Can't Go Home

[slipslidingaway]

Run time: 06:49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TWuO5dBYjo   Posted on YouTube: July 21, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 03, 2009 By DU Member: slipslidingaway Views on DU: 478

 
http://blog.pdamerica.org/2009/09/video-cant-go-home/#more-3613

"What do you think of when you imagine an American living in exile, unable to return home? This is a profile of a couple living in Canada who can’t return to the US because they’re unable to get health care. Kathleen is a US citizen living in Vancouver, with a son (and Canadian husband) who has a rare disease that is being successfully treated by the British Columbia health care system. But the family cannot move back to California – her home- because the child will lose his health care coverage. She has made and financed a video on “American health care Exiles:, US citizens trapped in other countries, unable to return home for fear that a pre-existing condition will rob them of health coverage. She is trying to get her video into wider US circulation – this is not a commercial project but one motivated by the desire of an American with an ill child to let other Americans know the truth."

[slipslidingaway]

1. Thanks for the recs, we know someone in Australia who cannot

come home to be with her ailing mother.

[Anti-Republician]

2. HCR

This is why need to get this HCR passed through the house quick. People like kathleen who can't get healthcare for her son because of his pre-existing condition. We have to fight the fight for healthcare reform!!

[slipslidingaway]

3. At least she lives in a country where they see health care as a right

not a privilege.

Medicare for All!


Welcome to DU :)

[unapatriciated]

4. I recognized her son's illness before she said the dreaded word.

dermatomyositis. My son has been struggling with this since he was 12, diagnosed in 1991 at the age of 13.
He spent the next 10 years fighting the disease, I spent it fighting my Insurance Company.
Eventually losing my job, insurance, marriage and home.
My son now gets health care because he is disabled and qualifies for medical.
We need single payer if not that at least a strong public option.
I do not wish to see anymore families experience the pain mine and many others have endured.

on edit: my first years out of pocket cost with top insurance coverage was $20,000. 2nd year $10,000 and on and on, my son had very active, hard to control dermatomyositis.
The Insurance Company interrupted his care with denials and reviews, care that may have prevented him becoming severely disabled.
I see her son running and playing in the video and am overjoyed that she lives in a country that values life.
Hopefully our citizens will demand the same.

[slipslidingaway]

5. An illness should be more than enough for people to handle at one time....

I can only hope that more people will see the negative impact that For Profit companies have on our lives.

As you point out the ramifications go well beyond the immediate bills with delayed care and the toll it takes on the entire family.

Thanks for sharing your story.

:hug: