Stargate Universe is premiering right now. In the very first 10 minutes, the character Eli has been taken by some government "men in black" to a spaceship. They want to offer him a job in exchange for solving a problem.
Eli says he needs to call his mother, and the agents respond, "We know about your situation." "We know that you are unemployed." Then they tell him they know about his mother's health problems and that her health "coverage" situation is precarious, so they will "take care of her." When he finally does phone his mother, he tells her she is going to be taken care of--meaning her health.
I believe this is one of the first times I have seen concern about health care coverage for an illness enter in to a non-medical show. Typically, on television, people get cancer, get treated, and the family keeps their cars, keeps their nice house, and everyone is worried about the patient but not the bills.
The inclusion of health care as a plot twist in a science fiction show illustrates how pervasive the health coverage debate has become and reflects the growing awareness of the reality of the health situation for so many.
How many people lose or quit their job because of their need to care for a sick family member? How many must reject new employment opportunities that might leave their loved one without care? How many sick people lose coverage or worry about losing coverage every day?
Few of us will ever have government agents from a confidential program sweep in and offer to "take care of everything" for us (yet another reason why this show is Science Fiction). Our choices, as outlined by Republicans, appear to be limited to go bankrupt, die, seek charity, or visit the emergency room.
Freddie Effinger knows this firsthand, according to a touching story in Huffington Post. At age 23, Effinger discovered he had advanced lymphoma when he went in for surgery to have a painful mass removed. He was an uninsured law school student in Atlanta, expecting to emerge from anesthesia with a $1,200 bill to excise the mass. Instead, he woke up to learn he would need 12 cycles of chemotherapy amounting to tens of thousands of dollars each if he were to have a chance to live.
Effinger scrambled for insurance. He said he was told that the school's health plan for students wouldn't have adequately covered chemotherapy treatment at the nearby University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. He had no luck on the private insurance market outside the university.
"After making a couple calls explaining the situation, it was pretty much discussions of blackout periods and 'We wouldn't be able to do it,'" he said. "And it was frustrating and frightening
Meanwhile, his leg hurt more and more. He was afraid the cancer would spread.
Fortunately for Effinger, he was able to take advantage of the Republican Healthcare plan. No, I don't mean the Republican plan as outlined by Rep. Grayson but rather the one touted by Eric Cantor and Tom Coburn at town halls: ditch everything you own and beg for charity.
Staff at the hospital, St. Vincent's East in Birmingham, Ala., came up with a solution. "I spoke to someone at the hospital and they mentioned there's a certain number of patients a year they grant charity to," he said. He was eligible because he had zero income. He was indigent.
"They called me that later that day and told me they would grant me 100 percent charity. I broke down in tears. Somebody told me they were going to let me live. It was an amazing feeling."
Despite the help from charity, Effinger still wound up with $9,000 in bills for his condition and a credit rating in shambles. Contrary to what Cantor and Coburn might expect, he also ended up with a sense of demoralization and a new appreciation for the value of healthcare for all:
I'm a pretty humble guy, but it's really demoralizing to have to beg a hospital for your life, to be to be able to be treated for this thing you just found out that you had," he said. "I don't just have a right to be healthy? I have to beg for it? I have to show that I am poor? It's frustrating. It's embarrassing. It's really unacceptable."
Stories like Effington's are far too common, and he is actually one of the lucky ones. What if there was not a charity available to help him with the tens of thousands of dollars in chemotherapy? What if they turned him down? What if he had assets and a job? He would have had to sell his possessions, quit his job, and move in with relatives just to qualify. In some states, moving in with relatives would have disqualified him, as well, because they look at the income of the "household," not the individual.
There is no other word for those in Congress who oppose a public healthcare option other than "heartless." They do not even seek to put themselves in others' shoes. What if they had to beg for the life of their child or wife or even themselves? It is so easy to vote "no" to a public option, when you know you will never need it.