Accomplices

This is what we’ve got: A health insurance system that will let a 19-year-old die rather than pay for the lifesaving operation, because a company figures out that by stalling long enough, she’ll no longer be able to be saved. Save kid, or save money? …Is that a question you really want to leave to corporate accountants to answer?

Stall, kill teenager, pocket the difference. It’s a perfectly valid financial decision…and that’s why letting for-profit companies manage health care is freaking insane.

I really wish that citizens of the U.S. would look at this, really look, and admit that this is what we’ve got; this is how our brave wonderful free country is taking care of the basic needs of its citizens. Whatever your thoughts on politics, business, or whatever, if you admit that this is where we are–especially if you do some reading and realize that the above horror is far from rare–you cannot help but admit that a radical fix is in order.

Rightnowyesterday. Because for every case like this one, where the media and a governor find it beneficial to their goals to intervene, there are a hundred cases that don’t get that special attention, and end in someone’s child, spouse, or friend dying to line some assholes’ pocketbooks.

However long this goes on, it’s our fault, citizens. We’re killing people with our failure to force this change.