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Want to Save Dad? Insurance Won't Let You

And Congress fatcats need to overhaul this 'disgrace' now: Kristof

By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 4, 2009 11:25 AM CDT

(Newser) – So dear old dad desperately needs a kidney, and the docs say you're the best fit. Tough luck, writes Nicholas Kristof in a look at the case of David Waddington, whose two sons can't donate—because pre-donation screening might reveal to insurance companies that they have the same genetic condition he has.“At the time David needed a transplant, the people closest to him couldn’t even offer a lifesaving donation—for insurance reasons,” Waddington's wife tells the New York Times columnist.

But because Waddington's sons dared not get tested, they also couldn't get medication that could stave off the disease—until one ended up in the emergency room with, you guessed it, kidney disease. So while Congress has "first-rate health care for themselves and so perhaps don’t appreciate how their posturing forces people like the Waddingtons into impossible situations," Kristof hopes "they can find it in their hearts to overhaul the disgrace of the industrialized world."

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Remember the guy who took you on walks along the beach? Want to give him a kidney? Forget it, writes Nicholas Kristof. (Shutterstock)

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Can you put a price on your father’s life? My brother and I agreed that we should both go ahead and get tested anyway. We presented our plan to our parents, and of course Mom immediately shot it down, with Dad firmly behind her. - Travis Waddington

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 25 comments

muleskinner

Oct 5, 2009 12:09 PM CDT

i am hoping that the blue dog democrats will be voted out of congress, once the public sees how they vote. they have a historical oppurtunity to do something great for the country and instead chose their own self interest and either way, their going to loose since if they vote for it, they will be shit on by the insurance companies and if they vote against it the public will shit on them, so why not do something great and go down a winner?

riffran

Oct 5, 2009 7:25 AM CDT

I would not count the unhatched chickens ...just yet...you may be right, or you may be wrong also...overconfidence will get you in the end

riffran

Oct 5, 2009 7:20 AM CDT

damn right tran_tor...well put

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Want to Save Dad? Insurance Won't Let You