The Opinions Essay: Disease took my brother. Our health-care system added to his ordeal.
| The latest essay in our Opinions long-form series. |
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| | | |  |  | | Special features, including long-form commentary and short films, to dive deeper into the news. | | | | | | | Deputy editorial page editor and columnist Karen Tumulty had already made a career out of covering the ups and downs of health-care reform when she first learned that her older brother Patrick was having trouble staying insured 15 years ago. Patrick had struggled all his life with Asperger's, developed kidney problems in middle age and eventually faced the deadliest kind of brain cancer. But America's complicated and often bewildering system of private and public health insurance presented an obstacle course that was nearly as challenging to navigate as the diseases that were slowly taking his life. "As an adult, Pat was proud and protective of his independence," Karen writes. "But when he reached his early 50s, his health began to fail. My brother found himself up against not just disease but a broken medical system. Pat's journey became a story of the best and worst of health care in this country, and it reveals the real-life consequences when health-care policy is treated like a football by two political parties." Karen's harrowing essay about Patrick is a reminder of the often-unending hurdles families can face when a loved one is sick and health insurance coverage is less than advertised.  (Anson Chan for The Washington Post) One family's struggle with cascading medical bills and a system determined to make it harder. The Opinions Essay ● By Karen Tumulty ● Read more » |    | | | | | | Explore more Opinions features Short Documentary ● By Kate Woodsome and Ray Whitehouse ● Read more » | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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