Kaiser said – we don’t know what’s wrong with you – now give us our money.”...He thought he could win in court because they never did anything for him and he was continuing to get sicker...Kaiser said he owed them about $10,000 for all the tests, CAT scans, MRIs. The bills kept piling up. He couldn’t pay it.
Adara believes that if we had a single payer national health insurance system, her father might still be alive.
October 19, 2011
Adara Scarlet, Suicide and Single Payer
by RUSSELL MOKHIBER
Counterpunch.org
...[Martin] Goldstein graduated from the University of Louisville School of Law. He was a member of the Colorado Bar. But he found out that he didn’t like practicing law – so he did odd jobs – as a stock broker, taxi driver, and dispatcher.
When he lost his jobs as a dispatcher, he lost his health insurance.
But he had this amazing ability to count cards at the Blackjack table...
And he made on average $200 a day.
“He had an amazing memory,” Adara says. “He was a walking talking encyclopedia. He taught me how to count cards when I was ten years old. He could beat the system and he did.”
Adara says that it’s a myth that counting cards at a casino is illegal...
“Back then, there was a $5 betting minimum and maximum per hand. If you were to do this today, he would be much more prosperous. Now you can bet up to $100 per hand. Back then, it was just strictly five dollar ante.”
“And he played blackjack. He was clearing $1000 a week. The rent on the house was $1195 a month. He never seemed to have a problem with the grocery shopping. And buying clothes for me and my sister.”
He was able to pay the bills – including $600 a month to Kaiser Permanente for health insurance for himself and the girls.
Then Goldstein started getting sick – and running up medical bills.
“He was having a whole bunch of medical problems,” Adara says. “They never figured out what was wrong with him. We never found out.”
The illness started in about 2000 or 2001...
What were the symptoms?
“Legs swollen,” Adara says. “Calves were so swollen they were bigger than his thighs.”
“And he couldn’t eat. He couldn’t keep food down.”
“His circulation was all screwed up, so he was always cold.”
“Kaiser bounced him around to a whole bunch of specialists. But nobody could figure out what was wrong with him – they pretty much gave up after a certain point.”
“Kaiser said – we don’t know what’s wrong with you – now give us our money.”
“But he said he was not going to pay them. He thought he could win in court because they never did anything for him and he was continuing to get sicker. He lost a whole bunch of weight. He was overweight most of his life. He actually got pretty skinny toward the end.”
“He got fed up with Kaiser. He paid all of this money into the system. Not only the premiums, but the co pays. He said – I’m not going to pay this bill – you haven’t figured out what is wrong with me.”
“I assume they wouldn’t cover him anymore, or he just refused to give them any more money.”
“Kaiser said he owed them about $10,000 for all the tests, CAT scans, MRIs. The bills kept piling up. He couldn’t pay it.”
“It was something around $10,000. He couldn’t pay it. He refused to pay it.”
“Kaiser sued him. He went to court and fought them. But Kaiser won the lawsuit.”
“But he didn’t pay. He couldn’t pay.”
“They put bill collectors on it. He was in debt to them. He had bill collectors calling him.”
“Kaiser Permanent is a horrible horrible company,” Adara says.
In early April 2003, Marty Goldstein was eating a bowl of chili in the kitchen. And he said to Adara that he was going to kill himself.
“It was the most casual thing,” Adara said. “He said – I want to talk to you about something. I don’t want you to tell your sister because she is kind of emotional. I don’t want her to get bent out of shape. But I’m sure you’ll understand.”
“And he said – I’ve decided that I have lived my life, it’s time to go, I’m going to stick around for one more birthday.”
“His birthday was April 30.”
“My birthday is May 11.”
“He was 53 that year. I was 18.”
“My response was to freak out and tell my sister, which was exactly what he asked me not to do.”
“He was sitting there eating a bowl of chili while he was talking about it. He was just blowing on the chili, eating the chili, like it was nothing.”
“I went down and told my sister – Dad is talking about killing himself.”
Did he say how he was going to do it?
“No he didn’t. He just said – it was time to bow out. It was so casual.”
“He said that he had lived his life. He said all he had done was get himself into debt. And there was no way he would be able to pay Kaiser. He said – what do I have in my future other than bankrupting my family?”
“He suffered from depression. I’m sure if we had a better mental health care system, he wouldn’t have thought this was the only way out.”
“When I told my sister, she panicked. We went upstairs and cornered my dad and said – you have every reason to live. That kind of thing.”
“He acted like we convinced him. After we were at it for a while, he said – you are absolutely right, I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just talking crazy talk. And he never brought it up again.”
That was April 2003.
Did he say anything after that date?
“Never. He never brought it up again.”
But less than a year later – on February 4, 2004 – Marty Goldstein killed himself.
How did he kill himself?
“He shot himself in the head. I got a call from my aunt. It was the cops who called her. He had left a note. He called 911 first. He said – I’m about to kill myself. Please collect my body so my daughters don’t find it. He left a short note for the emergency people. He said – here are the keys to the house for my daughters. He even said what day the trash pick up was. He said – please don’t let my daughters find my body here.”
Did he leave a note for you?
“Yes, a long note in a sealed envelope. It was a 22-page hand written letter.”
“He said when bill collectors come around, they can come and collect my TV, bed, everything like that. I have a small life insurance policy that will pay collectors off at about 75 cents on the dollar.”
“I guess he must have been about $40,000 debt in total, because it was a $30,000 life insurance policy. The life insurance company of course managed to screw us – we didn’t get that.”
“He had actually gotten life insurance with a company that covered suicide. God knows where he found that. It was some place out of Texas. He had done that specifically in the early 1990s.”
“He had this policy for years. Maybe he had suicide on the back of his mind.”
An aunt told Adara that her father’s bills wouldn’t pass on to the family.
“But collectors called me and my sister anyway. They tried to trick us into thinking that we owed it. I’m really glad my aunt told me – you don’t owe anybody any money. Don’t let anyone talk you into thinking that you do. My sister and I just hung up on them. And finally after about a year, they quit calling.”
Adara believes that if we had a single payer national health insurance system, her father might still be alive.
“He was really depressed and he considered suicide as a possibility. But I don’t think he would have done it. The Kaiser Permanente bills were on his mind. He didn’t want to burden his family with bills.”
“My dad’s main killer was depression. And no health insurance. If had been able to pay those bills, he would have stuck it out.”...
No comments:
Post a Comment