Thursday 05 July 2007
corbett's sicko talk
WILK-AM - Corbett's Corner
Someone called the 'Corbett' show and asked Steve Corbett to name one person who died as a result of inadequate health insurance... I know at least one name -- Deamonte Driver.
Ever since WILK AM took over 103.1 FM, I sometimes listen to it during my commute in the evening, when Corbett is on. I'm not a big talk radio fan, by any stretch of the imagination, but very few stations come in consistently on my car radio on my commute route. 103.1FM happens to be one that does come in fairly well most of the way.
Today Corbett was discussing health care in the U.S., in regards to the new movie Sicko that's coming out. And a guy really did call and claim nobody had ever died from inadequate insurance, and challenged Corbett to name one person. It's surprising this guy who called in would be so ignorant as to think nobody in this country had ever died because of lack of health insurance. And Corbett was armed with a load of statistics of just how much more likely it is for someone to die without insurance. It's chilling.
I called in the Corbett show and told the guy answering the phone about the story of this poor child, Deamonte Driver, but as my phone was running out of power, and my other phone was completely out of power, I just quickly related the information.
And I can only imagine they were probably flooded with calls from people who knew someone personally who died as a result of lack of health insurance.
I can't imagine why I didn't blog this story before, because it was so personally horrifying to me.
Deamonte Driver?
The poor kid couldn't get the tooth out by a dentist, because his mother worked and so didn't qualify for free dental, and even after he got public dental, there wasn't a dentist available in their area would take that. So it spread to his brain, and then he needed brain surgery.
It could've cost the tax payers under $100 for him to have had that tooth out. But instead, the taxpayers wound up paying about $250,000.00 for his brain surgeries.
And he still died.
ABC News: Toothache Leads to Boy's Death
Deamonte Driver's life could have been spared if his infected tooth was simply removed -- a procedure costing just $80.
However, the Driver family faced obstacles with Medicaid, poverty, and access to resources, resulting in an easily preventable health problem turning deadly.
In the end, Driver endured two surgeries and weeks of hospital care totaling about $250,000 in medical bills. Sadly, it was too late to save the boy, and he passed away on Feb. 25.
Just over a year ago I had an infection in a tooth that had a root canal many years ago. The tooth broke underneath the gum, and became infected. So much so that my face swelled out and I experienced intense pain, fever, ear ache, sore throat, and sinus problems. The infection got all through. I had to pay almost $200 out of pocket with dental insurance (only paying for about half of the total costs, which were up around $300), to have the tooth and the infection removed. There would've been nothing medical doctors or the ER of a hospital could've done to me to keep that infection from spreading and going deeper. I had to see an oral surgeon to have it removed. And no oral surgeon will perform procedures without getting paid on the spot. (Which is probably the basic reason that boy never had the procedure when it would've been $80.) In fact, the oral surgeon I went to, the people in the office couldn't get immediate verification from my dental insurance whether or not it covered a certain procedure related to removing the infection, so I had to pay an extra $75 on the spot, which was eventually returned to me a month later. But had I not had that extra $75, I couldn't have gotten the procedure at all.
And as it happens, many people do not get dental insurance with their jobs. It's not a requirement for employers to provide it to full time employees. Frankly, I think infection removal should be covered under medical insurance, considering it's a medical problem that can lead to even more serious, even life threatening, medical problems.
Not only that, but it seems rather ridiculous that in a society where missing teeth is such a taboo, that dental care wouldn't be considered a basic need.
That's probably part of the reason people on public programmes stay there, as do their children.
How many positions would an employer deem it okay to fill with someone with blackened rotten & missing teeth? How many employers wouldn't even consider hiring someone with missing teeth for any position? I bet a lot wouldn't.
posted by Chloe | Thursday 05 July 2007 7:49 PM
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