I am a physician. Off the top of my head I can think of two patients in recent months who became ill, then lost their job because they were sick, and so also lost their health insurance. Then they couldn't get further treatment they needed for their illness.

The first had a severe skin infection that required treatment in the hospital and time off work. After losing her job and insurance she could no longer afford the expensive medication for rheumatoid arthritis that had allowed her to function, work and be an active person. Society loses the talents of a functioning person in this case not to mention the personal loss this patient suffers.

The second patient had an abnormal heart rhythm and needed hospitalization. She also lost her job because she was ill and then lost her health insurance too. Then she could not get the surgical treatment that an electrophysiologist (a physician who specializes in abnormal heart rhythms) recommended to prevent further problems with her heart condition.

I'm not expecting the world to be perfect or to completely ameliorate the human condition, but isn't our society wealthy enough to find an effective way to keep our citizens as healthy as possible and actually make our society richer and fuller for doing it. And what good is an insurance system set up so that one is likely to lose insurance just at the time one needs it. Thanks for reading my stories and may God bless us all.