Op-ed: The Body Count at Home

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Registered: 03-18-2000
Op-ed: The Body Count at Home
18
Sun, 09-13-2009 - 9:09pm

Nikki White died at the age of 32. She had lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease that was untreated because she could not afford health insurance.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion


In the debate over health care, here’s an inequity to ponder: Nikki White would have been far better off if only she had been a convicted bank robber.


Nikki was a slim and athletic college graduate who had health insurance, had worked in health care and knew the system. But she had systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic inflammatory disease that was diagnosed when she was 21 and gradually left her too sick to work. And once she lost her job, she lost her health insurance.


In any other rich country, Nikki probably would have been fine, notes T. R. Reid in his important and powerful new book, “The Healing of America.” Some 80 percent of lupus patients in the United States live a normal life span. Under a doctor’s care, lupus should be manageable. Indeed, if Nikki had been a felon, the problem could have been averted, because courts have ruled that prisoners are entitled to medical care.


As Mr. Reid recounts, Nikki tried everything to get medical care, but no insurance company would accept someone with her pre-existing condition. She spent months painfully writing letters to anyone she thought might be able to help. She fought tenaciously for her life.


Finally, Nikki collapsed at her home in Tennessee and was rushed to a hospital emergency room, which was then required to treat her without payment until her condition stabilized. Since money was no longer an issue, the hospital performed 25 emergency surgeries on Nikki, and she spent six months in critical care.


“When Nikki showed up at the emergency room, she received the best of care, and the hospital spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her,” her step-father, Tony Deal, told me. “But that’s not when she needed the care.”


By then it was too late. In 2006, Nikki White died at age 32. “Nikki didn’t die from lupus,” her doctor, Amylyn Crawford, told Mr. Reid. “Nikki died from complications of the failing American health care system.”


“She fell through the cracks,” Nikki’s mother, Gail Deal, told me grimly. “When you bury a child, it’s the worst thing in the world. You never recover.”


We now have a chance to reform this cruel and capricious system. If we let that chance slip away, there will be another Nikki dying every half-hour.


That’s how often someone dies in America because of a lack of insurance, according to a study by a branch of the National Academy of Sciences. Over a year, that amounts to 18,000 American deaths.


After Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans, eight years ago on Friday, we went to war and spent hundreds of billions of dollars ensuring that this would not happen again. Yet every two months, that many people die because of our failure to provide universal insurance — and yet many members of Congress want us to do nothing?


Mr. Reid’s book is a rich tour of health care around the world. Because he has a bum shoulder, he asked doctors in many countries to examine it and make recommendations. His American orthopedist recommended a titanium shoulder replacement that would cost tens of thousands of dollars and might or might not help. Specialists in other countries warned that a sore shoulder didn’t justify the risks of such major surgery, although some said it would be available free if Mr. Reid insisted. Instead, they offered physical therapy, acupuncture and other cheap and noninvasive alternatives, some of which worked pretty well.


That’s a window into the flaws in our health care system: we offer titanium shoulder replacements for those who don’t really need them, but we let 32-year-old women die if they lose their health insurance. No wonder we spend so much on medical care, and yet have some health care statistics that are worse than Slovenia’s.


My suggestion for anyone in Nikki’s situation: commit a crime and get locked up. In Washington State, a 20-year-old inmate named Melissa Matthews chose to turn down parole and stay in prison because that was the only way she could get treatment for her cervical cancer. “If I’m out, I’m going to die from this cancer,” she told a television station.


Mr. and Mrs. Deal say they are speaking out because Nikki wouldn’t want anyone to endure what she did. “Nikki was a college-educated, middle-class woman, and if it could happen to her, it can happen to anyone,” Mr. Deal said. “This should not be happening in our country.”


Struggling to get out the words, Mrs. Deal added: “The loss of a child is the greatest hurt anyone will ever suffer. Because of the circumstances she endured with the health care system, I lost my daughter.”


Complex arguments are being batted around in this health care debate, but the central issue isn’t technical but moral. The first question is simply this: Do we wish to be the only rich nation in the world that lets a 32-year-old woman die because she can’t get health insurance? Is that really us?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-14-2009 - 3:25pm

Since my husband has retired and gotten on SS and Medicare, I am waiting to see if our company insurance will cover me on a COBRA plan.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Mon, 09-14-2009 - 4:01pm

At my last well woman check I was told I didn't need yearly mammograms and that every 3 to 5 years would suffice, because annual mammograms were leading to too many false positives. I also didn't need to get them AT ALL after the age of 60, according to new guidelines. Within a matter of months I found a lump in my breast, had to undergo the mammogram I had passed on, biopsy, turned out to be non-cancerous, pheeew. However, since then,



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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Mon, 09-14-2009 - 9:04pm
Where do they get these statistics from? One in 8 woman will get breast cancer at sometime in their lives. My most recent mammogram was abnormal, I had it re-done and a ultrasound, I then had a biopsy, I had invasive ductal carcinoma. It was caught early. I had a lumpectomy, waiting on an oncotype dx test. I also had biopsys on my left axilla of my breast. There were what they thought to be enlarged lymph nodes, turns out they aren't lymph nodes, they actually don't know what they are! So, I will need them removed to see what they really are.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-09-2001
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 5:18pm

I'm curious. I've read posts before about how cheap Walmart Rx rates are. I know RETAIL prices can vary by pharmacy. My question is, is this the TOTAL retail cost of the Rx's you buy at Walmart? Or, are these prices to you just your co-pay, the result of any health insuance drug coverage you may have? IOW, you pay a small amount because Walmart gets the rest from your insurance company?

I joined Weight Watchers in July 2008 and lost over 80 lbs. I am at goal weight now. Best $$$ I ever spent to learn to eat healthy, buying and preparing "real" food. ;) I also walk six to seven days/week with my dog, generally a minimum of 100 min. per day. Costs me shoe leather. ;) WW low fat eating and cooking brought my cholesterol to normal. My blood pressure meds are minimal doses to protect against side effects and my exercise level keeps it that way. Living a healthy lifestyle can do a lot, but it's not always enough. I research my Rx's and supplements carefully, too (supplements can cost *more* than RX's, depending on health insurance drug coverage), and I watch for side effects and my doctor and I work as a team to use minimal drugs, coupled with *me* living as healthy a lifestyle as possble to reduce my need for RX's. The healthier I keep myself with healthy living habits, the less frequently I need lab work, or doctor appts. I take my own blood presssure readings and email my doctor if things aren't looking good in between 6 mos. visits. I believe in a combination of maintaining a healthy lifestyle (and that has been a long hard process to learn *and* maintain for me), working with a doctor on my health issues (heart disease, heart surgery, high blood pressure), and taking minimal RX's to support my body in maintaining a good blood pressure readings with minimal dosages. I don't see my doctor, or drugs, for that matter, as the "enemy" but as my *partner* in keeping me as healthy, active as possible, for good quality of life.



Blessings,

Gypsy

)O(





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"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.

It is the little shadow which runs across the grass

and loses itself in the sunset.



- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator



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Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.

It's not the dog's fault.

All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."

--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders



http://www.badrap.org/rescue/



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"All things share the same breath;

the beast, the tree, the man.

The Air shares its spirit with

all the life it supports."

--Chief Seattle



"If there are no dogs in Heaven,

then when I die I want to go where they went."

~Will Rogers



"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress

can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

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"Life is a state of mind." ~~from Being There.



Blessings,

Gypsy

)O(



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 6:19pm
Went to Wal Mart two days ago....got two RXs....total price $8.00...no taxes here in AL on prescriptions.
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-09-2001
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 7:55pm
Thanks for your reply! That clears up my confusion. I'll keep that in mind when DH retires, for sure! ;)) Until then, our health plan has it's own facility, hospitals, and pharmacies, so no worries with our small co-pays. When we lose that, we'll be hard pressed and Walmart might just be what we need! ;)) (To continue the insurance we have now, out of our own pocket, would likely run us $1000 as sold to individuals, for the two of us, so not even possible. Our share by payroll deduction now is just below $200/month, the rest paid by the employer, including some dental and eye coverage. We are very fortunate!).


Blessings,

Gypsy

)O(





Photobucket



"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.

It is the little shadow which runs across the grass

and loses itself in the sunset.



- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator



Photobucket Photobucket



Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.

It's not the dog's fault.

All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."

--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders



http://www.badrap.org/rescue/



Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photobucket



Mika Dog




"All things share the same breath;

the beast, the tree, the man.

The Air shares its spirit with

all the life it supports."

--Chief Seattle



"If there are no dogs in Heaven,

then when I die I want to go where they went."

~Will Rogers



"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress

can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

~~Mahatma Gandhi





Photobucket



"Life is a state of mind." ~~from Being There.



Blessings,

Gypsy

)O(



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 10:44pm

Same was true for us....ins. from our company....when DH retired end of May, our ins. was paid up until the end of Aug. I had hoped to have a job with ins. by then, but that didn't work out....so...DH has medicare and I am still waiting to see if COBRA from our old ins. will pick me up. But, with or without ins. the $4.00 Wal Mart RX seem like a good deal to me and many others. However, I am sure there are a lot of meds (did you mention one you are on is being extended by the mfg. so as not to be able to be generic?)that are not on the $4.00 list. One guy in Wal Mart was telling me that his wife is on chemo and the pills cost over $2,000 a month and he could not even attempt to try to pay that without ins. I wonder how much the pharm. co. has upped the price just because they have ins? Doesn't seem legal, somehow. I look forward to the day people will all have the same chance at health care and no one will die or be turned away for lack of ins.

Hugs, Sandi

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 09-17-2009 - 8:11am

 


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