Bill Moyers rocks the health care boat again tonight:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08212009/profile.html


August 21, 2009

THE JOURNAL presents CRITICAL CONDITION, a documentary in which ordinary hard-working Americans tell their stories of battling critical illnesses without health insurance. They discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, homes, savings, and even their lives.

The country spends more than $2 trillion a year — over $6,000 per person — on health care, yet is the only major industrial nation without universal coverage. Between 45 and 47 million Americans live without health insurance, and 80 percent of them are from working families who either cannot afford insurance premiums or lose their insurance exactly when they need it most: when they fall ill and can no longer work. America ranks 24th in life expectancy, 28th in preventing infant mortality and 19th in halting preventable deaths.

>Find out more about America's uninsured.


Updates

Since producer Roger Weisberg first reported on the families profiled in CRITICAL CONDITION, here's what has happened to them.

In the aftermath of Joe's death, his widow Dale has been struggling to raise their granddaughter alone. She still receives collection notices for outstanding medical bills and continues to blame Joe's passing on his lack of insurance.

Carlos Benitez is without great pain for the first time in years and four inches taller since his surgery. He returned to his chef's job at a French restaurant but still has no insurance. Even if he could pay, his pre-existing condition probably means no insurance company would cover him. He takes pain medication that he buys much cheaper in Mexico and has a soft tissue lump on his chest which remains undiagnosed - he can't afford the X-rays he needs.

Six months after CRITICAL CONDITION was completed, Karen Dove had a recurrence of her cancer. She opted for an oral drug protocol but a serious side effect of the treatment sent her back to the hospital, where she contracted pneumonia and died at 50 years old.

Her husband Ronnie is living with his daughter. He got a job at a grocery store that has an insurance plan. But the medical bills for his wife's treatment keep coming - they may pile up to as much as $150,000 dollars. Ronnie, who lives from paycheck to paycheck, has only been able to pay back a tiny fraction of what's owed.


Additional Video

The POV's CRITICAL CONDITION Web site presents two additional stories of American families struggling without health insurance.

Your Money or Your Life: An uninsured father struggles to treat his diabetes and support his family.

Uncovered: A family with two young girls with developmental problems find out their health insurance has been terminated.


Roger Weisberg

Veteran documentary filmmaker Weisberg's 30 previous films have earned more than 100 awards, including Emmy, duPont-Columbia and Peabody awards, as well as two Academy Award nominations (in 2001 for SOUND AND FURY and in 2003 for WHY CAN'T WE BE A FAMILY AGAIN?). He has made the American health care system a special focus of his work with such films as WHAT'S AILING MEDICINE, OUR CHILDREN AT RISK, BORDERLINE MEDICINE, WHO LIVES, WHO DIES and CAN'T AFFORD TO GROW OLD. Recent productions include WAGING A LIVING about low-wage workers struggling to achieve the elusive American dream, ROSEVELT’S AMERICA about the efforts of a Liberian refugee to build a new life for his family in America, AGING OUT about teens who leave foster care and suddenly discover that they’re on their own, and WITH NO DIRECTION HOME about the efforts of an abused and neglected teenager to take control of his life. You can find out more about Weisberg's films at Public Policy Productions.

..... but I'll check it out on the web well before then.