Drugs are flowing today, on what should be Kurt's last long day of chemo in August. He'll get a quick shot next Friday, and then be on his way to Montana for three weeks. I have to say, as much as I love these nurses, I don't mind disappearing from this place for a few weeks. We are still waiting to get the full game plan for the fall -- waiting for the docs at UMD, NIH, and Hopkins to get organized and make their recommendations for next steps.
I'm a little spooked this morning -- if you have a moment, check out this opinion piece: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574306693989102298.html
I've tried (sort of) to avoid making this blog a political screed, but honestly, some of these health care proposals are so frightening. That WSJ piece was just chilling to me -- the British NICE board that is mentioned has denied Erbitux as not cost-effective....the very drug that Kurt has done so well with. That's the scary thing - decisions about treatments are being made in England and other countries based on aggregate data and averages. There is no room for outliers. But sometimes, those outliers happen. If you were in our shoes, wouldn't you want the chance? Should the government stand between you and a shot at survival?
I really struggle with the complexity of health care issues. When Kurt was diagnosed last September, we were on COBRA coverage from my government job, carried over from when I left in May to take the summer off. What if we had decided to save the money? It was just four months, after all...we had thought about skipping it, but ultimately decided to play it safe. Thank God we did -- but there really are millions of young people without coverage. I can only imagine the awfulness of being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and making life or death decisions based on limited resources. On the other hand, my government health care didn't cover clinical trials -- too expensive. But that clinical trial has been amazing for Kurt -- we had to wait until my private insurance kicked in, but at least we had the chance. That is what scares me the most -- when Congress legislates, it does so in the aggregate. Individual cases are too numerous to factor in to national decision-making -- they just need to get the bulk of the issue resolved. But health care is about individuals, and what is good for the majority might cause massive problems for small sectors of the population, lives that are just as valuable as those in the majority.
I'm relieved that this issue is being delayed until the fall. Nothing about this issue is simple, and Congress needs to take its time. I'm interested to hear what others think -- Kurt and I talk about this almost every day.
3 comments:
Wow. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't delved into this debate much...but after reading the article to which you referred us, I'm on it. Wow. I just can't even sum it up, but what you said "scary" is just that.
I'll spread the word. Hope today went well.
Yes, more of us are waking up to the disaster government health care would be. We must encourage all to seek out their congressmen, especially before fall session, and stop this waste of money and destruction of the best health care system in the world.
Jim and I both COBRA'd when we moved from Carson City to DC 4 years ago, and it is several hundred dollars a month, and you really think about it, well maybe I don't need to spend that money, but then you do because you're risk adverse and not completely broke. BUT if you are 23 and completely broken, then you probably don't COBRA. When Jim was clerking in Carson City, one of the outgoing clerks when he came in had COBRA'd and his wife ended up having a very early delivery, and their baby was in the NICU for about 4 months, so you just never know when you will need major care(he's a healthy 5 year old now BTW). You really want treating physicians in conjunction with informed patients making treatment decisions, not government boards who work off of heartless statistics.
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