Read 'em and weep

US healthcare is no laughing matter

Excerpted from Gary Silverman, Financial Times July 27

Comedy can be dangerous work in the US. I was reminded of this.....when I chanced upon a website seeking donations for...Caleb Medley (a victim) of the shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

The website tells the story of an affable..dreamer who wound up living a nightmare...Medley grew up in a. ...small town called Florence, married his high school sweetheart and put down roots in Aurora so he could try....stand up comedy ...in.Denver.

Last week he and his wife were celebrating....Medley, who paid his bills with jobs at Target and  Walmart had made it through the first round of a ...competition. Katie.who was studying to be a veterinary technician , was due to deliver their first child in a few days. They were squeezing in one more movie before they would have to pay a babysitter.

A bullet hit Medley, 23, in the right eye. He was taken to the University of Colorado hospital where he was put into a medically induced coma  in hopes of saving his life. Mrs. Medley, 21, was uninsured .....but wound up in the same hospital a few days later.  She delivered baby Hugo on Tuesday. Mother and child were described as doing well.

Friends set up a website  www.calebmedley.com-  to collect money for Mr. Medley because....he..lacked health insurance and will need help to pay..his bills.

It’s easy to see who people would try to do something for...Medley. He tried to make ‘em laugh. Long haired,heavy-set and wry , he can be seen  plying his trade in such...hotspots as his bathtub and some bar in Grand Island, Nebraska.

It’s also predictable that  (he) would ..need this kind of help.  He is of a class of people who take enormous risks to pursue their dreams. You meet them in the performing arts...and elsewhere working odd jobs so they can do what they really love.

Society reveres these people in many ways. If they avoid bullets....and land their sitcom  or ...book deal, the Caleb Medleys .......become subjects of Vanity Fair profiles..Or lunch with the FT. ...But if accidents happen....their friends have to pass..the hat.

The reason goes back to our so called healthcare system. Most of us get our..insurance from our employers or...programs for the elderly ...or the poor. People who live in the manner of Medley .....fall through the cracks.

Full implementation of the Affordable Care Act of 20-or Obamacare-.....should bring coverage to...millions of people. But many of...the provisions..won’t go into effect until 2014 and the price of delay is on display in Colorado.

The good news ...is that people are responding to his plight.

But we should resist the temptation to feel good...Many
Americans ...learned about  Medley because of the Aurora slaughter. If he had been struck by a stray bullet..in an isolated brawl... few would know. We still need to do more (for) all the people in this country who wind up on the wrong end of guns through no fault of their own.

If we as a people have a right to  bear arms.....,,the Second Amendment  ..says something about that- then we as a people bear some responsibility for the improper use of these arms.............................................................................   

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No doubt the Wall Street Journal has carried a similarly sensitive response.

An enticing award for the first copy submitted here.

FL