…but if you think about it for even a second it’s a feel-bad story too:
Some of the victims fighting for their lives after being wounded in the movie-theater shooting rampage may face another challenge when they get out of the hospital: enormous medical bills without the benefit of health insurance…. Three of the five hospitals treating victims said Wednesday they will limit or completely wipe out medical bills. Some of the victims, however, still face a long recovery ahead and the associated medical costs—without health insurance.
Three hospitals aren’t going to go after uninsured shooting victims—they’re not going to take them for everything they’re worth, they’re not going to send them to collections, they’re not going to bankrupt them—and that’s good news for the uninsured victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting. But uninsured shooting victims in Colorado who weren’t fortunate enough to get shot in a particular movie theater on a particular night? Those people are still screwed. The same three hospitals being praised for wiping out the medical bills for the uninsured Aurora shooting victims will continue to bankrupt other victims of other shootings. Because that’s how our system works.
And some of the people who might wind up bankrupted? The insured victims of the Aurora theater shooting. Sixty percent of bankruptcies in the US are caused by medical bills and more than 50% of those bankrupted by medical bills actually had health insurance. Take it away, Justin Beiber:
Asked if he wanted to become an American citizen, Bieber made clear his love for Canada—and its health care system. “You guys are evil,” he told the magazine. “Canada’s the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.”
Our system is sick. Still.
Do other families bankrupted by medical tragedies beyond their control get their bills waived? Or does it only count when it ties in with a popular movie and media sensationalism? Can we pretend everyone got cancer from the new Hobbit movie when it comes out? Fuck American health care.