America! Where Even Rock Stars Need To Crowdfund Their Medical Care
Matthew Sweet's manager set up a GoFundMe after he had a stroke while on tour with Hanson.
Matthew Sweet, best known for the 1990s power-pop hit “Girlfriend,” was in Toronto, on tour with Hanson this month when he suffered a debilitating stroke — and, unfortunately for him, he is not Canadian. If he were, he’d have been able to get treatment for the stroke without worrying about going bankrupt. But he’s an American, so he’s kind of screwed!
According to his manager, Catherine Lyons of Russell Carter Artist Management, “the doctors and hospital care in Toronto were instrumental in saving Matthew's life, but health care is not free for Americans in Canada. He must now be flown back to the States on an ambulance transport plane with medical staff on board, to a specialized rehabilitation center, where he will receive around-the-clock care and therapy for six weeks. He will then require months of treatment and rehabilitation that we hope will lead to a full recovery.”
Now, because that kind of care will be so expensive in the United States — at least a quarter of a million dollars — Lyons has started a GoFundMe for Sweet, who does not have health insurance, to help pay his bills.
This is a stupid way to do things. It’s cruel, yes. It’s heartbreaking, for sure. But most of all, it’s stupid and inefficient.
I know I’m supposed to be sweet and pretend that I totally get that I am just some dumb idealistic hippie who doesn’t understand “the real world” and actually (lol!) thinks that we should have Medicare for All, even though it’s just some silly pie-in-the-sky idea that works for practically every other country on earth, while the “serious” people, the “adults in the room” understand that “Though it’s a nice idea, no one would ever go for it! And besides, Americans love their private health insurance companies and want choice!”
The Adults in the Room do love to remind me about that precious “choice” and how people will just — I almost said “die” — freak the fuck out if they don’t have that. Oh, they’ll never give up their choice! This is America! People love choice!
You know what Matthew Sweet’s choices right now are? Pay a quarter of a million dollars he does not have for health care or … just not get any healthcare. These are bad choices to have. If they were good choices, if things worked out really well with this system, it seems doubtful that 62 percent of bankruptcies in this country would be related to medical expenses. That is a sign that things are not going well.
The plan with Medicare For All was for everything to be covered and free-at-the-point-of-service. It was for prices to be lower due to the country having the leverage — as one big insurance group — to say to pharmaceutical companies “No, we’re only willing to pay this much,” just as other countries do, and because of the lower administrative costs associated with not having to do separate billing or negotiate coverage, because everything was covered and going to the same place, and to require doctors and hospitals to take it.
It would also be high quality care because everyone, poor or rich, would have to use the same system. It’s like how when it’s just poor kids getting subsidized school lunches, they get a cheese sandwich, and when all the kids get subsidized school lunches … all the kids get an actual lunch. Part of the reason we still have Social Security (for now!) is that everyone gets it.
Why, if that were what we had, would people need “choice”? What the hell is it that they would be choosing? Like, they want the ability to say “Oh, no thank you, I would rather pay $600 a month for insurance that doesn’t cover everything and that the doctor I want to see may or may not take”? Why would that even be? Why must we pretend that it is normal for anyone to want that and, in fact, build our entire healthcare system around accommodating those people? People who, I can only assume, have some kind of a fin-dom fetish. Can we not set up something else for them and meet their needs in some other way so that we do not all have to suffer and rely on crowdfunding for our medical care?
I mean, I’m willing to take one for the team. If someone wants to pay me money to tell them that they cannot get a particular medical treatment, I will happily volunteer. Or hell, they could send it directly to the former CEOs of healthcare companies if they like! Hell, maybe they could crowdfund!
You know who else could crowdfund? The pharmaceutical companies that supposedly need to charge us out the ass for our medications because they need it for “research and development” (and, of course, the constant television ads).
They could crowdfund for that! Or they could apply for grants … just like they do already. Because, surprise, our tax dollars have been used to “research and develop” every damn new pharmaceutical for the last decade.
In 2018 it was reported that there were an average of 250,000 medical GoFundMe campaigns a year, raising a total of $650 million a year. It’s probably more now, what with inflation and all. I guess it’s very uniquely American for someone’s ability to pay their hospital bills to be based on how popular they are and how well they or their friends can promote their cause, but it’s not a very smart or efficient way to go about things, is it?
As of writing, $221,780 has been raised to take care of Matthew Sweet’s medical bills. That’s a lot of money. It is fair to say that he would not have gotten that amount of money that fast if he were not famous in any way. What ends up happening with these GoFundMes that go viral is that they get far more money than they actually need, while those whose pleas do not get attention often get nothing. That is a stupid and inefficient way of doing things. I want Matthew Sweet to get the treatment he needs, but I don’t want anyone else in this country to have to pay a quarter of a million dollars to have a stroke either. That’s not “idealism,” it’s “sanity.”
Jesus. If a somewhat-famous rock star is in danger of going bankrupt over medical care, what hope do the rest of most Americans have?
Americans were told that if the nation nationalized healthcare that they're be long wait and no choices regarding the doctor or hospital providing care. Except that's exactly what our insurance company does and it drives me up the damined wall.