The troubled healthcare system on full display on Extreme Makevoer: Home Edition.

[ejpoeta]

Last night was a heartwrenching story about the Bell family from Tucson AZ; a family with a daughter with an extremely rare disease which has required her to be in and out of hospitals until she was five, and requires her to receive blood transfusions regularly. It was so sad to hear about how difficult things have been for this family as they watch their house crumble around them... gutting walls and even removing the bathtub because of black mold in the bathroom. Why is this? because they have medical bills to pay and they just can't do both. The father even had to sell his truck to pay off bills... and he didn't get enough to pay them all off.

I am so glad that ABC's show could go in and help this family. They highlighted this girl's hard work in raising awareness about blood donation and her raising money to fill toy boxes for kids having to go through transfusions and other things. The things that this family have had to go through not only trying to get treatment for their daughter, but it's effect on their ability to provide a safe and healthy home environment for her as well.

It immediately made me think of the healthcare situation in this country. I wonder what would happen to this family had the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show not intervened. They even got CVS to foot the bill for $100k in medical bills for the family. How many other families out there struggling to provide care for an ailing child will go bankrupt or lose their child because they don't have access to such interventions?

I can't think of a better reason for a single payer system which would make it so a family like the Bell's would not have to struggle so much trying to deal with the medical costs of a sick child on top of trying to fix an apparent money pit. I try to think of what would happen if either of my children were to become seriously ill, or if this new baby coming soon were to have some disease that would be so financially debilitating. Just the thought that this family has to deal with such financial difficulties while trying to deal with a very serious illness for one of their children!! And what if they didn't even have the ability to afford to take this girl to all this stuff at children's hospitals or getting transfusions!! what then!

I just wanted to bring this up because of how well it illustrates the need for a better system. I can't help but wonder if this family were in one of the countries that has some kind of universal healthcare if they would not be struggling so much financially that they need a tv show to come in and help them. I think it's great that ABC could do this, but are they going to go around and do this for EVERY family struggling with this or something similar??

[area51]

1. K&R

It's insane how people in this country are expected to pay so much in taxes, then watch their taxes go down the drain in endless wars instead of keeping America strong by keeping citizens healthy with something like single-payer.

GingrichCare insurance-at-gunpoint, forcing people to buy insurance from private, for-profit, unregulated insurance agencies is not the answer.

If we aren't a barbaric country, why do we allow 273 people per day to die due to lack of healthcare?

Questions on single-payer healthcare? What is it? Would it bankrupt the U.S.? Would we all have to become commies to get it? Get answers here.