Here are a few important things you need to understand before reading:

1. As I begin, I’m not sure where I’m going to go with today’s post; I only know that I need to write it.
2. Please don’t misconstrue this as political; it’s not.
3. I’m writing with the subject’s permission.
4. I’m NOT asking my readers for $$$.
5. I’m not proposing solutions, just asking questions.

Today’s post is a reaction to my friend Bruce’s developing situation as a recent amputee. Earlier this month doctors had to remove his left leg. But along with his leg – and in many ways more disturbing – Bruce’s young family has also lost its financial security.

Essentially, the situation is desperate. So desperate that this past weekend Bruce resorted to setting up a “YouCaring.com” on-line fundraising site. Yes, that’s right, a hard-working family who have good jobs, paid-up health insurance, loving friends, and a generous church family are now in the position of soliciting money so they don’t lose what little they have remaining.

Here’s a short quote from Bruce (“Lost my leg, lost our money, have not lost our faith”) that helps explain the absurdity (click for details):

In addition to these surgeries on my leg, I have had other terrible medical circumstances since 2007, including three additional surgeries, and two lengthy hospital stays (spinal meningitis and chest pains).  While I have fairly good health insurance at work, we have still had to pay nearly $80,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses since 2007….

UNCONSCIONABLE: The malfunction of our current health-care system goes a lot deeper than politics, or the legions of uninsured. The problem with a profit-based medical infrastructure is not “who” has to pay; the problem is the fact that – at the care-receiving end – it has anything to do with money at all.

Health is no more a commodity than is life, liberty, or the chasing of our dreams.

I believe that we (and most definitely Congress) are asking the wrong questions about health care. Rather than arguing about who is going to pay for what, we need to be concerned about the fundamental value of having profit (or loss) anywhere near the delivery end of care to begin with.

Stress is a huge inhibitor of recovery. So weighty medical bills, complex insurance filing, dysfunctional bureaucracies and financial uncertainty turn out to be hugely counterproductive to the healing process and – consequently – become the cause for more strain on the system in the long run.

INTERVIEW: Not long ago I had a long conversation with the director of an international hunger-relief agency. He said that the USA is remarkable when it comes to private charitable contributions, and hands-on involvement across the world. “The voluntary contributions of individuals and churches makes a real and lasting difference,” he told me, “nothing can replace the value of such charity when it comes to fighting hunger.”

But here’s what’s interesting. He went on to say that (while critically important to the communities they touch) private dollars amount to but a drop in the bucket compared to the broad-based impact of our collective response as a people through government-sponsored hunger programs such as the Federal free-and-reduced-lunch initiative.

In other words, there are levels of intervention that require our commitment as a nation to effect positive results with resources adequate to the task.

RESPONSIBILITY: I believe it is our responsibility as a nation to avoid the ongoing tragedy of unaffordable health care. It would be amazing if someone (or several hundred people) paid up the $30,000-plus that is currently squeezing the life out of my friend Bruce’s family. But that wouldn’t solve the unbelievably punitive “system” we have in place.

Think about it, people. Don’t go with politics on this one. Washington needs to take this issue completely apart, lay all the pieces on a warehouse floor, and rebuild something practical and compassionate from the ground up.

You can read about Bruce and his ongoing adventures at “Left-Leg-Lost.”

“To your good health” – DEREK