The last year has been really tough as a primary care doctor. More of my patients are losing their health insurance every week. Some hard-pressed employers have dropped all coverage; others have pushed so much of the insurance premium cost increases onto the workers that the workers have to drop their own coverage to pay the rent and utility bills.
But this past week has been the worst. It's no longer just the people being forced to drop their medical coverage, or those being dropped by their employers. Now increasingly it's the folks who supposedly have "good" coverage who are in tears.
One of my patients is a former maintenance worker who was disabled in his 40s by a succession of medical calamities, ranging from cancer to an autoimmune disease to spinal injuries, none of them his fault. As a union worker he had the good fortune to have ongoing coverage of his medical insurance. But this week he called in tears because he can't make it any more. He's paying more than $400 a month out of pocket just for his drug co-pays. That's after insurance. He's paying a rising monthly premium from his paltry disability income to maintain his insurance. Now one of his drugs has abruptly become unavailable as a generic, due to the greedy machinations of BigPharma, increasing his monthly cost by another $120. Without it he'll lose his feet. "What am I gonna do, doc? What can I do?" A tough, stoic, macho guy crying in front of me because he has to choose between keeping the heat on, or keeping his feet.
All you Democrats in Congress and Obama's Administration who have failed to get meaningful, effective health care reform done despite the biggest majorities in a generation:
Come to my office. Explain to my medically destitute patients exactly why you can't get this done.
Explain it to me.