Three hospitals in Colorado have announced that they will forgive the medical bills of the victims of the Aurora, Colo., mass shooting. A kind gesture. These individuals suffered serious gunshot wounds, and many will be left with lifelong disabilities. It seemed like this was enough suffering for these individuals and their families to endure.
These hospitals may forgive the bills of the victims of the shootings, but the care these patients received is anything but free. Teams of critical care nurses, trauma surgeons, physical therapists, and many others were there, and are always ready to handle victims of falls, crashes—and even mass shootings. The readiness of this team is a key part of the health care infrastructure.
It is safe to assume that the same day the shootings occurred, dozens of other people also utilized the services these three hospitals provide. Chances are that some have cancer, others heart disease, some may have neurologic disorders robbing them of the ability to think, to walk, to talk. These people did as much to cause their suffering as the victims of the shooting. But these individuals will not see their bills forgiven. Instead, innumerable bills will head their way. The worrisome letters from the insurance companies will arrive, possibly denying payment for all or part of their care. Some of these families will be taking out loans to pay the bills, a few will go bankrupt, others sell or foreclose on their homes. Hard not to think of this as kicking people when they’re down: If such patients become too ill to continue working, they may then lose their health care coverage at the very time they need it most, and their family members may become uninsured as well if they are included in the policy.
In every other developed country, major financial burdens are never imposed on individuals who take ill, and there is no country where loss of employment will lead anyone to end up without health insurance. Instead, the health care infrastructure is viewed as an essential resource.
This is what single payer health care is about. We all pay in when we’re well to support the health care infrastructure that will be there to care for us when we’re sick. To many Americans, this sounds utopian. But this pretty much describes the structure of health care financing in nearly every other developed country. And this is why their single payer health care systems are viewed as an essential benefit of civilized society. Not only is every citizen cared for when they’re sick, but these systems are far less costly compared to the complicated morass of a health care system we are forced to put up with here in the United States.
We’ve heard scare tactics against single payer health care for so long, that it must have come as a surprise to many Americans when one of the main highlights of the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games in London was a tribute to the British National Health Service. The idea of an American Olympics holding a tribute to our health insurance system would be viewed by any American as laughable.
So let’s have Vermont lead the way on single payer health care. Maybe the effort here in Vermont will be the first step toward America joining the rest of the developed world in creating a single payer health care system. Perhaps the way the shooting victims were treated in Colorado will be an inspiration. Caring for our neighbors. It’s a matter of basic decency.
Marvin Malek is an internist practicing at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin.