Sanjay,
This story is SO sad but WAY too common! With our out of sight medical expenses it is a wonder that anyone can really get any good insurance that will pay all of the bills. There definitely needs to be a change in the system. There should be no way that on top of worrying about a loved one that we have to worry about losing everything that we have worked for. Hopefully this coming up administration can get something done to lower these extremely high doctor bills and the extremely high cost of insurance also.

Cynthia, Covington, Ga.

Sanjay

I know that as a Canadian my opions matter little to most Americans when it comes to health care, but as someone who has read way too many blogs for US citizens regarding the financial ruin experienced by families with large health care expenses I beg you to tell your government that private health insurance is not the way to go. In your story the couple thought they had health insurance, but it was not enough.

I ‘m not saying our way is without problems, but our families do not suffer from the same finacial crisis as indicated in your article. Do I think we have the best doctor’s in Canada - no they all move to the US because our doctors are limited to the amount they can make. Secondly, there are line ups for treatment and tests on occassion, and access to many treatments is only available in major centres (that’s partly a geographical challenge), but Canadians, for the most part have free health care.

It would be an enormous task to set this up in the states, but Canada’s health care costs are kept low because of it.

I once heard a nightmare story about a couple who decided to request that the doctor’s stopped using extrodinary means to treat their sick premature baby and the hospital took them to court and won the right to decide on the baby’s treatment. When the infant died some weeks later the couple was handed the bill and expected to pay. Not only did they have to witness their child undergo procedure after procedure that they felt tortured their child, but they were left financially ruined.

Its hard to keep hearing about the state of things in American health care.

Over and over in your government campaign I have heard your wanna be presidents call America the greatest nation in the world. I have to disagree. Just turn on CNN and you’ll find out the lie that is.

Lesli
Burlington, ON

(PS I’m not saying the best country is Canada, after all Australia put us on a watch list for countries recommended not to travel to because of terrorist threats - not sure where that came from?.

If people think the fed. government is the reason for the high cost of anything, that’s wrong. Washington isn’t the reason health care costs are high, so why should we look to Washington to lower these costs? But Washington can help us out in a different way. Just ONCE I’d like Congress to say, we’re lowering federal income tax for next year to give you, the taxpayer more money in the “net” column of your paycheck. But no, that won’t happen because Congress would have to make do with less of our taxes.

Dr. Sanjay,
The crazy thing about this story is that there was a movie written about this same thing. “John Q” sound familiar? I myself to not carry insurance on myself because if I do I cannot afford to pay my rent. This is the exact reason that we need to understand, as human beings, we have the responsibility to every human being. How can we just sit here and let people DIE because of a peice of paper that says 100 on it? This is the question of the century, and until the people stand up to the government and make it known that we are no longer going to stand for the wrongful death of another individual because someone else wanted to make their pockets fatter, innocent children like this are going to die. I am sorry to be the one to say this , but someone had to!

This is indeed a national tragedy, for no man is an island. This affects each and everyone of us. Seventeen years ago when I had surgery, I knew we were in trouble then when I opened my 3-inch volume of medical bills and read that one bandaid cost me $15.00!

At the very bottom of this whole medical mess, we need to find out why, exactly, a bandaid costs $15.00. If we discover the answer to that, then maybe we will also discover ways to begin solving this national problem.

My heart goes out to this family in the loss of their little girl. They shouldn’t have to lose everything else on top of that. Let’s hope and pray that whoever makes it to the White House can finally do something to remedy this awful situation our country is in over health care.

I think three factors contribute to high medical costs: unions, lawsuits and the illegal aliens who use our hospitals without paying their bills. Unions have gotten greedy and are threatening companies with large Washington lobbyist groups. If we choose a fiscally conservative President, this prob. could lessen. Second, if we install tort reform, hospitals and doctors would face less in the way of frivolous lawsuits (a conservative President, if given the support, would start tort reform) and illegal aliens, obviously have seen there is little or no repercussion to having no insurance when they use our emergency rooms for primary care .

Xtina,
Once again, I’m sorry but you have no point. Illegal aliens using our medical care. Can you support this? Tort reform? You have got to be kidding me! If medical care didn’t cost so much, then people wouldn’t worry about sueing a doctor for forgetting a wipe inside them. Come on you sound like an under educated, racist! Illegal aliens for example happens to be a term that was and can be used for you! This was not your country. Your ancestors cam over and stole this land from the rightful owners! Illegal is a word we developed to scare people. These people have just as much right to live here as you do!

Maybe our next president can help make health care affordable for the masses. It is so sad to read stories about good people in bad situations.

I have often considered the harsh reality that it could happen to any of us at any time. Many in our world are living paycheck to paycheck. And have no backup plans. NO savings. No insurance. And, so we continue….trying to ride the waves out with our heads above water. I’m afraid that there are millions of us who would find ourselves in the exact same situation. IN a heartbeat.

Lewis
Portland, Oregon
http://www.spiritofsaintlewis.blogspot.com

They are tons of Americans today with unpaid medical bills, and with our economy gearing up towards a rescission, those bills are racking up each day. I know that America view Cuba as a communist country but if we can only adopt their health plan which eradicates those giant insurance companies, then health insurance will be affordable for all Americans.

Very sad. It’s deplorable that this happens in the USA. What else can I say.

But then what would happen to all those people who are employeed by these insurance companies? Where would those execs go to earn the same salary, bonuses, etc. Deployed? Who would contribute to the presidental candidate campaigns? Is there a simple answer?

How horribly sad for this couple. I know how much caring for a person can cost because my dad and I lived through it with my mom nine years ago. Mom was a brittle juvenile diabetic diagnosed at age 16. She almost died several times during her pregnancy for me and my birth. There were always medical bills for doctors, insulin, syringes, alcohol swabs, and blood glucose testing (at home). There were meds for her thyroid and other conditions secondary to the diabetes. There was the bacterial infection that almost killed her and the time they thought she contracted the hantavirus while we were on vacation in the Southwest. And then in 1999, she had the first of many serious heart attacks. She was 52. They couldn’t do anything for her at our local hospital so we flew her to a hospital with some of the best cardiologists in the nation. We stayed there for the majority of a year and a half. Many of the doctors and nurses of this major medical complex knew us on a first name basis. It was unreal. There were tests, her kidneys failed and then came dialysis inpatient and outpatient, she had digestive issues (gastroparesis), she went partially blind, and she lost the use of her left arm and hand. She had neuropathy through most of her body and couldn’t walk. We stayed at the hotel connected to the hospital for most of this time. My dad basically gave up his business to take care of her. I fortunately was working at a school where my cousin was the head administrator (I had taken the job so that I could care for Mom), and I spent more time at the hospital and with her than I did at work. My parents almost paid me to quit work, move home, and help care for her. Our housekeeper became Mom’s caregiver. We had home health and then in her last month hospice every day. When she decided to quit dialysis and die, we stayed with her at home. She passed seven hours after she came home. Dad was with her. I had gone to sleep in my room at his suggestion because she wasn’t supposed to go that quickly. And then we had the funeral costs which are another issue altogether. I don’t know what we would have done had we not been financially able to provide the best for my mother. I’m glad we did. I’m glad my parents were able to provide the best medical care for me at 17 when doctors told them I would not survive injuries from a car accident and they had me flown to one of the best hospitals and then continued paying for my recovery for almost a year afterwards. My family was blessed, is blessed. My dad’s cancer was the same story six months after my mom died, best hospital, best doctor, best care, and he survived. I’m saying this because everyone deserves a shot at the best doctors and hospitals and home health and hospice (and even funerals when death is the outcome). Every husband should know his wife is getting the best care humanly possible and that he has the money to cover it. Every daughter should be able to take off for the better part of a year and a half to take care of her mom and not have to worry about losing her job. Every parent should be able to fly their kid to the best doctors and hospital when they are told by local docs that child won’t survive the night because they can’t treat the severity of her injuries. I don’t know what it will take to make that happen if that can happen. But it should. And everyone involved in providing quality healthcare and helping families from medical schools to hospitals to insurance companies to businesses need to look at their parts in the disaster of our current system and what they can do to make it better. Priorities need to shift. Money needs to be the last thing and quality healthcare needs to be the first. Americans shouldn’t have better medical care simply because they can pay more for it. A life should never come with a price tag. And pitifully it does.

hi sanjay,
its good to see that you are now a crusader of the deplorable state of the american health care system. if i can remember correctly, after “sicko” was released you challenged moore on some of the issues he raised on larry king. it may be that moore hyped some of the issues, but he was sure right about something… the health care system needed urgent attention.

i live in canada and i will not say too that they have the best doctors, or health care system. one thing is for sure, you can’t lose your home to pay for your medical bills.

america should learn and stop being greedy!!!

I feel for the couple and all the other couples who are faced with decisions like this. In this country we shouldn’t have this problem.

Everyone should have affordable heath care. I know that people cringe when the term “national health care” is used but the approval ratings for national health care systems in Canada, England, and France are 80% and better; they have lower infant mortality rates, and better access to primary care. We might ought to look at their systems to see where we can improve.

Mandating that everyone have health care insurance does nothing to make it affordable and the health insurance companies would just delight in that because they could make millions while law abiding people pay for the insurance premium and go hungry and find out when they need their insurance that it is inadequate.

I think we should take a serious look at the health care systems of France, Canada, etc. and come up with something similar How can we call ourselves the greastest nations on earth when we have this health care crisis?? We need to take care of our own.

Annie Kate
Birmiingham AL .

This story touched me and was very sad for me because I can relate.

My heart goes out to them because I’ve lost babies, in utero, as well and have been in that endless cycle of needing procedures and not having the time or money to fix it.

I went to Puerto Rico and came back ill. I ended up impacted for 18 days and going in and out of the ER and clinics. Bedridden ill and out of work without health insurance and no money to heal myself. You feel hopeless.

The system needs fixing so no one should fall down because they can’t afford to heal themselves.

I carried catastrophic insurance at one point and it was meant to cover such things as this….I wonder if it would really have covered?

I hope that they get the chance to begin again, whole.

It really is sad that we really have come to this….We have allowed “Our Healthcare System” to dictate our life and death sentence…………..I do believe that our government is not the answer to fix it, it has to be “we the people” the one’s complaining….In order to fix the problem, you have to start with the core that’s being bit into….

As long as there is money to be made in healthcare, there will be no “National” healthcare. Drug companies, medical device companies, doctors, lawyers and hospital administrations will lobby until hell freezes over for NO national healthcare. It’s like the story of David and Goliath…but David has the flu.

Please will somebody ask ALL the presidential candidates in their debates one simple question. What do you pay each month for your Health Insurance premium, and what is the annual cap on your coverage? I am sure none of them know the answer to that question, because they don’t have to, they all have platinum plated coverage. In exposing how out of touch they are with the reality of average American’s lives, the debate can be put on the front pages where it belongs, so that these individuals who claim they wish to lead us, will be forced to address this most important of issues. Sanjay, please ask your colleagues, Wolf Blitzer & Anderson Cooper to make sure they ask that question of both Democratic & Republican presidential candidates in their respective debates. Thank You.

Nick E, Manhattan, NY

Dr. Gupta:
It was heart breaking to hear about the Zeigler’s loss of their daughter. To compound their sorrow, they have to face the outrageous bills not covered by the insurance company. Is there medical coverage for catastrophic medical cases? Also, WHO determines who is insured or what is insured? WHO decides who lives or dies? Are individuals and family members just a number or a statistic on some actuary table?

Unfortunately, does it come down to the “have and have-nots”? Human rights?

As I was watching the debates last night, the candidates talked about how the US is a country determined to promote the sanctity for human rights? Aren’t the citizens of this nation facing uncontrollable health care costs facing a human rights issue?

It’s not just the health care system that’s ailing but also the political system.

Lobbying efforts and campaign donations will ensure that there will never be a system that’s beneficial to Americans, no matter what their income. What is health INSURANCE? It’s hedging your bets that you’ll never need it. It’s a hell of a way to run a health care system.

The pharmas and insurance companies have OUR money to burn to convince us why any other system will fail.

Wake up people and don’t believe socialized health care means inferior health care. It means affordable health care for everyone.