If you were watching PBS last night, you were treated to the finest example of fantasy vs. reality, lazy conjecturing vs. hard-hitting journalism, petty politics vs. a call to action, bloody ignorance vs. give a shit. First, there he was, David Brooks, on the News Hour, ever so conservatively compassionate, flaunting his "love-me" puppy dog smile, stating in his most expertly poll-reading capacity that the majority of the American people don't want health care reform.
A couple of hours later, the same station airs Bill Moyers' Journal, the entire hour dedicated to a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking documentary called Critical Condition about three families financially ravaged and emotionally devastated by a health care system run amok by greed and utter lack of compassion.
Here was David "How-can-you-not-believe-me-I'm-so-nice" Brooks palling around with Jim Lehrer and Ruth Marcus about how health care reform is just not so cool anymore:
I mean, the major reason he's falling down now -- the secondary reason is the economy is still not -- you know, unemployment. But the major reason is health care reform. His major domestic initiative is unpopular. The majority -- a slight majority of the American people disapprove of it, and there's no sign that that's let up.
Well, that's it folks, you know Mr. Friendly Neighbor went through the trouble of reading some newspapers and is providing us with his kindly public service announcement that Americans love to get ripped off by insurance companies, get refused for treatment, and if they don't, declare bankruptcy. It's all just fun and games, a little bit of numbers crunching, and a nice case of "it's all just some crazy lefty left brouhaha, we all got good coverage among our rich friends, so let's just settle on a nice amicable compromise that my Republican buddies and their pharma sponsors will like." Pretty pleeeaase?
Fast forward two hours to Critical Condition, meet the Stornaiulos:
JOE STORNAIUOLO: Oh without a liver, I'm not going to get better. Liver transplant costs about 150 to 200 thousand dollars. If you're broke, you could get the medicine, you could get the hospital, everything else. But if you work hard all your life you get nothing.
DALE STORNAIUOLO Things will work out. If Joe had insurance, he would have never had to skimp on his medication. He would never have used the same needle six to nine times. So yeah, you cut medical corners. It's like playing Russian roulette with your life.
meet Karen Dove:
KAREN DOVE: The hardest thing was being diagnosed. I had a cancer specialist and he knew something was wrong but he just didn't want to follow through with more costly tests. Had I had insurance I really believe it would have been diagnosed a lot earlier. It probably would have not been in stage three. If we had some kind of medical system where everybody could get in there and be tested, they could stop some of this heartache. They could stop a whole lot of it.
and meet Carlos Benitez:
CARLOS BENITEZ: I was kind of disappointed. I am in a lot of pain and it's going to just get worse. I think it all matters about the money because we're talking about maybe $150,000 dollars for a surgery. My cousin in Mexico, she's a nurse, and she's been telling me to go down to Mexico, to see if surgery can be done.
So David, I know these people are probably in that slight minority you read about in the newspaper, so screw them, right? What if they were in the majority? Then you'd be in favor of saving their lives? I know, health care is just a popularity contest to you, I know, a Russian roulette type poll fetish, but for God's sakes, you civil and educated human being are in favor of letting people die because some looney death panel propaganda has momentarily shifted some poll numbers?
Well, unfortunately I'm not making up the "dying" part here. If you follow the program to the conclusion, you'll be raw with sorrow and pain for what these people had to go through because they can't afford insurance. I really had a hard time watching, and I'm someone who's heard and read a lot of horror stories. But I'm not the one who needs convincing anyway. No, it's YOU David who needs to watch this. It's so easy, all on the same channel you opine on so knowingly and becomingly, just a couple hours after you step out of the studio and into your limousine. All you have to do is watch the stories of some actual Americans, not statistics and polls, and then tell me if you still have that suave 'slight majority' shtick to throw at us.
If not, then please write a column about how we need a public American option (=health care for all), so that the average Joe's you claim to speak for can see what's REALLY going on in this country.
And if after seeing this documentary you still think this is just some political game, I have two words for you: Asshole!
(sorry, can't think of the other one)
for those who'd rather take action than wait for David Brooks to see the light, go to thereisnospoon's excellent diary OMG, What Have You People Done? and Everyday Citizen's The Activist's Complete Guide to Health Care Reform.
PS: And David, just so you know, those insurance bills don't expire after you're dead, they just get passed on to the loved ones who gave everything they had to be there for you when you were sick. Watch the whole hour
PPS: Sorry David, I'm usually much more kind and compassionate, but watching Critical Condition got me very upset.
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Update: Thanks to Scarce in the comments, here are the videos:
Joe Stornaiuolo, a doorman for 15 years, loses his finger, then his job and ultimately his health insurance. Unable to afford the medication or doctor visits he needs to manage his chronic liver disease, Joe has to be hospitalized four times in one year, running up bills in excess of $60,000.
Karen Dove loses her insurance because her deteriorating health forces her to quit her job as an apartment manager. When she begins experiencing severe recurrent abdominal pains, the doctors she contacts refuse to treat uninsured patients. A year later, after she finally finds a gynecologic oncologist willing to treat her, she is diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer, which is almost always fatal.
Hector Cardenas, a warehouse manager in Los Angeles with diabetes, opted to amputate his infected foot before losing his job and medical benefits. When his insurance coverage lapses, he struggles to repair his broken temporary prosthesis on his own. He cannot walk properly or earn money without a permanent prosthesis, but he cannot afford the permanent prosthesis without a job that offers basic medical benefits.
One character, Carlos Benitez, an uninsured chef at a French restaurant, has a severe back deformity that has caused him 15 years of unbearable pain and taken seven inches off his height. After learning that the county hospital will not perform surgery, he becomes convinced that the only way to find an affordable cure is to travel to Mexico, where orthopedic specialists recommend he have surgery as soon as possible.