Saturday, April 20, 2013

Coffee Can Healthcare System - Part 1

By Jeff Simpson

Despite the fact that we have passed the biggest most comprehensive health care reform of our lifetime in Obamacare, our health care system is still a mess.   Walk in any store in any small town in the US, and there will be a change jar, trying to help a community member raise money to pay their devastating medical bills.   

Unfortunately there is nothing on the horizon that makes us think that this will get better anytime soon.  The democrats unwilling to take up the 14 month fight again, are completely happy resting on the laurels of Obamacare.

The republicans realizing that people want and need health care reform have two goals in mind, repeal the success of President Obama and privatize as much as possible.   

As a cancer survivor, I know that the last thing you want to deal with, while going through a major medical trauma is "how will I pay the bills."!  

In order to help these people who are in so desperate need of it, and to highlight how bad our healthcare system is, I have decided to start a new series here at CogDis.   Please feel free to email me any fundraisers, etc...  you know if in your community where people are banding together to help a friend/family member pay their medical bills.  We will post and publicize the event for you!  

Email the information(or any other comments, complaints, stories you think we should cover) to

jeffcogdis@yahoo.com

I will start us out with this sad, typical yet disgusting story:

 In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, Jeff Bauman’s image was seared into the American consciousness. An extremely graphic photo of Bauman being escorted in a wheelchair with most of his legs blown off quickly went viral. Bauman’s stock rose even further after reports surfaced that he had looked into the eyes of one of the bombing suspects minutes before the explosion, and that the moment he awoke from emergency care, he gave law enforcement critical information that substantially narrowed their field of suspects. But while police continue to scour the streets for at-large suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 27-year-old Bauman is scouring the internet for donations to help pay for his outsized medical bills.

Bauman’s friends created the page “Bucks For Bauman!” on the gofundme.com crowdfunding service. The money raised through donations to the site are meant to help Jeff and his family pay the exorbitant costs of his surgeries, ongoing medical care, and physical therapy. Since Tuesday, when the site was launched, Americans from across the country have poured in $158,294 in donations — over half of the overall $300,000 goal.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Jeff DOES have health care, through our his employer and our friends at COSTCO(Thank goodness he doesn't work at Sam's club).    The problem is the bills are overwhelming!

Not only does Bauman have employer-sponsored health coverage through Costco — the company “is also matching donations made by colleagues at the chain’s Nashua location,” according to a more recent Globe article from Friday. Bauman is being forced to raise funds despite this assistance due to the extraordinarily high costs associated with the amount of current and ongoing care that he requires.

Thank and support Costco and you can help Jeff out by donating  - here!  












1 comment:

  1. All the more reason for Single Payer Universal Healthcare. No more need to beg.

    ReplyDelete