ObamaCare Killed Their Parents?

RedFlagNews.com

I have seen multiple articles today like this and this that claim a couple committed suicide - leaving children behind - because of medical care costs. They actually blame ObamaCare in these articles and many others. 

Medical costs are really no laughing matter, and I have talked at length about my ideas for covering the costs and bringing some of them down. Let's face it, medical costs in this country are astronomical, and no one is going to tell me ObamaCare or even socialized medicine will fix it; all either one does is make someone else pay for it, and you are someone else's someone. There are numerous reasons as to why medical costs are so high in the USA, with all sides of the argument attacking the other over it. 

Now, I know I use personal stories a lot, but I like to talk from any experience I have. So we're going to bring my father back into this post. As many of you know, my father was diagnosed with brain cancer at the end of 2014 and he passed away in April 2016. My father did not use Obamacare, but he was on Medicare with a supplemental insurance from one of our state's top insurers. My father was not a wealthy man, but he was as middle class as they get. 

His surgery to remove the tumor was partially covered, but he had to pay some out of pocket. When it came time for treatment - chemo and radiation, nothing out of line - both Medicare and the insurance company said nope! Now, if you have never had cancer or known anyone with cancer, you may not be aware that the treatments for cancer are amazingly expensive. We were looking at costs - per month - of over $15,000. The doctor set my mom up with a company that offers grants to assist, and mom did apply. It covered about $10,000 of that treatment. 

That was just the treatment. Now, factor in the amount of times my father called for an ambulance and ended up in the hospital, plus the cost of a rehab facility he had to pay a good portion of, then the nursing facility ($6500 a month alone), and his medications (we're not going to include his heart medications here), and my parents were paying out about $10,000 a month (more when he went to the nursing home by state order), maybe a little more or less depending on hospital stays that month. 

Considering the fact that insurance and Medicare didn't cover chemo and radiation and all this other stuff, I find it hard to believe Obamacare does. 

As my dad used to say at the start of his illness, you work your entire life to build up a retirement fund only to use the entire thing on medical care until you are broke. 

We do have a problem in this country, and everyone has a "solution." I have mine, too, which you can find in this blog. We all do. But I can't fault Obamacare 100% for this couple committing suicide, although it is in there. First of all, there are always other options. Especially if you have kids, you can find some way. Second, Obamacare's premiums are very high, and the cost of the insurance is very high, which does, of course, make matters worse when it doesn't cover stuff. I've experienced that myself as someone who uses Obamacare and has had a lot of stuff denied. Those premiums, if you aren't well off, can be debilitating. Third, some blame needs to be put on the medical field. When you are paying $30 for a bandaid, there is a deeper problem than insurance companies and Obamacare premiums. 

However. If these people were willing to die together, leaving their children behind... there is something far worse happening here. Something you can't blame on any of this. And I don't think it does anyone any good to knock that aside. "Their medical costs were too high, so they committed suicide! Thanks, ObamaCare!" Well, an awful lot of people in the USA right now are in debt up to their ears. A lot of people are facing being on the street because of credit cards, medical costs, etc. Every day, people wonder how they are going to feed their children. And yet, they go on. They keep living and working and trying like hell to do what they need to do. So while I agree that Obamacare's costs and the cost of medical treatment themselves played a roll in this couple's financial woes, there was something else wrong here. It wasn't normal. It isn't a normal reaction to debt. It doesn't do the cause, these people, or those suffering because of Obamacare any good to hype this as though it were. 

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