In December 2020, a member of my extended family had a medical event and was hospitalized during the holiday season. During emergency surgery, his doctors discovered more complications, and scheduled a second surgery a few days later that resolved the problem.
Americans started talking about universal health care at the same time as other Western countries. Powerful political organizations including the American Medical Association have run successful campaigns against such a system for over 70 years. zimmytws/Shutterstock.com
Through his employer, he had insurance with a high deductible that would be a financial stretch. Then he learned that the timing of his weeklong hospital stay, which crossed from one calendar year into the next, meant he would have to pay the annual deductible twice for one medical event. There was an outpouring of support as this news was shared. His coworkers set up a GoFundMe account, and family and friends from around the country made donations to help him pay his bill.
Crowdsourcing to pay medical expenses has become common in America. Many of us have donated to fundraisers for people we know, and some we don’t know. GoFundMe has a full page devoted to medical fundraising on its site that reports more than 250,000 medical fundraisers a year. A recent study of GoFundMe found 42 fundraisers for medical conditions in 2010, and more than 119,000 by 2018. Collectively, these campaigns have raised more than $3 billion.
This level of support from friends and strangers on crowdsourcing platforms is not surprising. Most people agree that communities should rally around individuals faced with sickness and injury.
Almost all developed countries have health care that is built around this shared value and provide universal care for everyone. Countries do this in different ways, through a mix of government insurance plans and health services, but the central value is the same: Health care is a basic human right. In contrast, the American health care system is not built on the value of helping anyone who falls sick, but on principles of competition and profit.
Americans started talking about universal health care at the same time as other Western countries. Powerful political organizations including the American Medical Association have run successful campaigns against such a system for over 70 years. In 2021, four of the top ten spenders on lobbying were medical and pharmaceutical organizations. These high-powered campaigns have shaped our health care systems for generations. But American public opinion has been changing as treatment has become less affordable even for people who have insurance.
Compared to other wealthy countries, America consistently spends more on health care and has worse outcomes. A 2021 Gallup poll found that 77 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the total cost of care, but only 56 percent thought it was the responsibility of the federal government to make sure everyone is covered. This is one place where Americans differ from other nations: We have never sent a unified message to our government that we value and expect universal medical care.
Congratulations to Press Herald reporter Joe Lawlor for the swift political response to his recent investigative reporting on medical billing. Changing America’s health care system so everyone has affordable and accessible care will not be easy, but it is possible. Our elected leaders and medical organizations need to know that we expect our health care systems to reflect the shared value we practice every time we hit the “Donate” button: Everyone deserves to get the help they need.
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