My Friend Mike Who Didn't Need To Die

Last week an old friend of mine died in Rapid City, South Dakota. That's him at the far left in the photo back in what looks like the 70s. His name was Mike Stevens and when I was very young growing up in a small South Dakota town, Mike was kind to me and my friend even when others there shunned me. The story behind my travails there at that time are not worthy of mention here but suffice to say that Mike's friendship and kindness along with his entire family saved me often in what were sometimes desperate times there for me.

I didn't keep up with him unfortunately as our paths lead us both away from the little town, me to Atlanta, GA, and then eventually the Army and him to the western part of South Dakota.

At one time during the 60s my father was Mike's family doctor from what I remember and in South Dakota, times have always been hardscrabble for almost everyone who's ever lived there. Mike's dad was a farmer and they were a large family. My father was one of 2 doctors in that little town and there was also a small hospital. I don't have any memory of ever hearing that anyone was ever denied care there. Back then, it just wasn't something any doctor would even consider. The reason I'm mentioning all of this is that back then, there wasn't much in the way of health insurance nor were there megalithic heath care corporations that owned all of the hospitals or that had huge lobbies in congress. In the town I grew up in while living in South Dakota in the early 60s, nobody was ever turned away or refused care when they needed it and if they couldn't pay the full bill, they paid what they could and continued their lives. Some of my dad's patients paid in barter. Folks there thought we were rich but we were far from it as my father was a healer.....not a businessman. It's amazing how far the lords of greed and avarice have come to control who lives and dies these days in the US and what a different time it was back when we were all young.

My old friend Mike died of complications secondary to undiagnosed hepatitis. For those of you who aren't in the medical field, hepatitis is treatable and if not curable doesn't usually result in death if caught early like say during a yearly physical. I found out that Mike had no health insurance and like millions of other Americans, was probably reticent to go to a doctor or emergency room, or other clinic without insurance, because the fee for uninsured people is either triple or quadruple what it is for people who do have insurance. For someone without health insurance, any illness can eventually spell economic disaster for them and their entire family resulting in a loss of just about everything. It's a terrifying choice to have to "roll the dice" every year and hope that you don't get sick. In some ways, that takes everyone without health insurance back to the 1800s when the flu could actually kill you.....*

In today's economy there are more people in the United States who are without health insurance than ever before and I strongly suspect that this story is being repeated daily across what is the most powerful nation on the planet. It's criminal and when you think about it, anytime the words "healthcare" and "profit" are mentioned in the same sentence you end up with an oxymoron because once profit becomes the driving force in almost anything it's not long until humans become secondary. I think the number of folks without health insurance is up around 60 million.

I currently live in Paris, France, where there's a "single payer" healthcare system that's been in place for decades. If my friend Mike had been a citizen here, he'd be alive today...........* In France, everyone regardless of status has access. The French pay what in the US is considered unreasonably high taxes but to a person, every French friend we have here takes great pride in their healthcare system and none of them have any qualms about paying high taxes for it. The governments throughout the EU all put the welfare of their societies before profits regarding health care for their citizens and regulate what hospitals and doctors and pharmacies can charge including insurance companies. If one is poor, retired on a small pension, or even a visitor in their countries and becomes seriously ill, they're treated without being accosted about what kind of insurance they have if any. Some of my friends here inquired if we could get Mike here but by then it was too late.

In the US, organizations like the TEA Party, and right wing politicians who are in the pockets of the healthcare lobbies spout lies about Obamacare being socialist and the president being an Islamic terrorist and other things like "death panels" and healthcare being a "privilege". Those are pretty interesting thoughts but at the end of the day, people like my friend Mike pay the ultimate price for their lack of access and of course all of the TEA Party faithful in the Senate and Congress have excellent healthcare plans and guaranteed pensions for life even if they're thrown out of office and their esteemed colleagues across the isle have the same things. In my opinion, until everyone in the US has access to health care without bankruptcy or losing everything, we really can't call ourselves truly civilized. Currently in the US, profit trumps just about everything else. Society is secondary.

I'm not writing this to politicize my friend's passing. I can however tell you that my blood boils when I think of how he should have been able to get treatment for his illness without being saddled with insurmountable debt. As it is, he spent at least 10 days in the hospital at the end of his life and his survivors will be presented with a huge hospital bill that they won't be able to pay.

My friend Mike didn't have to die...

This is 2011....

He was 58.

If all of you don't start demanding change, you could be next......

Sid Hagan