A Silent Spring Moment for Health Care (VIDEO)

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Julie Sokolow

Julie Sokolow is a musician, writer, and filmmaker based in Pittsburgh, PA. She is the creator of the Healthy Artists documentary series, in which young creatives discuss their struggles with the American health care system.

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March 2nd, 2013 1:25 PM

A Silent Spring Moment for Health Care (VIDEO)

By Julie Sokolow

“This should be a Silent Spring moment for health care,” Jon Stewart says on the Daily Show.

He’s talking about Steven Brill’s recent TIME cover story, “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us”, a comprehensive report that exposes why health care costs are so high for average Americans. According to Brill, we are all involuntary entrants into a marketplace like no other – A marketplace in which we have no choice in what we are buying and no idea of what the price is.

“You don’t wake up one morning and say, gee, I’d really like to go to the emergency room and see what they have for sale today,” says Brill.

What’s more likely to happen, is you wake up one morning and need an ambulance, which costs you about $1,000 for a ride down the street. Once you get to the hospital, you’re vulnerable to racking up costs so fast, that you’re well on your way to medical bankruptcy. 60% of personal bankruptcies in this country come from medical bills, and the majority of medical bankruptcies happen to the people least expecting it: people with health insurance.

Jenn Gooch is a 34-year-old artist and musician based in Pittsburgh, PA. She had just graduated from Carnegie Mellon and was working a job with health insurance, when she fell victim to medical bankruptcy. This year, she lost her health insurance completely.

“As a lower-income entrepreneur it’s impossible to start a small business or be self-employed if you don’t have health insurance, especially if you have pre-existing conditions,” Gooch says.

The following short documentary, “Everything Will Probably Be Fine,” explores Gooch’s art, life, and health care story. You can help make this a Silent Spring moment for health care, by also speaking out and telling your story, or by getting involved in a single-payer advocacy group near you.

Watch more videos from the Healthy Artists documentary series.