The True Faces of American Healthcare: Part one in an original video series
In the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick.
– President Barack Obama
Let’s leave the partisan politics out of the health care debate for a moment. It is cynical, tiresome and is doing untold damage to American civic society and our capacity for constructive, democratic discourse. Let’s return, instead, to President Obama’s essential point as he put it early in his address to Capitol Hill last week. To paraphrase:
In this, the wealthiest and most powerful of countries, it is a civic and moral corruption of the highest order every time someone goes broke because of an illness.
How we get to the point where that no longer happens is non-essential. That we get there is. This debate should only have ever been about the individuals and families who suffer and go bankrupt each day because of our broken health care system, and about how to stop that from happening.
In that spirit, I thought it important to help re-focus, in whatever small way possible, the content of the debate on those most affected by our health care system: it isn’t Obama, it isn’t Max Baucus, it isn’t Jim DeMint or Barney Frank or Joe Wilson. They all have good coverage and plenty of money. It’s you and me.
So let’s look for a moment at the real faces of this health care debate — those who, every day, lose coverage, go into debt, or are denied coverage for grave illnesses because of a dysfunctional and immoral status quo.
Last week, I drove about three and-a-half hours south to the Ohio River to visit 62-year-old Willard “Greg” Jones in Evansville, Indiana — boyhood home of Don Mattingly, Indiana’s third-largest city, and real-world location for the fictional setting of the late 80s / early 90s sitcom, Roseanne.
Jones worked for Krieger-Ragsdale & Co., a local printer, for 41 years before being laid-off in 2007, at which point he signed on for COBRA insurance. Having faithfully made monthly payments to Krieger-Ragsdale, which, in turn, was supposed to pay his insurer, Jones went the hospital for over a week in November, 2008, to be treated for kidney failure.
Later, after Krieger-Ragsdale went bankrupt, Jones learned that he had not, in fact, been covered while in the hospital, despite making regular payments. Despite his efforts to rectify the situation, Jones was informed that the burden was his to bear, not the company that was supposed to have a handle on his insurance. As far as Jones can tell, the monthly premiums he paid — to the tune of $350 a month — have simply disappeared. But the $40,000 bill for his time in the hospital is all his.
In addition to his own medical expenses, his wife, who currently suffers from stage-4 cancer, has medical bills of her own. Together, at an age when they should be thinking of retirement, the couple faces a future darkly obscured by instability, debt and disease.
Jones was a kind, soft-spoken man, living in a modest home in a very modest subdivision outside Evansville. He worked hard at the same company for 41 years. He does not live beyond his means and has never asked for a handout. He’s a real-life, unassuming man who has played by the rules. Now he may have to dissolve his 401k and mortgage his house to pay for medical services that saved his life, and should have been covered by his insurer.
Whichever party is to blame in this fraud — be it his former employer, the company insurer, or the local prosecutors who have refused thus far to press charges — Jones’ troubles are the rotten fruits of a diseased system.
The time for reform is now.
Jones is hardly alone. Over the next several weeks, I hope to explore more stories like his through this series of short videos. Last night I shot an interview with an ex-professional skateboarder who was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Despite being generally satisfied with the coverage he obtained, he currently faces $36,000 in debt for the cost of his medication — a figure that rises $2,000 each month.
I hope to have it edited and posted by next week. Stay tuned.
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Austin – really great piece. Has Mr. Jones found legal help to help him deal with this?
Austin… Your words and video tell a powerful story. Removing the politics really brings it all home in a disturbing, yet important, way.
Austin – I took a look. The company he worked for filed for bankruptcy i October, 2008. As of April of this year, the bankruptcy was still open. As this appears to have been a large company, the case might still be active. It’s really important that Mr. Jones find out if the case is open so that he can attempt to file a claim for his bills in the bankruptcy court. If he hasn’t done this already, he should not waste a moment doing this. Also, what is his aage?
Also- its very unusual for someone with a stage IV cancer to have a condition that goes on for years. IF she has been on disability for a couple of years because of this, she might qualify for Medicare. At the very least, if neither of them are able to work, they might be able to enroll in Medicaid. I wonder if they’ve really looked into their possibilities?
Hey, Rick, thanks for the positive feedback.
As for your questions, they’re good ones — questions that I wouldn’t even know how to begin to answer. I’d be happy to put him in touch with you if you think you might be able help him in any way.
Just let me know.
In response to another comment. See in context »Outstanding job Austin, thanks for sharing this, you should send a copy of this link to the White House.
It is really very interesting and more informative article. The video is explaining more. Thanks
Thank you Austin, for that. I am very much looking forward to the next video.
One small recommendation (take it or leave it, of course) is that you lower the volume of the music slightly in the next video (or raise the level of the voice)- it was a bit distracting and sometimes difficult to hear him speak.
I think what you are doing is very important. Putting a face on an issue- that’s when it really hits home.
- Astri
Thanks for the support and for the constructive criticism, Astri. I agree that, particularly at the end, I think the music is mixed a little too loud.
God, I had so many audio issues with this thing. It actually would have been posted days ago had the audio not posed so many problems. I’m hoping things go a little more smoothly on the next one!
In response to another comment. See in context »Austin I’d be happy to help them if I can. You have my number and email. Feel free to pass it along to Mr. Jones.
Fantastic piece. I am forwarding it on to family and friends.
Great project, Austin. These are the voices that aren’t currently being heard in the debate.
This video really moved me. I posted it on my facebook page. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks, Jared. I’m hoping next week’s will be even better. Now that I know the response to this first one has been pretty good, it’s really motivating me for the next one…
In response to another comment. See in context »Great stuff — keep it up!
Audio impossible to understand. Broken and whispery = ??????
Great music. Great interview. I would never think of this guy as someone who has a political agenda, just a guy who got screwed by his employer and deserves good health care as much as anyone else.
Thanks for doing this series. It’s an issue that should be important to everyone. The health of a nation’s citizens has far-reaching effects. Disease and poor health will cost us much more down the road if we don’t get a grip on things now. And “selecting” who gets health care and who doesn’t is only going to make matters worse. It’s ridiculous that this debate has become simply a matter of politics to so many people.
Don’t people realize their lives can change in a second? They could be this guy next month, or next week or tomorrow. There but for the grace of God . . .
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I agree the system is broken, but I don’t agree that “How we get to the point where that no longer happens is non-essential.”
DW is right, a person’s life can change in an instant and I’d like to think we could fix this with the motivation being compassion, but I fear the problem is much bigger than simply putting programs in place.
This man is not so much a victim of a broken healthcare system as a victim of greed and “looking out for number one.”
“If the world was as it should be, maybe I could get some sleep.”
I can say with certainty, however, you did a great job on this.
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[...] Considene has taken it upon himself to document the true faces of healthcare by way of creating videos of real people and the problems they face. As he explains it, So [...]