19 October 2015

Another reason why we need national single-payer health care

Sloan McGillis, a seven-month-old in Missoula, has a huge tumor on her face. Fortunately, it’s operable and will be removed at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York in January.

Unfortunately, her parents may be stuck with 100 percent of a six-figure hospital bill — even though they have health insurance. They’re what’s known as out of network:

Lenox Hill doesn’t accept Sloan’s Montana Medicaid insurance, and it isn’t worth the hospital going through the application process to become a provider for a single patient, Jenny [Sloan’s mother] said.

“No matter what happens, the surgery is happening,” she said.

Jenny and her husband have already filed for financial aid through the doctor and hospital, but don’t know what they will receive, if anything. Right now, the cost will be coming out-of-pocket.

While the family has yet to see an estimate, Jenny said the procedure will likely cost more than $100,000. That’s on top of the travel and lodging costs of a 12-day stay in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

This situation is unjust. It’s cruel. It’s stupid. And it’s not necessary. There’s a better way, what I call American Care: an everyone covered for everything, national single-payer system financed by progressive taxation, what Bernie Sanders might call Super Medicare.

Hillary Clinton would call it unrealistic and impractical. She’s never supported single-payer health care. And she never will. Not even if Obamacare, which is a variant of her beloved Hillarycare, leads to a medical bankruptcy for Sloan McGillis’ parents.