SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
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.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
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.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.