Health Care is More Important than Law School

It is now August 4th, and I am counting down the days until I head to law school. It looks like my destination is Tallahassee, Florida and my school will be Florida State University. I regret that I have not posted more blogs in June and July, but frankly my summer job has kept me a little too busy to do much thinking about law school.

I work at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. It is a beautiful little town, unique for its white squirrels (which are not albinos) and breathtaking scenery in the Appalachian mountains. Each summer, some of the best musicians in the country come here to play classical music, learn from each other, and have a good time. There are many people here from Florida State, as I learned that FSU has one of the best music programs in the nation.

One of the friends I made this summer is Emily, a Ph.D. candidate at FSU in music theory. Her husband, Oscar, just finished his first year of law school at FSU, so I am fortunate to meet them.

More will come in future blogs about FSU College of Law, as this site is dedicated to that purpose. However, this one time I want to talk about something more important than law school.
About a week ago, Emily's brother, Bill Swift, rode into town on a bike-- all the way from Oregon. He is riding across the country to raise money for a friend, Tausha Marsh, who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24. At the age of 28, she was diagnosed again with a totally different type of cancer. Since these diagnoses, she has engaged in a battle for her life. There is one part of this battle, however, that she should not have to fight. Nonetheless, it remains a staggering obstacle:

Because Tausha has cancer, her medical expenses have driven her and her family into over $150,000 in debt. She faces perhaps another $150,000 in medical expenses as she continues to fight the disease.

Because Tausha has cancer, her family faces financial ruin. How can that happen in this country? Imagine yourself, having worked hard your entire life, saving money, planning wisely. And then a diagnosis of cancer hits you or one of your children- or a car accident happens that wasn't even your fault. It can wipe out a lifetime of savings and reduce you to poverty.

I ask again... How can that happen in this country? Things like this do not happen in England. They do not happen in France, or Germany. They do not happen to members of the United States Congress, our elected leaders who also have the best health insurance plans in the world.

This is a subject about which I have written before. See the links at http://wcugradstudentblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/open-letter-to-candidates.html and http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/a_health_care_conversation_ope.php. But to hear the story of Tausha Marsh awoke me from the dull exhaustion of the summer to take up the matter again.

We as U.S. citizens are privileged people. I can write this blog criticizing our government and elected officials with no fear of being thrown in jail. Just because we have freedom of speech, however, does not mean the citizens of America are not under attack from a cruel system. Americans are some of the hardest working people in the world. We often work multiple part time jobs-- 60 hours a week or more-- and still take time to raise families. People in this country accept jobs for a ridiculously low minimum wage and no medical benefits.

Frankly, most of us are just too busy working and surviving to think about changes in the health care system. Much less are we able to summon the time and energy to actually get out and fight for these changes. It's a situation that has progressively gotten worse in this country. The middle class disappears as a working poor emerges and the rich become richer. I saw it most plainly in the housing and residences of our nation's capital, Washington, DC, where I worked as a mailman. Americans do not suffer under an iron dictator the way the Russians did under Stalin or the Iraqis under Saddam Hussein. But we have been lulled to sleep by a system that overworks us and constantly tries to reduce what we should expect from our government and from the companies where we work.

I say to the our political leaders: No citizen of America should be denied health care coverage due to cost. This is a right as human beings we should all expect from a country as great as the United States.

Bill Swift is an American hero, a person who is actively trying to pick up the ball where government and politicians have failed us. He is trying to raise money to fight the debt Tausha Marsh should never have to think about in fighting cancer. I encourage you to view his website and do something for the cause. It is http://www.whydoiride.org/Site/Home.html.

And this blog is a call to action for the ordinary American as well as for those in power who run the corporations and government of America. We may disagree on how to fix the problem. Some people who read my blog for Western Carolina University say socialistic medicine is not the answer. One suggested that I read Milton Friedman's ideas on how to solve the health care problem. Friedman was decidedly not a socialist-- and that is fine with me. I would sign on to his plan and say, "Full steam ahead!" Because we need to try something... anything. The current system is tragically broken.

To paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, a man's whose leadership we could use today: If one thing doesn't work, then try another. But above all, try something.

Stories like that of Tausha Marsh are not only sad, they are sickening and a black mark against the United States. We should all feel ashamed that things like this happen in our country. The time is now to overhaul the system. We can do it and do it successfully. If we have the money and resources to rebuild Iraq, then we can certainly fix our health care problem.

Fortunately, I am going to law school where I hope to learn more about how to change the system. This one issue is enough to tempt me to enter politics, though I doubt I have the credentials or the temperament to last long in that arena. People like Emily's husband Oscar, a man of my generation who is an Army reservist and has served America by going to Iraq, probably better represent mainstream Americans. Health care is a problem that is not going away, though. It should remain foremost in all Americans' minds and actions until those in power move to change the system.

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn