Sad but effective - death due to "LOC" (lack of coverage) in your local obituaries

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I think we have to pull out some different tactics in our fight for health care.

I propose that every single person who dies in the future who does not have health coverage has noted in their obit or death notice the initials LOC which will be understood to mean Lack of Coverage. I hope their friends and families will do this in order to give their deaths additional meaning in our communal battle for survival.

If this became a nationwide movement, then possibly people would become aware that the people dying from lack of coverage are NOT faceless unknowns - they are your neighbors, your friends, your family and your co-workers. Most Americans are truly ignorant of the preventable deaths occurring every single day, if only the person had had access to affordable, accessible healthcare.

Could we do this?

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. I love this idea!

Would it violate privacy laws though? Also, if they left no next-of-kin in the know, how would we know?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. So have the ill person sign off before death

"I give permission for the initials "LOC" to be used in any published notice of my death in any medium."

I would like to be at the next campaign stop of an asshole like Boehner (or any Republican or Blue Dog for that matter) and ask the question - "Do you know what the initials LOC stand for? Did you happen to read that 50 obits in Cleveland today used this notice? Does the preventable deaths of 50 Ohians mean ANYTHING to you?".

Shame can be a powerful weapon.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. I will join you in that. I'm a foot soldier not a leader though.

Thanks for the excellent idea!

[undeterred]

4. A very close friend of mine died in 2000 from LOC.

She lost her coverage when she went through a divorce. She put off going through a workup for abdominal pain until it was really bad... she had stage 4 ovarian cancer and died at age 42 a couple of months after her diagnosis. If she'd had health insurance she would not have postponed seeking care.

[lonestarnot]

5. A most excellent idea. But aren't those in paper print ie newspapers and aren't all those going

broke and disappearing?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. How about a website? It would be like the AIDS quilt. A memorial that could change

how we look at something deeper and broader than we could possibly realize.

People could make memorial pages for people they lost through LOC.

(As WELL as the newspaper obits, not in place of. Traditional media is still how many get their dose of reality.)

[bobbolink]

11. Grayson has the website. You can add people there.

What would be effective is a big (half or full page) add in your local paper.

It shouldn't be hard to get donations for that.

Better than a collection jar for surgery at the local 7-11.

[arthritisR_US]

6. great idea and it could be done. If they can record the numbers who die

from lack of care then there must be some way of tracking them while they are still alive. Contact the researchers to find out their tracking methods.

[Canuckistanian]

7. It's a good idea

It's almost like a new class of disease. And, with about 45,000 victims a year, it deserves to be recognized as a major cause of human death in America.

It's pretty sad, actually.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. Morning kick!

I wish this had occurred to me when the "debate" was just beginning. But, it sounds to me that insurance, even WITH reform may be out of the affordable reach of many. This could still be a good tool if the reform we get is inadequate to our needs - a bandaid on a gaping wound.

WHY can't they just do the right thing the first time and pass Medicare For All who want it?:cry:

[mdmc]

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