Five years ago today, something happened that made me emotionally sensitive to the issue of health care reform in this country.
Back in November 2007, a 17-year-old girl who I'll refer to as "Jane" (it pains me emotionally to mention her real name) received a bone marrow transplant in response to leukemia. That soon led to complications resulting in liver failure. A transplant organ was prepared and ready, but inexplicably, Jane's health insurer denied coverage for the liver transplant because it was considered by them as experimental - despite very good prognoses of survival by Jane's doctors. Eventually, after some intense lobbying by various people, the insurer finally capitulated. By then, however, Jane's condition had deteriorated to the point where she was removed from life support, and she died several hours later - exactly five years ago today.
To this day, whenever I hear about the topic of health care reform, I am reminded of this tragedy.