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My aunt and why our insurance system is killing her. |
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Posted 10/21/2009 at 1:06 PM by Zach W |
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My aunt has been living with Crohn's disease for quite a few years. In the past few months she has undergone many complications and it has escalated to a dangerous level.
Sadly though, the disease is not why shes so close to losing her life. The disease is not why my uncle went from being very well off to no longer being able to pay for his house, his car, his bills. The disease is not why she has lost everything.
A few months ago she had a very huge flair up. Her Crohn's had gotten so bad that she had to get a huge portion of her digestive system REMOVED. She went had the procedure done, it seemed like a success, she was stable. So the insurance company stopped paying for her stay. She'd gotten the surgery they said, she could go home despite the doctors who said that wasnt a good idea. So she came home. That night she started puking and such, the at home nurse kept saying she was fine. But my uncle couldnt believe this and took her to the emergency room.
Her entire body was infected. It had gotten so bad that her immune system had entirely shut down. Ironically this saved her life, since if her immune system would have been active the fever from the infection would have killed her.
But it was too late the infection had already caused intense damage, damage that could have been stopped had she been in the hospital where they could have found the infection hours before. The hospital that the insurance company said she was no longer allowed to stay at. Luckily the doctors were able to save her, she had a colostomy bag attached and has spent the last several months in the hospital. After several more complications she had a 2nd colostomy bag attached and was being kept alive simply by being in the hospital where they could care for her.
Saturday the insurance company informed her that she had stayed the max number of days she could be in the hospital for the year. So they sent her home.
It has been only a few days and i havent heard from my family what has happened since then. I can only hope that she is alright.
And if this werent enough. The insurance company obviously isnt going to cover all of the expenses. So my uncle has been scrambling to make it so his children, and his newly home-sent wife have a roof over their heads. His car was just recently taken from him, how is he to take his wife to the hospital if something goes wrong?
This is a perfect example of how our insurance system KILLS our friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc. People are dying every day because they cannot afford health care.
And the people that control the fate of countless people are in DC. The people that dont know what it is like to not know if you will have a home tomorrow. To not know if your wife will survive without the hospital care you cant afford.
They claim that they are debating the "issues". Isnt it that the only issue that matters is the issue that our people are dying? Shouldn't that be all the coercion we need?
How is it that these people cannot see this. How is it that in "the greatest country in the world" we cannot even protect our own citizens with something as basic as healthcare.
How is it that some person in an expensive suit, in some executive office, driving a high class car gets to decide if my aunt, your brother, your friend, your mom, yourself... lives or dies? |
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