Tammy Alexander writes in PeaceSigns about her experience participating in a health care “house party” in Goshen, Indiana. The discussion was one of at least 8,500 that occurred in December as part of an initiative by President Obama’s transition team. The anecdotes she heard (and contributed) were depressing:
Most everyone at my table raised their hands when asked if they had a family member who lacked health insurance. One man told a story about his sister-in-law who had pancreatic cancer. She had insurance but was close to reaching her lifetime maximum. There were concerns about how her medical costs would affect the insurance premiums of the other employees at the small family business where she worked. I shared a story about my sister who recently suffered a kidney stone. She’s a stay-at-home mom with preexisting health conditions and no affordable insurance options. The hospital forgave the bill, but the physician and diagnostic fees piled up.
The statistics are just as bad:
Half of all bankruptcies in the United States are a result of health-related bills. We are the only industrialized nation not to have some form of universal health care. Currently, 47 million Americans lack health insurance. Another 16 million are underinsured. Health premiums have almost doubled in the past seven years alone.
Tammy’s conclusion:
We must also recognize that there are hard choices to be made.
Is health care a right or a privilege? Is it okay to extend the life of a terminally ill patient by a week or a month if such procedures cost $100,000? One million dollars? How do we deal with lifestyle choices such as smoking and drinking? How do we tackle obesity? What are we willing to do to help bring down costs and make sure everyone has access to basic care? What will happen if we do nothing?
These are hard questions, and we didn’t come up with all of the answers that night in Goshen. But if small groups like these continue to meet and mobilize, and if government officials–and advocates–continue to listen, we’ll get there.
The full article is available on the PeaceSigns website.
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach 
