Personal Stories from the Health Care Front

Last night we visited a close friend who has been hospitalized for the past several months following a terrible injury, which then resulted in other serious and life-threatening medical problems. She is in good spirits, despite her predicament, and has hopes of being well enough in the near future to leave the hospital and live on her own again. According to what I have been told, she has good hopes of recovery, but it is still too dangerous to her fragile health for her to leave at this time.

Her insurance company, though, has other ideas. It turns out that they are tired of paying for her inpatient stay and are pushing the hospital to release her, despite the opinion of her doctor. Of course she is scared and wondering what the future holds, for her life now lies in the hands of an insurance company that is only concerned with the bottom line.

I hate to turn one’s tragedy into a political discussion, but given the state of affairs in our nation, it seems as though it would be irresponsible not to ask the tough questions.

For those against government regulation of insurance companies and those who unequivocally support the almighty hand of the free market (which will henceforth be referred to as Mammon), particularly those who have no personal stake in the matter, she may be only a sad piece of collateral damage, an unavoidable byproduct of what they trumpet as the greatest health care in the world, or a boo-hoo story from a bunch of Liberal softies. I can’t help but wonder, though, what the moral dilemma must be like for those who do know her and are somewhat familiar with her situation. Should they feel at least partly responsible?

Perhaps the maniacal rants of Sarah Palin and her ilk regarding “death panels,” have an inkling of truth after all. But these “death panels” are not in the employment of the government, rather, they are controlled by the insurance companies themselves, those who have given their very souls over to Mammon for the sake of profit.

So the question must be asked, have those who oppose reform and who stand with the insurance companies implicitly given their support to her death? In their eyes, has she outlived her market value?

May God have mercy…

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