'I have to perform to save my life': Medical bills kept rock legend Dick Dale touring till the end

[Demovictory9]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/03/18/i-have-perform-save-my-life-medical-bills-kept-rock-legend-dick-dale-touring-till-end/?utm_term=.a2c9168ddb75

Tributes have begun popping up online, with many celebrating his distinctive sound. But the musician’s life story was also a constant struggle against health problems — and to pay medical bills. After his first cancer diagnosis in 1965, Dale continued to battle the disease. Up until the end of his life, Dale was explicit that he toured to fund his treatment.

“I can’t stop touring because I will die. Physically and literally, I will die,” he told the Pittsburgh City Paper in 2015. “Sure, I’d love to stay home and build ships in a bottle and spend time with my wife in Hawaii, but I have to perform to save my life.

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“I can’t stop touring because I will die. Physically and literally, I will die,” he told the Pittsburgh City Paper in 2015. “Sure, I’d love to stay home and build ships in a bottle and spend time with my wife in Hawaii, but I have to perform to save my life.


Dale continued grinding out concerts on the road despite his health problems — which also included diabetes, renal failure and vertebrae damage that made being onstage excruciatingly painful — because of medical bills. Even with insurance, the cost of buying bags and patches for his colostomy bag and other treatments required Dale to perform live. Touring was his only source of income.


“I have to raise $3,000 every month to pay for the medical supplies I need to stay alive, and that’s on top of the insurance that I pay for,” Dale told the Pittsburgh City Paper. “The hospital says change your patch once a week. No! If you don’t change that patch two times a day, the fecal matter eats through your flesh and causes the nerves to rot and they turn black, and the pain is so excruciating that you can’t let anything touch it."

However, Dale approached the painful hamster wheel of playing live with an optimistic philosophy.

By opening up about his problems and the financial concerns keeping him on the road, Dale felt he was connecting with his audience in a unique way. Up on the stage, Dale was not some billionaire rocker who had a bank account deep enough to keep the effects of aging at bay, like a Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger.


Dale was fighting to keep going, just like his fans.

“It’s not ‘Oh, I’m suffering down here and you’re having a good time up there.,'" Dale told Billboard. “I can tell ‘em how much g----- pain I’m going through ‘up there.’ I let them know: I’ve got the same crap you’ve got.”

[IronLionZion]

1. RIP, Rock in Peace

[Botany]

2. What a really rotten system we have.

n/t

[denvine]

3. For being the richest country in the world,

we sure do suck when it comes to taking care of our people.

[trotsky]

4. Hey now, rich folks need their tax cuts.

Once we have given them enough, then it will trickle down to the rest of us. They promise. /s

[Recursion]

13. The NHS would have done the same thing

They would have said: "we will pay for dialysis", which he didn't want to do.

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. And yet Agent Orange

filed for bankruptcy how many times so he could keep scamming the system?

[Codeine]

8. Your post confused the heck outta me

because in this context my brain immediately assumed you were referring to the old surf punk band Agent Orange. Here’s them covering the surf rock classic “Pipeline”.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. lol

Sorry for the confusion.

[FakeNoose]

6. R.I.P. Dick Dale

There's a new rock star in heaven. Thanks for your awesome music!

[blm]

7. A true guitar 'hero'. And one helluva REAL human being.

.

[forthemiddle]

10. Now on to the obvious question

It appears he is 81 years old, why is he not covered by Medicare, and if he is what does that say about Medicare For All?

[area51]

11. Proposed M4A bills

fix problems with Medicare.

[Recursion]

12. Medicare would only pay for dialysis

He wanted a more experimental treatment.

[forthemiddle]

14. That makes more sense

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Wow how sad

He was an amazing musician

[central scrutinizer]

16. Pipeline

[link:https://m.

|

[Cetacea]

18. I don't believe that people know how expensive Medicaire can be

Twenty percent co-pays...