Lack Of Health Insurance Never Killed Anyone. Except This Guy.
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In 2003, William Koehler of Pittsburgh, Pa. lost his job as an electronics technician. He lost his health insurance, too, but he’d been lucky enough to have the defibrillator battery in his heart changed just the previous year. No insurer would cover him except for one company which refused to cover anything related to his arrhythmia, says his sister.
He survived as long as his battery did, dying on March 7, 2009 at 57. His sister, Georgeanne Koehler, has become an activist, telling the story about how her brother died to anyone who will listen.
36 Responses to “Lack Of Health Insurance Never Killed Anyone. Except This Guy.”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Terrible to go off topic on this very sad post, but I just wanted to say that this is the best look you’ve had in a while, Oliver. Good job.
Now back to misery…
I’m waiting for someone,..anyone to finally take the insurance companies on in a civil suit for denying coverage to critically ill people with “pre-existing conditions.” A price is being put on our lives and somehow its all being ignored. Maybe this poor woman can take up the torch. She has the bonafides with the loss of her loved one.
Pretty soon there won’t anyone left, right????
And this one, from Michael Moore’s homepage.
SaveFarris and Dennis:
This is due to the fluctuation in the free market system! The Insurance companies didn’t want to deny this man coverage and keep taking profits up the waazoo, but they had no choice!
Oh, and President Obama is a Nazi, Liberal, and communist!
Cons think praying will protect them from heart disease, drunk drivers and cancer
Hospital cover, Private VS Public hospitals, Avoiding unexpected costs, Extras cover, Self Insurance, How to Keep premiums low and Carrots and Sticks like the high-income Medicare levy, The ‘Lifetime Health Cover’ scheme and the controversial government rebate on annual health fund premiums.
Legislation via anecdote?
Cool!
If Democrats hadn’t obstructed the Republicans plan to un-tether Health Insurance from employment, this guy wouldn’t have lost his health care when he changed jobs. Which means he wouldn’t have to re-apply with a pre-existing condition.
Which means if Democrats hadn’t stood in the way of progress, this man might still be alive today.
have lost his health care when he changed jobs. Which means he wouldn’t have to re-apply with a pre-existing condition.
He didn’t change jobs, Farris. He lost his job.
Hey, I haven’t checked yet, have you been over to the “rape is a pre-existing condition” thread? I can’t wait to see what lunacy you have going on over there.
I have a son with asthma, a daughter with a heart condition, a husband with a family history of cancer, and recently had my gall bladder removed. If I didn’t have insurance through my employer, enabling me to buy into a group policy, I would never be able to buy insurance at all – for any price.
Yeah, de-coupling insurance from employers is a swell idea.
Yeah, de-coupling insurance from employers is a swell idea.
Indeed. And you’d think more people who actually make the laws would get it:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/american-dreaming-by-digby-i-missed.html
Somehow I don’t think SF had single payer in mind when he suggested it. But you’ve got my vote.
jr – “Cons think praying will protect them from heart disease, drunk drivers and cancer”
And punish everybody else.
Hey, don’t forget baby and grandma killer!
“Pretty soon there won’t anyone left, right????”
There won’t be anyone right, left. The least insured areas are notoriously red state.
Its very sad that losing his insurance resulted in losing his life.
If you lose your job, you can get Medicaid. I am sorry the guy died because he did not know that, and because he didn’t find his way to an ER. These heart – rending stories always surface, when it’s time to push an agenda.
Do, you make these things up as you go along? There was never any such thing!
Frank, what you get if you lose your job is the chance to keep your insurance, by PAYING for it through COBRA. Cobra only lasts for 15 months, and it has very high monthly premiums. In order to qualify for Medicaid you have to be below the poverty level in your state, not collecting unemployment, and not have any assets, ie: house, car, any savings. You have to be completely depleted before anyone will be eligliable for medicaid. And, the “agenda that we are trying to push” comes up because of these heart-rendering stories. Do you keep your heart on ice?
Connie , you are wrong about Medicaid. You can have a job, a bank account, a car, and a house, if you have a chronic ailment, and are demonstrably unable to pay medical expenses. And, my hospital, for example, has a “hardship program”.
You should talk to someone who has been on Medicaid for a while, as I have, if you would like to know how it works.
And I don’t automatically sign on to “institutionalized caring”, or as it is fashionably known: liberalism.
When I pay for it, that’s charity; when everyone else pays for it, that’s liberalism.
Medicaid rules vary by state, what is true in Frank’s state may not be true in PA.
You’re welcome, Frank.
You should talk to someone who has been on Medicaid for a while, as I have, if you would like to know how it works.
…
When I pay for it, that’s charity; when everyone else pays for it, that’s liberalism.
A lovelier example of irony and self-delusion you’d be hard pressed to find.
The depth of hypocrisy among Republicans is staggering. Government hand-out for me is good, for anyone else it’s bad.
When I pay for it, that’s charity; when everyone else pays for it, that’s liberalism.
“When I pay for it” means when it is my contribution, because I voluntarily pay it to some one.
“When everyone else pays for it” means when I pretend it’s free, like nationalized one – payer healthcare or a stimulus check, paid by everyone else (but me), that’s liberalism.
Sorry that was too subtle for you guys, eh?
Remember : YOU’RE the guys who think you can get money for nothing, not the conservatives…
Says the guy currently getting something for nothing.
Frank, everyone pays into the pot that your Medicaid comes from, including you. As would be the case in single payer – which isn’t on the table – or the public option, which is. It’s all of our contributions, we’d just like it to provide for everyone, and not just the few who qualify for Medicaid.
And again, you’re welcome.
Jaim, I pay for my Medicaid. Yet another case of you making up stuff about which you know nothing.
And, abanterer , I pay plenty for my Medicaid, AND I worked over 30 years contributing to Social Security, so I am not thanking you for anything.
But I did spend 4 years in the Army protecting your right to be a wiseass, so YOU’RE welcome.
Actually, everyone in America pays for your Medicaid.
And I’m not opposed to that, but only to your hypocrisy.
No, Jaim, I pay …
I pay ….
Not “everyone in America”
I pay…
It’s called a ‘spend down’, you ignoramus!
If you can’t respect your elders, respect your betters.
You do realize how Medicare works, right? Taxpayers put money from their paychecks into a pool over time. When people draw from that pool they don’t do so on a dollar per dollar basis. You’re basically getting subsidized health-care based theoretically on how much you put in over the years, along with everyone else. But the money you put in 30 years was spent a long time ago. The health-care you’re getting now is being paid for by those currently putting into the system.
Otherwise we wouldn’t have to worry about Social Security going empty in the coming decades.
“If you can’t respect your elders, respect your betters.”
Better at hypocrisy, yes, but not much else.
Jaim, you nincompoop, I don’t get Medicare; I get Medicaid. Worse at reading, and most everything else.
“But the money you put in 30 years was spent a long time ago. The health-care you’re getting now is being paid for by those currently putting into the system.
Otherwise we wouldn’t have to worry about Social Security going empty in the coming decades.”
LOL,
And this differs from what Madoff did just exactly how? Ponzi schemes are wrong unless the right people are running them.
And this differs from what Madoff did just exactly how? Ponzi schemes are wrong unless the right people are running them.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Your modern Republican party!
LOL,
The right people running them is supposed to be ironic, sorry that went over your head.
“everyone in America pays for your Medicaid”
Well, yeah, he probably should’ve said “every tax-paying American pays for your Medicaid…”
“If you lose your job, you can get Medicaid.”
Would’ve been way more accurate to add “if you meet the eligibility requirements of your state”