I knew a 24 year old who died of acute pneumonia because he had no Heath insurance.

[fearnobush]

He was my niece's boyfriend. He had a cold, at least that is what he thought he had. After the second day, his cold became worse. He lived at home in an upper middle class neighborhood and was in between jobs. He had no Heath insurance. Later that night when his father noticed he'd become progressively sicker he offers to take him to the hospital. The young man said he could not afford it, that it would ruin his credit. He was too old to be covered by his father's insurance back in 2009. He had no idea how sick he was. By this point, the infection had spread deep into his lungs but he had no idea. He told his father if he did not feel ant better in the morning he would go to the emergency room. His father stayed with him in his room that night. His son's coughing grew worse. At three am his father called for the paramedics. By the time they arrived, he was dead. If this happened to this young man today. And I'm almost in tears writing this, he would still be alive because of one man. President Obama. So Mr. Romney, you can go FUCK YOUR MORMON ASS TO HELL!

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[yellowdogintexas]

2. did I hear you call in about this today during Thom Hartman's hour?

or Ed Schultz?
It made me tear up then and now,.

[fearnobush]

4. Actually no, this happened summer 2009.

During the initial start of the health care debate. There are tens of thousands of stories like this. It's why R has to lie his ass off on the extended coverage and pre existing condition clauses.

[Chemisse]

3. That is so tragic. nt

[Warpy]

5. A coworker died like that, went home with the flu in the afternoon

and was dead the next morning. This was in 1991 or so. A few years later when a cluster of cases got the local university to identify Hantavirus, we all suspected that's what it had been.

I had two coworkers who had to declare bankruptcy just because of copays when they developed serious illnesses.

This is not right. I also know too many people who don't go in when they should because they can't afford the copay or the deductible is too high. It's not really worth it to them to have insurance, at all, since they're paying premiums for comprehensive insurance instead of just major medical.

So yes, those bastards really chap my ass. I haven't had insurance since 1987, myself, and no way to get it.

Tar and feathers, folks, it's the only logical response to cruel, lying greedheads like Romney and Ryan.

[SheilaT]

6. A co-worker died of what they used to call

"walking pneumonia", which is more or less when you don't realize you really have pneumonia, because you may feel lousy but you just don't realize how sick you are. Basically, he went home feeling lousy, went to bed and woke up dead.

Sometimes, even when people do have health insurance, they delay seeking medical help. Unfortunately, for those who are uninsured in our system, there's a huge financial disincentive to get help under any circumstances.