Gregory James Missman is the name of a dead American soldier. One of us, a working class stiff. The boy next door kinda guy, he didn’t have health insurance for himself and his family.
Soldier Who Re-Enlisted For Health Care, Killed In Afghanistan
“According to Missman's father, health care is what pushed his son back into service. After losing his job, Missman's young family, a wife and son were no longer insured.”
HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The reason his father said his son joined the military was to get medical coverage which he couldn’t afford any other way. So he went into the military primarily because unlike other advance economies, the United States doesn’t offer medical access under the law for all Americans. We could therefore say that he died because of that. He’s not the only one to have died this way and he will not be the last one to die because of the for profit American medical system. We’ll never know what books he would have written, what paintings he might have drawn or what children he might have raised and who else he would have loved. He’s gone and we’ll all be poorer without him because all of us let this happen to him. We have to take responsibility for that or it will continue to happen to somebody else, until finally it happens to one of us. Though we have made good progress in health care access in recent years since the passing of Gregory Missman in 2009, there are still millions of Americans that don't have access to medical care. Until this changes and 100% of Americans have access to medical care, there will continue to be people in the tragic circumstances like what happened to Gregory Missman and his bereaved family.
It’s a terrible thing for a person to have lost their life and for what? For freedom in a forgotten war? For profit? If he would have lived right next door in Canada where they have legally required medical coverage for everyone he probably would still be alive today. The Canadians know this, so they stopped this from happening to their people. One Canadian knew it in particular. A fellow by the name of Tommy Douglas.
Douglas led the first socialist government elected in Canada and is recognized as the father of socialized medicine.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/...
Tommy Douglas was the one who was responsible for the Canadian medical system being in place and is often referred to as the father of the Canadian health care system. It just came down to that one guy, but where would Canada be if he would have been allowed to die? Where would they be today? See, sometimes it’s just one guy that can make a difference. So I say, Gregory James Missman we miss you. All of us, but there for grace go I.
If this diary has moved you today, tell us why in the comment section below before you go.