What a cancer survivor teaches us
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Who could not be touched and slightly horrified by the nightmare odyssey described by Ibby Caputo ["How A Public Option Saved My Life," Health, Oct. 13] and her fellow patient Ruben Garza?
Facing the trauma and devastation of cancer is bad enough, but to also face the prospect of financial ruin in fighting it is just plain wrong.
As a leading patient advocacy organization, we hear these stories all too often. Increasing numbers of uninsured, increased costs for those who are insured, the rising cost of cancer treatments -- all aggravated by the current economy -- are shredding the system of care for cancer patients.
With support from compassionate donors, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has been able to offer some financial assistance to patients, but it is not enough, and the recession is straining our ability to provide it.
What patients need, and what we should insist on, is assurance that a devastating, life-threatening disease does not jeopardize the patient's financial survival or that of families. That should be the vision and goal of health-care reform.
As Ibby Caputo noted, what's more important than saving lives?
John Walter, White Plains, N.Y.
The writer is the president and chief executive of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
