I just saw a link to a video of a middle aged woman in
tears of joy with the following caption:
"HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SACRIFICE CLASS TRIP TO
DONATE TO PRINCIPAL'S CANCER CARE "
A very brief summary follows:
" Principal
Courtney Vashaw of Bethlehem's Profile School for both junior and high school
students has worked hard to teach her students about caring for others and
being compassionate across her seven-year tenure, but never expected that the
lesson in kindness would come back to benefit her. Vashaw told her students that she had been
diagnosed with a rare cancer of the soft tissue earlier this month, explaining
that the illness would put her out of school for some time.
The
heartbreaking news came just as the seniors were about to leave for their
four-day senior trip to Rydin' Hi Ranch in New York. Though after hearing of
their principal's health concerns, the seniors took a vote and unanimously
decided to donate the trip's nearly $8,000 expenses to Vashaw as a gift" Vashaw
was overwhelmed by the generosity of her students, and immediately brought to
tears. "It is very hard for me to accept help, and I have no idea what to
say to you," said Vashaw."
The link
below will take you to the actual story.
This is genuinely touching and I applaud the kids who
did it. The "elephant in the room" however, is the unasked or
answered question:
"Why in the world does a fully employed School
administrator(or anyone else in America, for that matter) need a handout to
obtain medical treatment?"
There are two issues here: First - Just how
shitty is the school district's healthcare insurance, that it wouldn't
completely cover this illness? Second: When will we as a nation get our heads
out of our collective asses, look at the entire rest of the industrialized
nations of the world and objectively ask why they are (all, except Portugal and
Mexico) as a nation happier with their health care than US consumers. (fact, in
survey after survey! FACT!). Ascertaining that, why do all those nations spend
a far smaller of GDP to provide said health care?
I would
hazard a guess that medication constitutes a huge part of whatever this
person's cost factor is, yet while the average US corporation earns just under
4% annual profit, several major Pharma corporations regularly earn over 30%,
some of which is spent lobbying Congress against healthcare reform! Of course
her cancer medication will be expensive - in the United States. Here's an
example which illustrates one of the shames of US policy: In Spain, an average
30 day prescription for Nexium costs the equvalent of $18. US consumer, same
drug, same amount - averages $187!
Prescription
drug pricing in the United States is unregulated, which means that Big Pharma
can charge whatever it wants for prescription drugs. Executives at America’s
top pharmaceutical companies , if asked about these high priced meds and the
high costs of most prescription drugs, will tell you that high and increasing
drug prices are needed to sustain research and development efforts. In truth
(remember truth?) numerous studies have debunked those claims. One study, by
the group Families USA, found that America’s major drug companies are spending
more than twice as much on marketing, advertising and administration than they
do on research and development.
Again, an
easy example - Vioxx (2 "x"s must be special), which was pulled from
distribution by the FDA after 5 years in the market, cost Merck by their own
inflated numbers, about $1 billion in development. They recouped double that in
the first year, and by the time the FDA pulled the plug, had made an additional
$4.5 billion in pure profit on this medication, which was pulled from the
formulary because of high heart attack and stroke risk.
Another financial analysis found, not surprisingly,
that the total profits of all of America’s top pharmaceutical companies far
exceed their research and development costs.
So, bravo to these school kids, who decided to forgo
their senior trip to help their principal. Shame on a system which allows this
sort of thing to happen. The truth about healthcare here and in the rest of the
world is as close as a Google search. Screw the Congressional and industry
mouthpieces for Big Pharma - educate yourselves. The truth is out there!
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