The cost of medical care alone can feel crippling. Last night U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El Sayed held a town hall hosted by the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship as a part of a recent tour in the Upper Peninsula. The stop on the Open Our Healthcare town hall series marks the second time he has come to the region in the past six months. A panel for the Town Hall included local physicians and retired medical professionals, and healthcare advocates, to offer insight into how rising costs impact more than a single patient, and can affect an entire community.
So we need solutions that are going to empower people to live their longest, healthiest lives as they age, and at the same time empower folks to stay in the workforce uh when a uh loved one is aging. And so we don’t have those solutions. It’s the same deal when it comes to childcare. Too often a parent has to leave the workforce because they’ve got a child uh who is under five and is not yet eligible for kindergarten. – Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
In the summer Keweenaw Indivisible held a fundraiser to erase medical debt across the Upper Peninsula through Undue medical Debt. Last night a member of the group provided an update announcing people should begin receiving letter notifying them their debts have been paid. The event raised 27,000 dollars, which was able to support Undue Medical Debt’s purchase of more than 2 million dollars. The non-profit states its debt coverage program averages 100 dollars covered for every dollar donated. El Sayed pointed out the success of such events, but noted leaders have to create solutions so people do not have to have medical debt in the first place.
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