Affordable Healthcare

Last night I came face to face with one of the big challenges of our generation. It wasn’t theoretical - it was real. Uninsured families. A childhood friend who I have known since I was 3 years old, invited me to dinner so that I could see his Mom. She was visiting from back east for the first time since she lost her husband last spring. I’ve know them 55 years and it was a belated condolence call for me, which never gets any easier no matter how many people I’ve lost personally or who I have known to pass on.

Although I’d seen my friend recently, I hadn’t seen his Mom and it brought back terrific memories of good times we shared on Long Island with my parents. It reminded me of the music and laughs which flowed through our home.

At one point I made a comment about the very tasty sweet wine that was being served at this Friday night Shabbat meal. The conversation turned to my friend’s blood sugars, his elevated triglyceride levels and the fact that neither he, nor his wife or son, who was away at college, had health insurance. My friend is 55 and his Dad had diabetes. He’s never had a colonoscopy, does not get annual check-ups and does not have an interest to do anything for his own health. I could feel his mother sitting next to me, exhaling slowly, listening to a conversation that must be difficult to have with a son who is a Wharton school graduate and very smart. Too smart.

The conversation then turned to the huge expense it would take to cover the entire family for a man working two separate jobs as a high level accountant, sometimes getting only 3 hours of sleep a night. He was still having trouble making ends meet enough to send his son to college and wasn’t able to afford health insurance for his family.

I had no response. I was speechless. This is reality. Not mine but the reality of the real world. I just told him that he had to get a physical. That so many diseases, when diagnosed early, were very treatable. He is in that age group, over 50 when you just need to be more proactive. There must be a way to get an internist for a reasonable cost to do a complete physical and check any problem areas.

There was a whole conversation about how he used to get a physical from the life insurance companies but how that has changed now that he has life but no medical. It was upsetting for me. I thought that maybe I should help him find a way to pay for it. What about everyone else that is sitting at home waiting for a time bomb to go off and not prepared to go anywhere to take care of it?

I said something about it seeming reasonable to set up a physical for about $250-$300 and he asked if the colonoscopy would be thrown in with that. I could not understand how such a smart guy could be so ignorant about a procedure that could save a life if administered in time. Yes there is another argument about many of these preventative procedures being over prescribed but I believe it’s commonly accepted that when you reach 50 you have one. What about checking your prostate once a year? It’s simple and can prevent a bunch of anguish down the line.

How do you educate a population of educated people, much less uneducated people, about their best interests regarding health? Because if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. If you wait too long, you may not be able to do anything about it. We need universal healthcare that’s affordable, accessible and of good quality. This is a social priority.