This missive was originally posted on 4/13/2005

State by state, people will die because we refuse to change the way we make our health care decisions.

Yes, people will die. Many have already died. In Oregon, one young woman committed suicide because she was schizophrenic and her benefits—and medications—were cut. So, she killed herself because she could not imagine living her life with all those voices raging in her brain.

Another man, denied his medications from that same cut had a grand mal seizure and ended up in the hospital in a chronic vegetative state at taxpayer expense—to the tune of $1 million; when his medication was something like $250 per month. Who pled his case? 

Where is our country’s attention for the 323,000 people in Tennessee who will lose their health care benefits in two weeks or the nearly two million Pennsylvanians who are chronically ill, whose benefits are being cut to balance the state budget. Some of these people will die.

And, then there are the two million people who declare bankruptcy every year—nearly 75% of them have insurance. These are hard working people who fuel this economy, who may have lost jobs and benefits or who work at companies who do not/cannot afford to pay for their wages and health care benefits. Or have inadequate benefits.

By accepting these cuts, what makes us any different from the Romans and their Bread and Circuses—thumbs up; thumbs down—to decide who lives and who dies? 

Who are these people? Probably someone serving you food in a restaurant; or the person you hire to clean house or do landscaping. Or maybe our mechanic. Or someone who once held a job and lost it to outsourcing. Or laid off from a merger. A fellow Rotarian.

Or, maybe your mom or dad. Who did not have enough money when they needed nursing home care. The fastest growing part of state budgets is Medicaid—and the fastest growing part of Medicaid is long-term care. Ironically,  the people who care for the people in nursing homes are probably eligible for Medicaid themselves since they are so underpaid.

Where is our country’s attention to this? These folks are facing almost certain death and/or bankruptcy by being poor and chronically ill.

We are taking these people off life support, only it is not a simple immediate withdrawal of a feeding tube; it is longer, less immediate and more complicated. But, we should not be fooling ourselves. That is what we are doing.

We refuse to look at any other way of dealing with health care except for cutting benefits, cutting provider rates, adding more cost to consumers, or cutting people from programs. This is not sustainable.

And what solutions are out there? None. Only legislative and Congressional wrangling over consistently failed alternatives—single payer; pay or play; health savings accounts. A toxic and divided Congress cannot solve these problems.   There is no one simple solution or silver bullet, as much as these proponents would have you believe.

We are better than this as a nation. We are better than this as people. I believe the American public would be horrified at the extent of these cuts.

This is not an idle, remote issue. How many of us are one paycheck; one job loss; one major accident or illness away from being in the same boat with all these people we are so ruthlessly condemned to malingering death, illness and bankruptcy.

Where have we come as a society that we no longer protect our children, frail elders, the poor and the vulnerable? I don’t know about you, but I will sleep better at night knowing that we are not cutting home health care services to someone who is a 75 year old woman with MS.

But it is not only the poor and the vulnerable but those of us who are under-insured. What happens if you get cancer, but don’t have enough insurance? What do these cancer centers tell their patients who don’t have enough insurance? They give them a fund raising package to raise the money for their treatment—at $250,000 a pop for bone marrow transplants. And, even if you have insurance, say the standard 80-20 split. That means your share is $50,000. And it all has to be paid in advance.

We can be better than this. We must be better than this.

CodeBlueNow! invites you to join in creating a new health care future that does not punish the poor; does not pit generation against generation to get coverage; does not rely on cutting rates, benefits and programs.

CodeBlueNow! believes we need to have a health care system supports the health of the people and the communities in which we live; and one founded on health promotion, not disease management and last minute fix its.

CodeBlueNow! believes the American public is vastly smarter than they are given credit for when it comes to health care.

CodeBlueNow! believes we can provide health care for all our people without having government run health care. 

CodeBlueNow! believes by making prevention and health promotion as the heart of the system, instead of the stepchild, we not only will have healthier, happier and more productive people, we will lower over all costs as well. 
 

CodeBlueNow! believes the American people should have the power, authority and responsibility to make their own health care decisions.

CodeBlueNow! believes that if everyone gets benefits—that everyone must pay—individual, employer and government. 

CodeBlueNow! believes we can find a way to a new and better health care future that is affordable, safe, efficient, effective and sustainable by building that a system from the grassroots up, as we built this country by building bridges; creating rail lines; building each others barns to create community. Because we really do need each other—like we need each other to build fire departments, police, schools and banks.

But. This will only happen if you join CodeBlueNow! We need to get to one million people by 2006 to send a clear message to Congress and legislators that we find this public carnage unacceptable and that we can create a health care system that protect is and does not leave us all with blood on our hands.

Join today and make America a better place. 

Kathleen O’Connor

Founder and CEO