Blue River Democrats

#1. (Date unknown) Dear Topsy,

We know J. is seeing the best doctors in the world to treat his cancer. But this may give you pause, an average of his first three hospitalizations at the MSK for evaluation, diagnosis and chemotherapy: one night at MSK cost 1.5 times the amount of money that 24 days in the hospital in Italy cost. Under a national health care program in Italy, his care was a flat rate based on diagnosis. Here in U.S, every pill, every test, every service is tallied. My husband & I joked that a UPS truck with ten delivery persons would have to deliver his itemized bill. His care in the emergency room in Italy was free under the national health care program. For any child living in Italy, or in any European Union country, if the child went to the same children’s hospital owned by the Vatican in Rome, all of the health care, emergency room andin-patient would be free.

Love, C.

#2. (10-1-07) Dear Topsy,

Now the 4 hospitalizations (17 days)cancer treatment have cost more than $100,000, not including doctor’s fees (anesthesiologist, technicians, etc.) His outpatient treatment for three rounds of therapy costs $83,000, again not counting the doctors’ fees. We are extremely lucky, that while this hospital is out-of-network for our insurance, our costs are capped at $2,500 per year when we pay 20%,

There are big differences between the health care programs in Rome and MSK. There, as family, we were the first line of health care for the child, we gave J. sponge baths, took his temperature and were handed oral medications to give to him. We had to supply his towels and bottles of water keeping costs down. We were completely confident that the medical care he was given in Italy was excellent and a very high standard. This was confirmed by our surgeon and oncologist here in the U.S. It seems some of the biggest costs at MSK are the extremely high costs of certain tests and scans, the chemo solutions and ALL the medications. A medication that J. takes for three days before, and three days after, a five-day chemotherapy treatment dramatically cuts down on mouth sores, which in turn keeps him from experiencing extreme pain and contracting infections that would put him in the hospital for days because he would not have the white blood cells to fight infections. The drug costs $1,335 per dose. Does it really

cost this? Or does the drug company make a huge profit?

I asked the MSK insurance liaison, what happens with children who’s family can’t afford treatment here. He said a family is better off with no insurance at all, rather than an HMO that is poor that doesn’t allow out-of-network payments or Medicaid in a state that is not NY, because without insurance they can apply for financial assistance. With insurance that pays poorly, that company will tell them they cannot come to MSK.

We are talking about children’s lives, our son’s life! It is politically, economically and morally wrong, that our country does not provide access to health care for all the children in the U.S. It is a tragedy that Bush is going to veto a healthcare bill that is being worked out by Congress and continue to spend billions in the quagmire of the war in Iraq. I hope the democrats will be very serious about fixing our healthcare system, it is now broken. We consider ourselves very lucky that our son is being given excellent care and will be cured, and we hope this is possible for every child in America who has the misfortune of suffering from lymphoma or any kind of cancer or childhood disease. Medical costs should not be dictated by insurance companies on how and where a seriously ill child can be treated.