(CNN) — Americans worry m
(CNN) — Americans worry more about how to pay for cancer treatment than dying from the illness, a new survey found. The survey, conducted by the nonprofit organization Community Oncology Alliance, found that fewer than half of Americans surveyed think their insurance plans would cover the full cost of cancer treatment. Only 25 percent think Medicare would provide for the full cost of cancer treatment. Sixty-nine percent of Americans surveyed said they were very concerned about paying for cancer treatment, while 68 percent said they were very concerned about dying from cancer.
Of course Americans are more concerned about paying for cancer than dying from it; death comes but once, bills come every month. Who wouldn’t rather just get it over with? To keep having to fight and struggle and suffer through the pain and discomfort, the hair-pulling and degradation of dealing with insurance companies, who would want to live through that?
Plus, there is no shame in dying of cancer. Plenty of people do that every day. But the embarrassment of not being able to meet your medical payments, of having to borrow from others, of having to lose all that you’ve worked for; that is a humiliation too heavy for any one person to bear.
A funeral is a one-time flat fee, but treatment can go on forever. Or at least a lot longer. Who can predict how many chemicals a specific patient will have to be injected with before the damn thing’ll just go away? It could be a ton. It could be a whole long, drawn-out process. Plus all the pills and drips and wigs, that stuff adds up. Not to mention the unforeseen charges, hidden set-backs, or, god forbid, increased returns. It’s never-ending. At least with a funeral you know what you’re paying for.
And let’s say it works. The only thing more expensive than cancer is a cure. Because, if you make it out of the hospital, you’re only being wheeled out into a whole other set of worries. When you return to the real world of resplendent health it’s not like all your other costs have gone away. A mortgage takes a breath for no man. Plus, you probably won’t have been putting much money into savings while lying around in bed, so you’re going to have to work hard to re-stock that. And in this economy.
The only thing scarier than death is not being able to pay your taxes. We can all deal with never breathing again, but being broke is a much harder pill to swallow. Or, in more mixed metaphors, people are more afraid to be broke than to fix it. We, the people, would rather be dead than in debt.
Do you realize the implications of this? This means that we don’t need to revamp the health care system in this country. We just need to get rid of it. The people are saying they’d rather get sick and die than be saved. So why do we need doctors meddling in their affairs? Why are we forcing people into hospitals and treatment plans and insurance options that they don’t want in the first place? Why do we need panels at all? Let ‘em die. Don’t force people to pay these exorbitant fees, just let them die. It’s what the people want.
Let ‘em die. Let the life cycle do its work. The life cycle is our greatest natural resource, and we don’t need to be outsourcing it to hospitals and doctors and money-making machines. Think of all the costs we would save in health care if we didn’t have any.
What kind of socialist dictatorship are we living in where we force people to seek treatment and try to get better if they are afflicted with a deadly disease? If they’d rather die, and save all that money, than let ‘em die. It’s called fatal, er, fiscal responsibility. Something our friends in Washington could stand to learn a little about.
There is no more dreaded disease in this current epoch than cancer. It is a viscous, ruthless, merciless, savage sickness that kills without rhyme, reason, or remorse. It’s taken ones I love, and ones you love as well. And when people would rather die from it then deal with the financial burden of fighting it, maybe it is time to reevaluate our health care system. Or just scrap it.
ore about how to pay for cancer treatment than dying from the illness, a new survey found. The survey, conducted by the nonprofit organization Community Oncology Alliance, found that fewer than half of Americans surveyed think their insurance plans would cover the full cost of cancer treatment. Only 25 percent think Medicare would provide for the full cost of cancer treatment. Sixty-nine percent of Americans surveyed said they were very concerned about paying for cancer treatment, while 68 percent said they were very concerned about dying from cancer.
-July 8, 2009
Of course Americans are more concerned about paying for cancer than dying from it; death comes but once, bills come every month. Who wouldn’t rather just get it over with? To keep having to fight and struggle and fight through the pain, and discomfort, the hair-pulling and degradation of dealing with insurance companies, who would want to live through that?
Plus, there is no shame in dying of cancer. Plenty of people do that every day. But the embarrassment of not being able to meet your medical payments, of having to borrow from others, of having to lose all that you’ve worked for, of being reduced to skin and no bones, that is a humiliation too heavy for any one person to bear.
A funeral is a one-time flat fee, but treatment can go on forever. Or at least a lot longer. Who can predict how many chemicals a specific patient will have to be injected with before the damn thing’ll just go away? It could be a ton. It could be a whole long, drawn-out process. Plus all the pills and drips and wigs, that stuff adds up. Not to mention the unforeseen charges, hidden set-backs, or, god forbid, increased returns. It’s never-ending. At least with a funeral you know what you’re paying for.
And let’s say it works. The only thing more expensive than cancer is a cure. Because, if you make it out of the hospital, you’re only being wheeled out into a whole other set of worries. When you return to the real world of resplendent health it’s not like all your other costs have gone away. A mortgage takes a break for no man. Plus, you probably won’t have been putting much money into savings while lying in bed, so you’re going to have to work hard to re-stock that. And, in this economy.
The only thing scarier than death is not being able to pay your taxes. We can all deal with never breathing again, but being broke is a much harder pill to swallow. Or, in more mixed metaphors, people are more afraid to be broke than to fix it. We, the people, would rather be dead than in debt.
Do you realize the implications of this? This means that we don’t need to revamp the health care system in this country. We just need to get rid of it. The people are saying they’d rather get sick and die than be saved. So why do we need doctors meddling in their affairs? Why are we forcing people into hospitals and treatment plans and insurance options that they don’t want in the first place? Let ‘em die. Don’t force people to pay these exorbitant fees, just let them die. It’s what the people want.
Let ‘em die. Let the life cycle do its work. The life cycle is our greatest natural resource, and we don’t need to be outsourcing it to hospitals and doctors and money-making machines. Think of all the costs we would save in health care if we didn’t have any.
What kind of socialist dictatorship are we living in where we force people to seek treatment and try to get better if they are afflicted with a deadly disease? If they’d rather die, and save all that money, than let ‘em die. It’s called fatal, er, fiscal responsibility. Something our friends in Washington could stand to learn a little about.
There is no more dreaded disease in this current epoch than cancer. It is a viscous, ruthless, merciless, savage sickness that kills without rhyme, reason, or remorse. It’s taken ones I love, and ones you love as well. And when people would rather die from it then deal with the financial burden of fighting it, maybe it is time to reevaluate our health care system. Or just scrap it.
