The US is the only advanced, developed, post-industrial nation on Earth where illness can be a financial calamity for a patient and/or his/her family. The Torah requires that no one go without medical care, and the obligation to provide it is on the entire society, not the healthcare providers alone. (I apologize for not having the relevant citations to the Torah on this important point.) In light of the Torah requirement for health care, I continue to be puzzled by the vehement opposition of so many readers on this site to Obamacare or “European socialized medicine”. It is a Torah obligation, and I have not read a cogent, Torah-based reason to oppose Obamacare or some other government assurance that we all will have medical care without financial ruin – of the patient or society.
I am sorry to bring up this political issue in connection with the very serious personal crisis described here, but I cannot think of a better time or place to make the point about the Torah’s requirements that we provide for the health care of all. I hope the patient and his family get the medical and financial relief they need. My modest check is in the mail.