Have a care

I see that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is being sent to a first-rate rehabilitation center to begin the arduous treatment to recover from the gunshot to the head she sustained earlier this month. And that’s good—when you think about a bullet to the brain, you don’t ordinarily think “recovery”, so she deserves all the medical support she can afford.

Being a member of Congress, that’s going to be a lot, and first-rate. She’ll only have to pay a portion of the tens of thousands of dollars this will cost; we, the taxpaying people, will pick up the rest of the tab.

I wonder, though—what about the other six people who were wounded in the attack in Tucson? What kind of care are they getting? And how long will they be paying off the bills? What struggles are they having with their insurance companies (if they have any at all) to understand their coverage and gain access to the treatment they need?

Perhaps if our Congressmorons could be deflected from playing schoolground games of outshouting each other on topics that are the political equivalent of gaining fame for being famous, they might consider this idea that the microcosm of seven people injured in a single incident will have completely disparate experiences and expenses trying to regain their health.

Ah, hell—what am I thinking? These people just repealed the biggest attempt (albeit flawed) at reforming our healthcare system to expand access and bring down costs ever made on a national level—and are strutting around and preening their feathers as though they saved civilization like Christian soldiers marching to the foe.

Meanwhile, as long as I have my current COBRA coverage, I don’t have to worry about seeking out top-notch healthcare services, while my BFF has two fights on her hand: getting her tight-fisted HMO to pay for the life/death treatments she needs to survive cancer.

I do not begrudge Giffords seeking the best treatment available without having to worry about bankrupting her family. But Leilah should have the same expectation of quality and affordability of care.