My boss is out of town and I have had some time to catch up on some reading I have been meaning to do around health care. I came across this article today and I was struck so strongly with this story. Enjoy.
(*On July 1, 2007, the state if Massachusetts began offering an online choice of four private insurance plans for people without health coverage. The cost is zero for the poor; for the rest, it is limited to no more than about eight per cent of income. If you were not insured you will be penalized. The state has 97.4% of their population insured.)
An extract from an article in The New Yorker Magazine, January 12, 2008
“Getting there from here”
How should Obama reform health care?
By Atul Gawande
“I am among the state’s majority that would not go back to the old system of health care in Massachusetts. For years, about one in ten of my patients – I specialize in cancer surgery – had no insurance. Even though I’d waive my fee, they struggled to pay for their tests, medications, and hospital stay.
“I once took care of a nineteen-year-old college student who had maxed out her insurance coverage. She had a treatable but metastatic cancer. But neither she nor her parents could afford the radiation therapy that she required. I made calls to find state programs, charities – anything that could help her – to no avail. She put off the treatment for almost a year because she didn’t want to force her parents to take out a second mortgage on their home. But eventually they had to choose between their daughter and their life’s savings.
“For the past year, I haven’t’ had a single Massachusetts patient who has had to ask how much the necessary tests will cost; not one who has told me he needed to put off his cancer operation until he found a job that provided insurance coverage. And that’s a remarkable change; a glimpse of American health care without the routine cruelty. “
3 comments:
What a great article. It's truly horrifying to think of someone not being able to receive health care in the UNITED STATES, of all places.
By the way, I love that quote from the Speak on the side of your blog! It is so true!
Sar Atul Gawande is a fabulous author. Last night Ben just finished reading one of his books entitled Complications and I am starting to read it now. He is a great author and I like his point of view. We both also want to read Better. You should read Complications - you would like it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but was Mitt Romney the governor of Massachusetts during the time their health care system was reformed?
Thanks for sharing. It gives me hope. I hope the progress for the rest of the country comes soon.
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