Bake Sales for Life
There was a television show on in the mid-1960’s called Run for Your Life. It featured a lawyer, Ben Gazarra, who quit working and went on adventures, doing everything on his “bucket list.” At least once each show, someone brought up the fact that he was living beyond his means; his money would soon run dry. Then the facts of his doom were explained: Gazarra had leukemia with little time left to live. He was trying to do everything before his time ran out. He was “running for his life.”
Today medicine has made great strides in cancer treatments. The leukemia of Run for Your Life, a death sentence in the mid-1960’s, is now a controllable disease with a good chance of long-term survival. But, here in the United States, there is another controlling factor in the treatment of this and other cancers: the cost.
The average cost of cancer treatment is $100000 to $150000 (AARP.) For those who have “good” health insurance, including Medicare, 80% of the cost will be covered, but that still leaves $20,000 to $30,000. For those who don’t have insurance, they not only have to bear the entire costs (though when income gets low enough, they will become eligible for government assistance through Medicaid) but their actual costs are higher. Insurance companies negotiate with care providers and drug manufacturers for reduced costs. Uninsured patients pay “full cost” for their care, often double what insured patients pay.
And, of course, during cancer treatment it is difficult to continue working. So the bills from treatment are added to the bills of life; rent, food, and the rest. Cancer patients are twice as likely to declare bankruptcy as non-patients (Chicago Tribune.) Even in Canada, with a nationalized health care system, patients in some Provinces (though not all) bear the costs of drug therapy, (in Nova Scotia there is a $29000 deductible.)
These are all numbers, but behind the figures are the living survivors who face an enormous health threat. Added to their (and their families) burden is the enormous financial expense. Their lives are threatened by cancer; their lifestyles and families are threatened by bankruptcy. It’s not a choice.
So they find ways to try to keep up with the bills. They max out their credit cards, wipe out their retirements, sell their houses, borrow from friends. They put jars on the counters of gas stations and McDonalds; they have bake sales: bake sales for life.
In Germany, the cost of cancer treatment to the patient is €10 per day in the hospital, with a cap at twenty-eight days. That’s roughly $325. In the United Kingdom costs are similar. Drug and other treatment costs are covered by their national health systems. These modern countries recognize health care as a right, not a function of employment.
In the debates over the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, Republican Congressman Mo Brooks revealed that repealing the Act:
“…will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool that helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy,” (New Yorker.)
And while other Republican leaders weren’t quite as blunt, they too have shared the view that sick people are at fault, and therefore need to bear the cost. Healthy people shouldn’t have to share so much of the burden.
It’s “all-good” when you’re not sick.
The Trump tax cut will cost the US Government $2.3 trillion of the next ten years. Over those same ten years, the estimated cost of cancer care in the US is $1.25 trillion ( HHS.) At the same time, the US Defense budget is $696 billion for next year alone. We are setting priorities: not building infrastructure, not funding education, and not trying to ease the burden of healthcare. We have cut taxes so even a new Congress or President will have difficulty financing different priorities.
It leaves cancer patients to have bake sales: for life.
My hisband’s family lives in Europe. Healthcare is provided and care for the elderly and disabled is very good. However, they do make tough decisions about how to allocate the care. For example, his mother probably needs knee replacement but they said she’s too old. His father had a brain tumor and they wouldn’t treat it, just offered palliative care. It might be right but there’s no decision making involved. You just take what you get. There’s a long wait for non-emergency procedures. People with money come here for medical care.
….”sick people are at fault, and therefore need to bear the cost. Healthy people shouldn’t have to share so much of the burden”
,” is classic a Republican tactic, divide and conquer.