I thought I'd share a few thoughts from someone who has lived on both sides of the National Healthcare divide. As a frame of reference, I was born with a cleft palate in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967, and that is where my story starts.
At age 5, my cleft palate was repaired by a Dr. Jackson at Canniesburn (sp) Hospital, in Glasgow. Totat out of pocket expense to my parents $0. Mr. Jackson came to light to many Americans around 1990 when 60 Minutes did a feature on him as the pre-eminent plastic surgeon focusing on reconstructive surgery in the world. He happened to spend several months a year teach at Stanford, and I believe, Harvard. He felt, however, that he could do more meaningful work in the UK, where National Health Insurance allowed him to focus on practicing medicine.
My family and I moved to the U.S. in January of 1979. Two days after our arrival, I fell injured my knee. Since my family was new in the country, we had no health insurance. It cost my family over $1800 in medical bills. That was no small chunk of change to a family newly admitted to the U.S. and with a father and mother who had not yet found employment. However, we prevailed.
Many years later, my parents moved back to Scotland with my older sister, who was 27 years old at the time and had been afflicted with Cerebral Palsy her whole life. Upon arriving back in Scotland, my parents applied for assistance on my sister's behalf and secured for her a monthly allowance as well as a family car(replaced every 3 years), taxi service to and from social events, and a chair lift going up the stairs in my family's new home to aid my aging parents in getting my sister in and out of bed.
In the meantime, I remained in the U.S. and met a wonderful woman. After many years of trying to have kids, we found an OB/GYN in San Francisco, who determined she had Fibroid Tumors in the lining of her uterus which was preventing her from getting pregnant. The doctor, despite being unsure as to whether our insurance would cover the procedure, agreed to remove all 9 tumors. Luckily for us, the procedure was covered by our insurance, and the doctor was in network. We only had to pay $4300. This was in November of 2003.
In March of 2004, we got confirmation that my wife was indeed pregnant. Since it was a new calendar year, we had to pay a new deductible. Even with that, our bill after insurance was $5700. To make matters worse, I had to have two ear surgeries done in the same year to save my hearing. Total cost to me was $3600.
Shortly after my son was born, I got word from Scotland that my father, who was 64 at the time was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was admitted to the hospital four days after his diagnosis to have the cancer removed. He remained in hospital for almost 3 weeks (10 days of which was in ICU). He has made a full recovery. Total cost to my family $0.
What really made all this hit home was a visit I made to my doctor this last week. During the course of my visit, the doctor went over family history with me. When I told him that my father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, the doctor ASSUMED my father had died from the illness. In the USA that or the decimation of my parents small means would definitely have been true.
I share this with you because they are facts. Facts are what this debate should be about. Those who choose to hide behind ideologies or false claims should pay attention.
I hope I have added something to the debate.