Health care cash cow

We attend health-care fundraisers a lot; then my family became one.

Let me be clear, the road to this was not simple. After a layoff from a Fortune 500 company, our family obtained insurance through the ACA (nonsubsidized). We stayed on it as a new job with a venture-capital firm did not provide health insurance in Arkansas.

Things were fine until cancer struck. We are parents in our 40s with three children. A health crisis, yep! That is when the bills started rolling in and took us way beyond our deductible in less than three months. The bills are still rolling in, and our lifetime savings for our soon-to-be college-age child has disappeared.

We have always paid for health care, so what I ask you to think about is, maybe instead of wasting more time on who should pay for health care, we should start to ask: How come it is so expensive? Who is reaping all the benefits?

Recently we have been asked to another fundraiser. I am embarrassed and despaired that when they pass the hat around I have nothing to give—I am dealing with the need for another fundraiser myself.

This country put a man on the moon—it’s time it caught up to the rest of the industrialized countries with solid health-care platforms. The American dream is shattered by the greed of someone making money off your poor health. Be careful what you “wish” or vote for—you could be next. TRICIA MOORE

Fayetteville