If there's only one reason why America needs universal health care,

[mark414]

I met him last week, and his name is Howard.

I do a lot of unconventional traveling, and as a result, meet a lot of unconventional people. To simplify the explanation, I am a hobo as a hobby. I hop trains, hitchhike, and sleep outside. The friends I meet and make are mostly homeless people and others living transient lifestyles - in short, some of the greatest and most interesting people you'll ever meet.

So I rolled into Chattanooga, TN, about a week and a half ago, having just ridden down from Wisconsin. And it was that night that I met Howard.

After trading names and backgrounds Howard started to tell me how he got to be where he was in Chattanooga. Born in Florida and raised in Chicago, it wasn't until Howard met the love of his life that he settled in Dalton, GA.

Howard and Angie lived together, lived a modest but comfortable life, and were on their way to being husband and wife when Angie was diagnosed with cancer.

Angie had to quit her job, and eventually Howard did too, to stay home and take care of his girlfriend. And as the medical bills started piling up and the collection agencies started knocking at the door, Howard and Angie found themselves with their car repossessed, having to either borrow one or take the bus to get to the hospital.

Sadly Angie lost her fight, but the bills were still there and pretty soon Howard found himself with his house also repossessed.

So now Howard is homeless. He walked from Dalton to Chattanooga because he had heard good things about the town, but his first month in Chattanooga he lost 30 pounds and nearly starved because he had no more money, no hope of work, and no idea where to find food and help.

Thankfully for him he met Greg, another homeless guy, who took him around and showed him where he could eat, where he could shower and get clean clothes and help with shelter and finding work.

This is something that happened to a completely normal, hardworking American. He's an honest man, he's always played by the rules, stayed away from drugs and he hardly drinks a drop. But he's out on the streets and who knows when or if he'll get off. This happened because we have a system that treats people's lives like a business decision - maximize profit at all costs.

The role of government is to provide for the common well being of its people, and the action of good government is to provide for its citizens what they need. Our government has utterly failed to do this. We work hard, we pay taxes, and get nothing in return. They do not care about you or me, they do not care about Howard and Angie.

I am sure that Howard's story is not unique, and I should not have to say this living in the most powerful country that the world has ever seen. This goes beyond unfortunate circumstances or bad luck, it is near criminal.

So please, do two things. When you see a homeless person on the street, do not make any assumptions. It could be me, or it could be Howard, or any number of people just like Howard out there. And when you talk to friends, to relatives, when you go to the ballot box, when you go to sleep with a roof over your head or sit inside and watch the rain fall on a stormy day, remember Howard.

I know I'll never forget him.

[GiveUsHope]

1. Beautiful story nt

[NMDemDist2]

2. K&N for all the Angies and Howards in our country n/t

[flamin lib]

3. K&R

37 industrialized nations have health care for every citizen and the US is 38th in life expectancy and 38th in infant mortality.

What's wrong with this picture . . .

[nashville_brook]

4. i wish "the ballot box" could fix this -- but it won't... not as long as

politicians are financed by the health"care" industry.

right now i choose between food and meds. my ex is supposed to cover my copays, but it just doesn't work out all the time. i'm in pain nearly a hundred percent of the time. i'm so tired of hearing myself talk about where it hurts.

right now i'm living in the "mission district" in Melbourne, FL. right near Daily Bread on the Indian River (maybe you know the area if you've travelled down here). it's a popular homeless destination. they come to the little lookout point next to my apartment and many get citations for cavorting after dark or building shelters down on the riverbank.

[lapislzi]

6. health + care + industry

what a joke. These words do not go together.

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong.

[givemebackmycountry]

5. Front Page for you...great post.

We're such a great country, aren't we?

[SoCalDem]

7. The problem is that we have our priorities basackwards

We should double taxation every time we "need" a war, and never cut the safety lines.

There would be fewer wars that way, and people might be healthier.

and then there's the "healthcare" issue itself.

The whole system has mushroomed to such a BIG industry that it might not be able to be scaled back.

Who decides how much care people are entitled to? Does a poor person get that MRI, or do they just limp?

Does a poor 75 year old get surgery?

Procedures cost so damned much because there are so many people involved in delivering the care, and the "owners" insist on leviathon profits..

The whole system we have must be scrapped, and we need to start over. The way things are now, it could not just "roll into medicare"..medicare is being broken right now because of the horrendous costs..

It's not accidental that things are in such a mess..

[BlueEyedSon]

8. Send it to Michael Moore for his new movie "Sicko" (about healthcare)

[ThomCat]

9. Thank you for posting this.

There are many, many reasons just like Howard why we need Universal Healthcare.

[demigoddess]

10. It can also happen another way. I read of a guy who was fired because

his wife gave birth to a baby with defects. The health insurance "imagined" she would have problems in the future and raised the companies health insurance costs so the company fired him for making the rest of the employees' health insurance too expensive.
Also did you know that if you go to an ER with health insurance you will be charged for the guy before you that did NOT have health insurance?
Also hospitals have to spend more time fundraising from charity givers in order to cover the costs from people not covered but who have to be treated.
Also people die earlier because of non treatment but then collect death benefits and disabled benefits from social security. Think of all the money that would be saved if they were treated early and saved the disability and could keep working.
Also there would not be all that money (from our payments) given to the big ceo's etc and also no dividends for the stock holders. Overall cost for the health care would be lower.
There would be fewer positions for people who fill out all the forms for different insurances.
There might be more teaching hospitals, more people might like to attend medical school.
Every time some hospital has to tighten their belts, they fire nurses, which means that there are more mistakes made and more malpractice cases and higher malpractice insurance. Republicans will never connect the two but when they started firing nurses, that was when the malpractice insurance costs rose unbelieveably.
enough of my two cents.

[bvar22]

11. Everybody, absolutely EVERYBODY in the Middle Class....

...is ONE catastrophic illness,
ONE major accident,
or ONE instance of really bad luck away from this!

It CAN happen to YOU!

[skygazer]

12. Beautifully stated

I live in a wealthy area and a lot of my friends tend to make judgments on the homeless or those who use food stamps. I try to set them straight - there are so many ways a person can fall through the cracks in this country, through no fault of their own.

Excellent and timely post.

[TOhioLiberal]

13. Kicked...

...and recommended!

[mark414]

14. i want to do a self-kick and also say thank you

to everyone who replied to or recommended this thread