The Pursuit of Happiness (not the Will Smith movie)

First, let me APOLOGIZE for not being funny in this BLOG. I will be back onto lighter topics and funnier lines next blog.

I don’t know if there is a bigger turn-off right now then hearing the words: Health Care. It’s been 7 or 8 months of debates, presentations, and promises about reform, and the future of health-care in our country.

As many of you know I have some first hand knowledge of our health care system. Not the “get checked up once a year or when I’m injured” system, but the real-deal “I’m sick” health care program. The part of our system that catches you when you are falling fastest, hopefully before you hit the ground. I’m talking about serious health problem, emergency care.

I was diagnosed with cancer, a disease so rampant that doctors predict we will all get some form of, if we live long enough. I don’t claim to know all the ins-and-outs of the health-care system, but I have a pretty good perspective as someone who has been seriously ill. Also, I have never sampled the public systems both lauded and vilified in other civilized nations around the world. I have little to compare our system to. I can tell you that 99% of the care I received seemed to be from professionals on top of their game. Informed, caring, reasonable, people that cared about their jobs and their patient (me). I ran into a couple of people who did not fall into that bracket, but they were the exception, and every profession has it’s bad apples still hanging onto the tree.

My point is that the care I received was top-notch, and the fact that I’m still here attests to that. So do I think things need to change? Yes. Drastically. The problem with our system comes in the payment for the services rendered. The care I have received, and  continue to receive, led me straight to bankruptcy. There was no possible way to keep up with the debts I took on for my care. There were bills for tests, bills for scans, bills for consultations, bills for visits, bills for results, bills for surgeries, bills for anesthetics, bills for medicine, bills for rooms, bills for meals, and bills for many other things. Each one of these bills I attempted to pay, either in full or in payments. Many were paid off. Many weren’t. I contacted all the providers (and collectors once they started calling) to negotiate a monthly payment. Those that were open to it at all, were not open to the small amount I was able to pay each month. They told me $25 or $50 a month was not enough. I explained that I had over 20 different places that I was trying to set up monthly payments with, and so it was as much as I could pay at that point. Most said to not bother sending anything and referred me to a collections service. If I was already talking to a collections company they reported me to a credit service. With in two years, my previously squeaky-clean, unmarred credit was ruined. My credit had always been a source of pride for me. I was proud to have had made it into my mid-thirties with perfect credit. When friends in the Navy and college were complaining about their poor credit, and debt, I felt responsible to never have so much as a late payment. Now, after 20 years, because I had gotten sick, that was all ruined. I couldn’t get a credit card with a $50 limit if had wanted. I immediately went from no debt to owing tens and tens of thousands of dollars.  And so after trying to keep up with the medical bills for almost 3 years, I went bankrupt.

Now let me share an interesting twist to this all too common story. I HAVE insurance. That’s right. I purchased medical insurance a few years earlier when I left my day job. I had a basic policy with a high-deductible, that was really tailored in case anything terrible went wrong. Which it did. The policy was made for emergencies like this. It even had a provision to give me $10,000 if I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a great policy for my circumstances. Most of the care, and emergency procedures I needed were covered, AND I got ten grand on top of that to help with miscellaneous bills that might arise. About 80% of the bills I accrued were paid by my insurance. Even with this coverage, I was still filing for bankruptcy within 36 months of being diagnosed.

In the United States, over 60% of bankruptcies are related to medical bills. Medical bills, NOT crazy spending. NOT credit card bills for high-priced electronics. Well over half of bankruptcies were because people got sick and couldn’t pay for it. At probably the lowest time of their life, sick people had to be worrying about their financial future, and how they were going to pay their rent.

I am from the mid-west and a bit of a cynic. My wife is from California and a bit more spiritual than I. It’s like “Dharma and Greg” but funnier. She believes stress and your outlook on life affect your health directly.  But no matter what you believe, or hope, or have faith in, you have to agree that the last thing a sick person should be worrying about is how they are going to put food on the table when they get home from the hospital. Or if they can afford the care they are receiving. When a doctor comes in and says another procedure needs to be done, should the sick person’s first question be “Will this heal me” or “Can I afford this.” It’s hard to argue that good health is not promoted by relieving pain and stress, rather than adding to it.

A couple years ago, to make extra money to pay the bills, I helped my friend Rich do transportation for a big Golf event. Near the end, I drove a man and woman to the airport. They worked in the same company but only knew each other slightly. They were Real Estate Sales people and probably made six-figures and had good health insurance from the large company they worked for.  Somehow, universal health care came up in conversation. Despite my unique perspective on the subject I never entered their discussion. They both felt each other out on the sometimes touchy subject, and when it was clear to the man that the woman probably wasn’t 100% FOR a universal plan, he said “It comes down to this: Is Health Care a right or a privilege?” The inference being that as a right, the government should ensure our well-being as citizens, and as a privilege health-care would be our own responsibility.  It was an interesting breakdown of the argument. He then weighed in with, “I think it’s a privilege. The government has no business guaranteeing a person’s well-being.”

I’m amazed looking back that I didn’t drive off the road. Either at the audacity of his comment, or just to hit a tree and have him fly out the window and experience his privilege first-hand. Is there any other role more important to the government than ensuring our well-being? Isn’t this why we spend trillions on wars and defense spending? To ensure we are safe. Isn’t this why we have food, drug and trade commissions making sure consumers are safe. Isn’t this why the government is in charge of police and fire departments to ensure we are safe and well? Isn’t this the reason the government builds and fixes roads—so that we are safe to move around the country? Doesn’t the government fund the prisons that house anyone that might threaten our well-being? It’s hard to think of any purpose or power I would give to the government that doesn’t involve my well-being. I think that is what they are there for.

So do I think it’s a right? I guess so. Thomas Jefferson said we are endowed with certain inalienable rights including Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. I think the health of American citizens definitely falls under life. And I know that many people have had their pursuit of happiness interrupted by a sickness. I know the government can’t stop us from becoming sick, but they can help us limit the impact of that sickness on our pursuit. In my opinion the lack of Health Care for every citizen is the greatest obstacle in the American Dream today. How many people have a dream project, or business that they would like to pursue, but they can’t because they need the security of medical coverage offered by their present employer. How many people would pursue a dream, a plan or even just a job that offered them more time and less stress if they weren’t concerned about losing their health coverage for their family.  We are a country of people scared to pursue our happiness. And worst of all, it’s all an illusion! If a real emergency or long illness comes up, even the stable job with the “good” coverage won’t be enough to permanently damage a family’s financial situation.

I truly don’t see why anyone would not want the security of Universal Health Care. The freedom to know that whatever tragedy comes your family’s way, you will be OK outside of that health concern. That the rest of you and your family’s life, liberty and pursuit of happiness can remain intact. Who doesn’t think that would be better than the fear and piling on we have now?. Here is who: People who work for the companies making lots of money on the present system, People who haven’t had to deal with any real emergency or illness?

The argument I hear most against health care for everyone is that it doesn’t work in other countries. It seems like other countries are pretty happy with their system, as they are not having the arguments we are right now. And most Americans I know that move abroad review the systems favorably. However, let’s move forward with the argument that it isn’t perfect in other countries and that they have problems. When did we lose the American Spirit that we can do things better? That WE can create something better. That WE can take what others have come up with and make it better. We didn’t invent democracy, we made it better. Democracy failed many times before the idea of the United States. But we didn’t say, “Oh, it didn’t work in GREECE, so forget it.”  No, we said, “This is America and we can do it better. We can do it right.”

Healthcare is not a privilege and I believe with our best minds and commitment, America can do it right.

P.S.  A few people have asked about Dying to Do Letterman project…we are in the editing phase right now…hopefully be done by this time next year and at Sundance! updates as they come.