My brother, Eric
Posted on September 2nd, 2009 by Veronica De La Cruz in Insurance Nightmares
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I want to tell you about my only sibling, my brother Eric De La Cruz.
Diagnosed with Severe Dilated Cardiomyopathy five years ago and in need of a heart transplant, my brother Eric passed away far too early this July 4th. All because the health care insurance system in the United States is broken.
You see, unlike most of us (but like millions of others), Eric couldn't get private insurance. His employer didn't offer it as a benefit. And his heart condition, while treatable, was a pre-existing condition that no private insurers would cover. Sadly, there was no affordable, public option to protect Eric. So he remained excluded from the basic right to life-saving treatment that all people deserve. Although a heart transplant would save him, without coverage, Eric's condition needlessly and slowly deteriorated.
People don't realize how vulnerable they are to the devastating costs - both in dollars and in human life - of an insurance industry concerned with one thing: profit. As a TV journalist and correspondent, I've enjoyed a public platform few have, but when it came to the health and well-being of my family, I'm as susceptible as everyone else. Despite a national online campaign and celebrity fund-raising that amassed nearly $1 million, and emotional and political support from thousands of strangers, Eric couldn't beat this broken system. If it can happen to us, with all of THAT support, it truly can happen to anyone. In fact, sadly, it IS happening to thousands all over the country right now.
After Eric's death, I went to Washington this August. I met in the offices of many Senators and Representatives to ask why there is even a debate about passing a strong health care reform bill that would provide all Americans with affordable, guaranteed health care coverage - a bill that would help control the spiraling health care costs that are bankrupting countless families and forcing people to choose between their money and their lives.
Everyone on Capitol Hill was sympathetic to Eric's story, and most were supportive of legislation including a strong public option, but few seem convinced the American people would lean hard enough on Congress to make sure it happened. We must convince them now.
In fighting for Eric's life, thousands of people joined forces to get him on Medicare, get him into a transplant facility and raise enough money to pay for his treatment. He just ran out of time. But the clock has not stopped for you.
Though Eric has passed away, he has not been silenced. Your voice can make the difference. By simply clicking on the link below, you'll help ensure what happened to Eric doesn't happen to your friend, your brother, your neighbor…or you.
Please don't forget your insurance can disappear when you least expect it, because insurance companies CAN rescind policies. If you get sick and don't have insurance now, insurance companies CAN deny you coverage for a pre-existing condition. If you get sick tomorrow, your life can be turned upside down because of your failing health AND runaway medical bills that can force you into bankruptcy. I know you think this could never happen to you. But it can. It happened to us.
We need to get a simple message to Senators: Join with the majority of Americans to support an affordable public option to lower costs, keep insurance companies honest and include everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions or income.
Help put a stop to these injustices.
Fight to make a difference, not just for you, but for future generations.
Thank you.
Reblogged. Keep working — you're making a difference!
I was there at the rally! My cousin Joy Just lost her Health Care from New York! She is working as a substitute teacher in Nevada, so now she has no health Care! She had LCIS, which is cancer in the Breast, a fore runner to actual Breast cancer!!!! She needs her medicines and an MRI! I am so worried for her! She has lots of other Medical issues, but cannot afford them! Blue-Cross-Blue Shield cancelled her policy from her job in New York, and when she asked them if they could continue her coverage if she payed them something, they said NO! You have too many pre-existing conditions! It's unbelievable! Why is it that we are the only country in the West, that fails to provide good health Care for all their citizens? It deplorable! It's shameful! Having good Health care for everyone does NOT make you socialistic or Communistic! Not having it makes us look selfish and uncaring to the rest of the world!
Health care in the United States has become a luxury that fewer and fewer people can afford. And while it bankrupts families, delays medical treatment (until it becomes much more expensive), squeezes business and, in cases like Eric's, takes lives needlessly, it is horrifying to see not only our leaders in Congress use it as a political football, but also to see the American public get caught up in all of the biased rhetoric out there.
We have a moral obligation, plain and simple, to take care of the basic human rights of all members of our society. I fully support a health care reform bill which outlaws discrimination against those with preexisting conditions, offers a robust public option for all Americans, and lowers the ridiculously high costs of health care in the US compared to other nations.
Eric's case is a prime example of why we need to act now. For those people who have not yet had their insurance taken away, or known a close friend or family member who has had to endure the ordeal of a medical crisis and its subsequent costs, don't worry, your time is probably coming. So be careful what you wish for — if we don't change the system now, it's only going to get much much worse. Now is the time for all citizens to lean as hard as they can on their elected officials to QUICKLY pass a health care reform bill with a public option. Nothing less will truly reform the increasingly exclusive cost increases being driven by the insurance and health care industries in America.
My thoughts and prayers are with the De La Cruz family and I thank them for their courageous efforts in helping make this country a better place for millions of others.
Not only are people dying but the reform foes managed to invert the situation. They claim that the healthcare reform would pull the plug on grandma. But it is them who are puling the plug on people!
It is amazing all of these stupid people who come out to the town hall meetings and scream and act like the heath insurance system is perfect today. Of course, my favorite was the senior who said he didn't want the government involved in his Medicare!
I lost a dear friend around the same time and similar situation.
Taken to a hospital emergency room with a heart attack she was told that there was 10% of her heart left working and that she needed to put money up front if they were going to fix it because she had been unable to get insurance.
When she was unable to come up with the money they kicked her to the street where she died at home the next day.