“LOOK OUT!” shouted the conductor, although of course it was far too late for anything of the sort..
With a sound like deafening thunder, the two trains crashed headlong into each other, sending passengers flying in all directions within both, and flinging some clean out of the trains. Cries of terribly injured and dying people and pets filled the air for miles.
Emergency vehicles, air and land bound, arrived within minutes at the catastrophic scene. As the first chopper came to rest, its pilot stepped out, carrying a megaphone, which he put to his lips.
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, your attention please,” he shouted.
Cries of the wounded and dying greeted him, so he amplified the volume.
“Quiet!” he shouted. After doing so a few more times, silence fell. “Who on these trains has Health Insurance? For we are only authorized to treat those who do.”
There was a collective gasp from the wreck, then many of those able to do so raised their hands, but many others did not. Those whose arms were broken or pinned rattled their bodies or remained still.
The emergency workers traveled through the wreck, giving immediate assistance to those with insurance and helping them to the emergency vehicles while leaving those without insurance to moan and suffer.
“You can't leave our daughter!” shouted a couple as they were carried to an ambulance while their thirty year old daughter was left behind.
“She chose not to purchase Health Insurance,” said the EMT. “Therefore the powers that be have ordered that she must face the consequences.”
“She didn't 'CHOOSE' you heartless bastard,” shouted the man. “She was turned down by every company she tried after reaching adulthood because she had the 'preexisting condition' of having had a concussion playing baseball and getting hit in the head with a ball when she was ten.”
The EMT shrugged indifferently. “Nevertheless, the bosses have ordered that only the insured be treated.”
Others shouted that they also had preexisting conditions or couldn't afford insurance. Some of the EMTs reacted with more sympathy than the first man, but none gave first aid to any of the uninsured or helped them to emergency vehicles,for all wanted to keep their jobs.
When all of the insured were aboard emergency vehicles, these vehicles took to the air or to the road, leaving the injured and dying who did not have Health Insurance behind moaning and crying out and dying, and the couple with the uninsured daughter screaming that if their daughter was going to be left behind to die they wanted to be too, even as they were carted away and she was not.
It was a very cold night, and by morning those whose injuries had not killed them had died of exposure.
When the hospital released them, the couple, Frank and Georgianna, returned to the crash site to claim their daughter's body so they could bury it, but all of the remains were too decomposed and mingled to even identify, for the freezing whether had cracked the skeletons in places and frozen them together when they fell into one another and so they couldn't even do that.
“If only she'd had insurance,” wailed Georgianna.
“Yes,” said Frank. “That preexisting condition thing.” he punched a piece of wreckage so hard that it shattered. “And she'd had no more than a regular check-up for twelve years before she turned twenty-five and had to buy her own.”
Frank and Georgianna erected a memorial in front of the wreck site and people added to it regularly even after the train and its skeletons were burned.
But no one who lost a loved one that day ever got as much as a note of sympathy from any but the train company, and on the first anniversary of the disaster they vowed to work to ensure that no other family ever had to go through this, and so they committed their lives to this cause, finding a way to ensure that no other families ever had to go through this..
And so the train wreck wrecked the lives of all of those aboard and all who knew them who did not have insurance, thanks to the health wreck that says who gets treatment and who does not based on an insurance system that can deny coverage at all or for individual claims based on profits, rather than what care the patient actually needs. If this seems horrible, it is. If this seems familiar, it should, so why did and do some defend the old system? and I'll leave the reader with that to think about.

I realize my portrayal of Silver Law in Track One of my most recent post is a bit extreme, but it isnot extreme to say that under the oldsystem when free to do soinsurance companies often put profits before people, and if Charlie had not already had insurance any provider hetried to get it through after his fall would have denied coverage because he had a pre-existing condition. I know this because in 1984 I got hit by a car at eight years old and we had to ight our insurance company for most if not all of my treatment, and when I purchased insurance as an adult they cancceled my policy when they learned of this, havin only asked about the past ive years on the form and my accident having been a good bit longer than that ago even at that time, they canceled my policy. Charlie already had insurance, so he could not be turneddown for coverage, but under the oldsystem, Track One, they could put profits before people and refuse to pay for anything, and ofcourse in theendhedied, andeven ifthat's a bit extreme, under the old system insurance companies could put money above people, which is why the reform that had taken placein Trck Two and has taken place in reality, were needed andmust remain in place. Ever putting money before people is immoral, which is why the people who say more discussion of something we've been talking about in my mrmory sinccce 1992 and I'm told even longer was necessary or that it should not have been doneat all are simply faccctually and morally wrong. Health Care Reform wasneeded, islong overdue and should not be repeeled, and if thiscountry has any sense of compassion at all, aal such tal will endvery soon. We are called to care for the sick, among others, and while we can't all be doctors, we can all support the right of everyone to see a doctor when needed and regularly enough that in many cases it won't come to an emergency room, although of course there will always be those situations that do, like in my most recent story, and if we are truly a compassionate andcaring society we will, for while ourcompassion most certainly should extend outsidce our borders, it should also apply to our fellow Americans. So let all who truly believe in "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuiit of Happpiness" ccall for an endd to bad mouthing decent, affordable health care for all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, because without that, not all will have "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness" and so willl not experience the best that we can all be. So let us put aside our selfishnesss and all suppot the right of all of our fellowcitizens to decent, affordable health care, regardless of economic status, pre-existing condition or any other burdon or constraint, for only wen alll are free to live teir lives without worry over what if we get sick or injured, are any of ustruly free and so only then can The U.S.A. truly be all that it can be and what it was meant to be, the landof hope and opportunity for all.

A HIKE OF A LIFE, BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT

“BAM!” Charlie’s head hit the pavement as he landed after falling from the third floor. He was vaguely aware of the commotion around him and dimly heard the ambulance arrive, but soon his mind drifted to other times.
...
Susan looked so beautiful the day they got married. Her long white dress, her flowing golden hair. He loved her so much.
“Do you take Susan as your wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better or for worse, and forsaking all others, so long as you both shall live?” asked the minister.
“I do, with all my heart, so help me God,” said Charlie.
“Do you take Charlie as your husband, to have and told hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better or for worse, and forsaking all others, so long as you both shall live?” the minister asked.
“I do, with all my heart, so help me God,” said Susan.
“Then by the power invested in me by God and by the State of New Mexico, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
That was the most wonderful kiss he had ever experienced, and he had experienced a fair amount.
Their Honeymoon in the Pacific Islands had been the best two weeks of his life, at least up until then. Every day with Susan was wonderful, though, regardless of where they were. He knew he made her just as happy as she made him, although this was a mystery to him since he considered himself nothing all that special, but she loved him and that was all that mattered.

....
“Charlie?” came Susan’s voice. “You’re so quiet tonight. What are you thinking about?”
He shook himself out of his trance. “How happy I am living with you in this house, and having the boys around.”

The boys. When he married Susan, he had thought that nothing could ever make him happier than he was with his new bride, but their children had proven him wrong. Susan and the boys, Mark, Bob and Dan, they were his life. They made him smile when he’d had a terrible day at the office, as he often did, Max, his boss, was such a jerk.

His mind drifted again.

...

On vacation with Susan and the boys, on the beach. Dan found a Sea shell, his first. He was so excited. His older brothers always found them, but this was the first he’d found.
“DAD!” he exclaimed. “I found one myself. Mark and Bob didn’t help me at all.”
Charlie smiled at his youngest son’s excitement.
“Well done, Daniel, Dan, I mean.”
Robert was Robert or Bob, he didn’t care, but Dan was Dan, he didn’t like Daniel.
“Thanks Dad!” his son exclaimed, then handed him the sea shell for safekeeping and ran off to look for more.


The memory shifted again.

...

Mark walked across the stage to receive his High School Diploma and waved at his parents and little brothers as he passed in front of them.
“Mark Lindborj,” the principle said, handing Mark his diploma.
Charlie hadn’t really heard any of the names after that, too caught up in his son’s obvious excitement at having finished this stage of his life, even though he’d be going to college in town and living at home next year.

The memory changed again.

...

Dan had come down with the Chicken Pox at fourteen.
“It is much worse for older children,” said the doctor, and he was right.
Dan was miserable for three weeks, and Charlie and Susan were miserable because they could do nothing to help him.
When he finally got better and they were sure he was well, they celebrated with a trip to the local amusement park. That was when Mark broke his arm falling out of the roller-coaster before it was completely stopped, and Bob told his parents he had a boy-friend and they were having sex, safe sex, he said, but Charlie and Susan both put their feet down that at fifteen he shouldn’t be having sex at all. He tried to run away after that, but it was so poorly thought out that it didn’t last half an hour. His middle son had never been a very good planner, for which he and Susan were grateful in that instance, although at other times it was highly frustrating.

The memory changed again.

...

They were at his grandmother’s funeral. She had lived to nearly a hundred, but they were all still very upset, because they had all been very close to her. Of all of the two older generations of his family, she was the only one who hadn’t changed her treatment of Bob one bit when she learned he was gay. To her, it didn’t matter, all that mattered was that he was her great grandson. All of Charlie’s family had been grateful for this.
“And now she’s gone” wailed Bob. “The only extended family that really and truly accepted me for who I am, and she’s gone.”
Charlie held his son close, assuring him that he and Susan and their other sons fully accepted him, not knowing what else to say.

The memory changed again.

...


It was Mark who was getting married this time. Jane was a very nice girl, even if her father was a bit strange.
“You may now kiss,” said the minister simply, for the couple had made it clear that they wanted no part of any gender directed, arcane as they called it, ceremony nonsense.
He and Susan had danced almost as late as the kids that night, for Mark had been looking for love for a long time before he found Jane.
Bob had brought his boy-friend, Victor, and only a few people stared as they danced.
Yes, overall, life had been pretty good to Charlie up until now.

...

But now he was in an ambulance, with a broken back, having been pushed from the third story of an apartment building by a man he had once thought his friend, simply for asking where the man’s wife was and why he was there making out with a girl young enough to be his daughter, if not his grand daughter.
Yes, now he was incapacitated and would almost certainly never walk again, if he even lived, which he felt was far from certain given the pain he was in now that he had regained consciousness. And if he did live, paying for all the medical care he would need to recover or be taken care of. The very thought made him pass out again.

TRACK ONE IN THE HOSPITAL, THE OLD SYSTEM.

When he woke again he was in a hospital bed. Susan was there, looking very anxious, and the anxiety only left her face a little when she saw that he was awake.
“How do you feel dear?” she asked in a very concerned voice.
He thought a moment, feeling as much of his body as he could while he spoke. “Like I got pushed from the third story of a building. How long have I. . .” he stopped, realizing with alarm that he had no feeling in his legs. Then his alarm increased as he realized the reason for this. “My legs are gone!” he shouted in alarm.
Susan, tears rolling down her cheeks, nodded. “They were completely crushed, and you were losing a lot of blood through them, so they clamped them off just below the hips to stop the blood loss. Oh Charlie, I’m so sorry. What happened? They said you fell from the third story of some building. You’re always so careful. You’ve been out for about a week and a half, to answer your question.”
“I found Hank making out with a woman young enough to be his daughter, if not his granddaughter, and asked him where his wife was and why he was making out with someone that young. That’s when he pushed me through the window.”
Susan gasped. “Hank? I thought he was your best friend.”
“Me too. Apparently not. So, apart from lost legs, what’s my prognosis?”
Clearly forcing a calm and steady voice, she answered “not good. You lost a lot of blood, and the doctors still aren’t sure how extensive the damage to your body or brain is. They said you’d have to wake up before they could know for sure. Oh, and Silver Law says that it will pay for your hospital stay, provided it’s no more than three weeks, but not for artificial legs or a wheelchair or any outpatient therapy towards your recovery.”
“WHAT?” Charlie sat bolt upright then, despite his wife’s efforts to keep him laying down, as the doctors had said he should remain. “We’ve never been a day late with a payment to them, and always paid the full amount. How can they do that now when I actually need them?”
Susan shook her head sadly. “I don’t understand all the legal terms, but apparently our policy doesn’t include specific language covering falling out a window, so they’ll cover emergency life saving care but that’s it.”
Charlie sank back in despair. “And to think, just, I guess it would be two weeks ago now, things were looking so good, our first grandchild on the way and nearing retirement. Well,” he added with a bitter laugh. “I guess the latter is for sure from my construction job now, although with all my treatment will cost us out of pocket, we’ll both be working until we go to our graves.”
“We’ll manage,” his wife assured him. “The important thing is you’re still with us. We’ll find a way.”
Charlie stayed in the hospital another week. Using a hospital wheelchair to get around, he gained some strength in his arms. But the costs of his future treatment were never far from his or Susan’s minds, nor other family and true friends when they came to visit. Eventually, the day for his return home came.
“This is the last day our insurance will pay for me to stay,” he told his lead doctor, who felt he was not really in any fit state to leave just yet. “And with all of the other expenses we’re going to have coming up, we can’t afford an unpaid hospital bill.”
The doctor nodded in sad understanding, then left for his other patients.
Since the hospital owned the wheelchair he’d been using and silver law still refused to pay for another one, his sons carried him to the car, placed him in the contraption they’d made for car trips without legs, and he buckled himself in.
When they reached the house, he unbuckled himself and was carried to his bed, to a brief time on the toilet, and then back to bed where he fell into a sleep full of dark dreams about the future.

TRACK TWO IN THE HOSPITAL, THE NEW SYSTEM.

When he woke again, he was in a hospital bed. Susan was there, looking very worried, but smiled when she saw that he was awake.
“How do you feel, Sweat heart?” she asked.
He thought a moment, then decided on the truth. “Like I got pushed from the third floor of an apartment building.”
“Pushed?” she said in alarm. “I was surprised that you would fall, you’re always so careful, but I never thought someone would do something like that. Do you remember anything about the person who did it, so the police could. . .?”
“It was Hank,” Charlie said before she could go further.
Stupefied, she stared for a moment. “Your best friend?” she finally managed.
“I thought so,” he replied. “Apparently not when I catch him making out with a woman young enough to be his daughter if not his granddaughter and ask him why and where his wife is.”
Susan got up at once. “I’ll go tell the police officer outside and then..”
Charlie’s eyes suddenly widened in alarm as he realized that he couldn’t feel his legs and then realized that the reason for this was that his legs were gone.
“They had to amputate them” said Susan, seeming to read his thoughts as it often seemed she could. “They were completely crushed, and you were losing so much blood that they had to clamp them off to stop the flow of blood out of your body.”
His expression grew anxious. “How am I going to work? How am I even going to get around?”
“Well,” said Susan. “For the moment you’ve got a wheelchair, and they said they could fit you for artificial legs soon after you woke up, although they will take awhile to make, but you’ll have the wheelchair until then.”
Charlie groaned. That would all be very expensive, and since their insurance, Silver Law, would probably deny every claim. . .
“Dear,” said Susan. “There’s no need to look so worried. I forgot you’ve been out for nearly the past month. Health Care reform passed and was signed. Silver Law can’t deny claims for made-up reasons anymore, and since we’ve always paid in full on time, there’s no real reason for them to deny any claims.”
To his surprise and relief, she was right. Silver Law paid for him to stay in the hospital for the additional month and a half he took to be recovered enough to go home, agreed to pay for his wheelchair until his artificial legs were ready and to pay for all expenses related to that, as well as any near term or even long term therapy he needed to fully recover.
The day he went home, he walked out of the hospital on his new legs, although since he was still getting used to these they also took the wheelchair, and his doctor wished him a good recovery and arranged a check-up in six months to see how he was doing, and he went home in good spirits, knowing the recovery would be long and hard but thankful that at least he no longer had the financial burden and worries that had plagued him at the time of his fall.

TRACK ONE AFTER HIS RELEASE, OUT PATIENT CARE.

When he awoke in bed with no legs, his sons carried him to the bathroom and after he was done there they carried him to the table where he ate breakfast and then his family turned towards the matters now at hand.
“Well,” said Charlie. “First off I need some way of getting around on my own. I appreciate you three carrying me,” he quickly told his sons. “But long term that’s not a viable alternative.”
Susan nodded, with a sad look on her face. “Silver Law still refuses to pay for anything. I approached a lawyer about suing, and she said we have a pretty good case, but that could take years and you need something now.”
That summed up the problem pretty well.
So for the next hour they talked through various options, including stealing a wheelchair from the hospital.
“But even if I didn’t mind breaking the law, which I do,” said Charlie. “‘The Wheelchair Bandit’ just doesn’t sound very good, and besides I couldn’t pretend I didn’t have the loot if I got caught, could I?”
They all laughed at this. There had been little laughter for some time and it felt good.
“Since Unc..sorry, Hank,” said Bob, “pushed you out the window, his insurance might be required by law to pay something.”
“If he had any,” Charlie sighed. “But I know for a fact he does not. We could sue him for personal compensation, but that could take years, and he doesn’t have much money anyway.”
“There’s always our retirement,” ventured Susan.
Charlie hated to dip into that, he and Susan had had other plans for that, a lot of travel for one thing. In the end, though, that was the only viable alternative they could find for immediate needs, and with it they did purchase a wheelchair, and he eventually managed to be getting himself around fairly well.
However, they had to dip into their retirement quite a bit for his recovery since there was no other money to pay for all of his therapy and such, since it was quite expensive and he couldn’t work at all for nearly a year. “I guess I couldn’t hike The Rockies now anyway,” he joked one time with a bitter laugh, which his family tried but failed to respond to. Susan worked, and the boys contributed as well, but they each had their own lives and responsibilities, and Susan couldn’t work full time because with no legs Charlie could not get himself in and out of the wheelchair at all. He continued to see his future as a black hole, because every expense that arose ate further into their future, but he tried to keep upbeat and keep these thoughts to himself for his family’s sake, particularly his new grand-baby, whom he could only hold with someone nearby ready to take her, since his lap was gone.

TRACK TWO AFTER HIS RELEASE, OUT PATIENT CARE.

When he got home he fell getting out of the car, but Mark and Bob quickly helped him up, and then he he walked back into his house and walked around, getting used to his new legs. Then he sat down for a bit and had a relaxing meal with his family while they discussed the future.
“Some plans may change,” he said. “At this moment I’m not sure I’ll ever be steady enough on these,” he gestured at his new legs. “To hike The Rockies, but who knows? After some therapy, maybe I’ll feel differently. But I can keep working in construction, and there are times in that line of work when having artificial legs might even prove better than real legs, not that it’s a position I’m recommending for anyone, of course,” he quickly added.
“Right, so you start therapy on Monday,” said Susan. “The weekend we can just relax.”
The therapy was three times a week, working different muscles each time. While he could walk with the new legs, he made sure the wheelchair was never too far, for he seemed to tire more quickly with the new legs than he had on natural legs, but over the next several weeks he made remarkable progress, helped by many doctors and therapists, but Silver Law never denied a claim and so the financial burden was never more than to co-payments and eventually he and Susan again turned to talk of travel after they both retired.
At his six month check-up, his doctor was amazed at his recovery. “I’ve been doing this job for fifteen years,” said his doctor. “And patients have all the range of recovery, but over the past few months the ones with a good amount of recovery have skyrocketed while the bad recoveries have dwindled to virtually non-existent, not that I’m complaining, of course.”
Charlie wasn’t complaining either, but there was one bit of unpleasant business he also had to attend to.
“Hank (Henry) Blaumka,” said the judge. “I sentence you to two years imprisonment, five years probation, and a fifteen million dollar fine for injuring this man.”
Charlie knew he’d never see most of that money, because Hank just didn’t have it, and facing him in Court had been unpleasant, but at least he was not getting away with it.
“Two years,” cried Hank. “That’s not fair. That’s two years of my life gone.”
Charlie could not restrain himself. “Would you prefer a life time of artificial legs and other health problems.”
Hank spat at him as he was led away.
Charlie continued to gain strength trough his regular physical therapy and a year after his fall he and Susan were again planning a hike through the Rockies as retirement neared.

TRACK ONE LONG TERM, THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

The future looks black all right, Charlie thought, looking at the bill for the last payment on his wheelchair, a bill they could not possibly pay since their retirement was gone and he had ended up needing so much care over the past year that Susan could only work one afternoon a week, when his son in law Kirk, or whatever Bob’s life partner was to him, could come and take care of him.
All of his sons did what they could, but with Mark and his wife having a baby to take care of their time was limited, and his other sons had their own lives too.
One day, tired of being totally dependent on others, he tried to reach the serial in the pantry himself, but fell out of his chair and cut the remnant of his right leg on a loose nail. The cut became infected after a few days, and even though such infections were clearly covered under their policy, Silver Law said that it was an outgrowth of his earlier injury and so was not covered and refused to pay for treating the infection.
“Even though had they paid to seal that place it could not have gotten cut and so not become infected,” said Charlie.
With no medical treatment and so only home remedies, the infection became worse and began to spread. When it reached his chest, his family took him to the emergency room, where they were told had they come in earlier treatment might have been possible bit now it had gone too far.
“But we couldn’t bring him to an emergency room until it was an emergency,” sobbed Susan. “Our Insurance wouldn’t pay for any other treatment earlier, and our savings are gone, so we couldn’t do anything earlier.”
The doctor gave her a sad but sympathetic look but could think of nothing to say, and neither could anyone else.
Less than a week later, the following words appeared in the newspaper “CHARLIE LINDBORI, AGE 52, BORN FEBRUARY SECOND, 1957, DIED JUNE FIFTH, 2009. CAUSE OF DEATH, INFECTED RIGHT LEG STUMP. SURVIVORS, WIFE SUSAN OF THIRTY-ONE YEARS, THREE SONS, ONE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND ONE SON-IN-LAW. IN LOU OF FLOWERS, DONATIONS TO HOSPITAL, and his funeral was quite well attended.

TRACK TWO LONG TERM, THE BEGINNING OF THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

Charlie and Susan worked for two more years, enjoying their eventually two biological granddaughters and one adopted grandson greatly, and Charlie continued to improve in mobility until to look at him walk, a stranger would never know he had artificial legs. When he was completely confident on his new limbs, they gave the wheelchair to the hospital where he still had regular therapy and regular if only once yearly check-ups as a way of thanking the hospital for all it had done.
New employees at his company never believed he had artificial legs when told because he moved so naturally, until they saw them.
“I’m not at all sure that I’m not stronger now than I was before,” Charlie told Susan and the rest of his family two weeks before he was planning to retire.
“Well,” said Kirk. “You’ve had to work hard for every inch, so that probably has made you stronger.”
Charlie nodded. “I’m such a lucky man,” he said. “Good health despite a significant setback a few years ago, great family and almost through with my working life.”
He raised his glass and the whole family toasted health and family and he and Susan’s approaching retirement and future plans.
He left the construction company with a good pension a week before his fifty-third birthday, and on his fifty-third birthday he and Susan began to hike The Rocky Mountains.

I realize the main character of my latest story's action at the end of the story might be seen as rather extreme, and I am not typically prone to violence, but I am somewhat frustrated by the mood of the country that passing a law saying that insurance companies cannot do as this agent did anymore was a bad idea. This agent put a higher value on money than on people and that is what insurance companies did under the old system, and I'm sorry but that is simply immoral, and so saying reform was not needed is supporting an and defending an immoral system that put money above people and so are simply wrong to say that change was not needed and while this man's actioons were extreme, they demonstrate the frustraton with a system that put money before people that those of us not considered profitable by the old system felt. I do not endorce this man's action at the end of this story, but I do endorce people stopping objecting to decent affordable health care for all, beccause doing so would put them in a morally defensible position while opposing decent, affordable health care for all is a morally indefensible position. How exactly decent, afffordable health care for all should be achieved is a matter that could have been debated, but that it neededbe done is beyond moral doubt. that's my peacce for today.