Americans died because they couldn't afford health care

See this link for a bunch of examples of people who died because they couldn't afford health care. Some are from people whose friend or family died because they couldn't afford health care. Some are from health care professionals who see many cases.

https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-Americans-who-actually-die-because-they-cant-afford-healthcare

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Catlin Horn, Lead gamer in a family of gamers.
Answered May 26

F**k, yes. And I am adding my answer because I don’t want anyone thinking that only 80 people had examples of this happening, which is what the count was at when I saw it.

I watched my brother die from brain cancer at the age of 27. Literally. I was there with him when he took his last breath and ceased to be a living person. Just me and him in my parents’ living room at 5 in the morning on a Thursday. September 25, 2014.

Just a few weeks before, his doctor had told him that there was some hope in a new treatment of some kind at Johns Hopkins. He wanted to refer my brother there. My brother nodded, and said, “They won’t take me.” His doctor said he would have a call made to arrange it. Someone from his office made the call while they waited. Went back to talk to the doctor. Came back, smiling tightly. Made another call. His doctor came out, got on the phone. Anger. Disbelief. His doctor could not believe that Johns Hopkins would refuse to give a chance to a 27 year old man, healthy except for a f**king brain tumor, because he was on Medicaid. He had no health insurance, because he couldn’t work. He couldn’t work because he had a brain tumor. Before it was diagnosed, he’d been going to school while holding down 2 part-time jobs.

Yes. People die in the United States of F**king America because they have no health insurance.

Oh, and by the way, I don’t have more recent data, but in 2012, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System president Ronald Peterson had base pay of $1.2 million with a bonus of more than $450,000, according to disclosure forms. Total pay for top executives at Maryland hospitals and health systems

Pretty sure he doesn’t have to worry about not getting treated if he needs health care.

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Dixie L. Davis, Constitutional scholar
Answered May 20

Wow.

Really?

Of COURSE!

Many, many, many. Before the ACA, there were millions of Americans without health insurance, who also could not afford to see a doctor. Since I live in Texas, a state that does not participate in the Medicaid exchange, I still know lots of people who don’t have health insurance. One is my friend who has a 7 cm growth on her ovary. She was stricken by intense pain, and went to the ER. Because she left work to go to the ER, she was fired. (Yes, really. Texas is a Right-to-Work state, and your employer can fire you for just about anything. I’ve been fired because I had “too many” doctors appointments.)

At the ER, she was diagnosed with the large growth on her ovary and discharged with a 3 day prescription for pain killers, and instructions to see a specialist.

Which she can’t afford to see, especially since she doesn’t have health insurance, and now doesn’t even have a job.

She has been to 2 or 3 other ERs, including the county ER, when the pain got too bad. Each time, same thing. “See a specialist.”

My friend, aged 28, will likely die of ovarian cancer. (We’re not sure if it’s malignant or not, because no one will see her to do anything about it.)

Emergency rooms do not “provide health care”. They stabilize you, make sure you won’t die immediately upon discharge, and send you home.

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