Your Opinion: John McCain and me

Dear Editor

It's John McCain and me. I never exactly thought I would say that. We were in Vietnam at roughly the same time. I was not a combat soldier. I was not a prisoner of war. I was not a war hero. We did share an experience that most of you did not.

I liked McCain when he was a maverick running against G. W. Bush. I did not vote for him when he ran against Barrack Obama. I didn't feel close to McCain. More so now.

Sen. McCain and I now share a common experience for those of us who have healthcare. On a routine medical exam, we have been given a diagnosis of a life-threatening health issue. The prognosis for Sen. McCain is direr than mine. If you pray, pray for him. He will get treatment, but survival from a serious brain tumor is poor. With treatment, my prognosis is very good.

What is important about this matter is that if you do not have routine healthcare coverage there is little chance of treatment. The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that if Republicans removed 20 million citizens over the age of 50 off the healthcare rolls, that could lead to yearly deaths of up to 20,000 citizens.

Treatment for a serious brain tumor could cost a million dollars with little chance of survival. If not eligible for routine exams, a person with a serious brain tumor would appear at an ER in the last stages of the disease to be told nothing could be done for them.

Like Sen. McCain, my physicians noted a health issue on routine exams and have monitored that yearly. Yearly tests cost around $1,500. Without healthcare, there would be no exams and no monitoring. Now I have reached the point where symptoms require treatment. A recent preliminary test taking no more than a morning was billed at $16,000. That revealed additional issues but ones that can be solved. Modern medicine for those entitled to it is amazing. I will be treated with procedures that could cost $300,000 to $500,000. You will seldom be surprised at how un-economical healthcare procedures are.

Like John McCain I will be treated at one of America's premier medical centers. In my case Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Pray for John McCain, and those other Americans whom Rep. Luetkemeyer and Sen. Blunt want to remove from healthcare.