization at about $200 a month.
He's 63 years old.
He figures if he can live two more years, Medicare will kick in and he'll get the operation.
If not, he says he'll die knowing that the system is corrupt to the core.
He says that it's so corrupt, there is nothing you can do to change it.
You can't go through a month here in West Virginia without running into someone holding a raffle, or a yard sale, or a party held to raise money for someone who is sick without insurance.
My buddy came over to do some work on our place.
My wife and I were talking to him on the porch.
I asked him how he was feeling and he told me the story.
When he told us that he couldn't afford the procedure that would save his life, and he was resigned to it, my wife excused herself, stood up, and went inside.
She came back and apologized.
I just stared at the floor.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
An old friend came over today.
Hadn't seen him in a couple of years.
He's a self-employed contractor.
He's uninsured.
Two weeks ago, he was driving home from a job.
He felt a severe pain in the back of his head.
His right arm was going numb.
His chest was getting tight.
He drove to his family doctor.
The doctor called the ambulance to take him to a hospital 35 miles away.
He said no, he couldn't afford the ambulance ride.
He got someone to drive him.
He was admitted for one day.
They did a catheterization.
Cost -- $18,000.
Doctor tells him that he has an aneurysm on his aorta.
Needs an operation.
He asked the doctor -- how much?
Doctor says $180,000.
Can't afford it.
The doctor sent him home with a warning -- don't lift anything heavy.
He drives home.
He has worked all his life.
He refuses to take handouts.
He's going to pay the doctor for the catheterization at about $200 a month.
He's 63 years old.
He figures if he can live two more years, Medicare will kick in and he'll get the operation.
If not, he says he'll die knowing that the system is corrupt to the core.
He says that it's so corrupt, there is nothing you can do to change it.
You can't go through a month here in West Virginia without running into someone holding a raffle, or a yard sale, or a party held to raise money for someone who is sick without insurance.
My buddy came over to do some work on our place.
My wife and I were talking to him on the porch.
I asked him how he was feeling and he told me the story.
When he told us that he couldn't afford the procedure that would save his life, and he was resigned to it, my wife excused herself, stood up, and went inside.
She came back and apologized.
I just stared at the floor.
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