Thoughts on Carrie Fisher

My thoughts about Carrie Fisher’s death.

When her heart stopped on that plane, the odds were against her. Only about 6 percent of those experiencing cardiac arrest outside a hospital will survive.

In a hospital? About one in four.

A lot of people are going to lose their health insurance with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. And, to avoid crippling debt, they're going to try to tough out that pain in their chests until they're really really sure it's an emergency. And then it will be too late. And they will die.

I had access to terrific health-care through my union job. And while I initially argued with my mother and brother about whether to go to the hospital as the pain in my chest grew worse, I never once factored in whether I could afford an emergency visit to the hospital.

Approximately 10 minutes after I walked into the emergency room my heart stopped.

Ten minutes. How many people will spend 10 minutes trying to walk it off? How many people will have powerful incentives to spend 10 more minutes rationalizing that it’s just indigestion?

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the second leading cause of death in the United States. My doctor told me that many of the people who experience it tend to be younger and more active. Doctors aren’t really sure why, he said, but the theory is that it’s a greater shock to the system for them when the blood circulation turns off than for a person who’s adapted to poor circulation.

My hospital bill was $70,000, which was paid for my Hallmark Blue Shield. For an article that I’m working on, I have started looking up prices for the services I received and compared them to what could have been charged to someone without insurance. In many cases, it would have been more than twice as much.

Being able to afford health care should not be a privilege in America. But there you go. We have been taken over by men who believe that it should be treated as one. A study published in Think Progress estimates that 36,000 people a year will die due to losing their health insurance.