Yes, people DO die for lack of insurance

[question everything]

Several weeks ago Ezekiel Emanuel appeared on a program - Alex Wagner, perhaps, I don't remember - and disagreed with the Republicans (and teabaggers, perhaps) who claim that no one dies in this country for lack of health insurance.

This was after I found the In Memoriam page here http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=inmemoriam

and the touching, infuriating, aching last post of the late MedicalAdmin

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002252691

Yes, it is a long post but should be a required reading by everyone who may be injured.

This is the crux of his post:

"if I had had access to even a basic physical exam with some basic lab exams a year ago, it might likely have been diagnosed early and I wouldn’t be facing my death soon."

I felt, still feel, so helpless reading this post, again and again.

[enlightenment]

1. Yes, they do die from the lack of insurance.

They also die - as MedicalAdmin pointed out - because their insurance won't pay. Because it denies, delays, obfuscates. Because it is willing to spend more on not paying claims than on paying claims.

Very little has changed in that regard. The ACA has stopped some of the worst offenses, yes - but would it have stopped what happened to MedicalAdmin? Maybe, but maybe not, since there is no way to know when he developed the cancer.
His was the kind of battle that the insurance companies can and still carry on, and as he pointed out, the person left holding the bag is the person who needs the help. In the end, it wasn't so much losing the insurance - something the ACA could address - it was the constant delays and denials and the cost, the unbelievable cost, of medical treatment in this country. And the ACA hasn't fixed that, unfortunately.

[closeupready]

2. I remember him. I was so sad when he passed. Still am.

Since he's been gone a while, though, I do want to make a point (not tastelessly, as when people do it on the very same day of death) that he struck me as an example of someone who had previously defended the kind of ad hoc health insurance status quo we liberals and progressives spoke out against, and sadly he fell into those very cracks when life dealt him a bad hand.

Empathy is so important - maybe especially so when life appears to be going your way.

[question everything]

3. Unfortunately, most people don't think of cracks until they encounter one

and... most people who are covered by their employers like that system.

I remember on DU someone once posted that, yes, all he has to pay was $10 or $15 co-pay so he and his family can see a doctor at every sniff or scratch.

I remember attending one of Al Franken first meeting and he came out and said that he was not for universal health care because mot people like what they had.

Of course, since then a lot changed, including the "Great Recession" that put so many people out of work and out of health insurance.