A horrifying news story about a child trying to fund her own brain surgeries has people yet again condemning the American health insurance system.
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7-year-old Liza Scott gained attention in Alabama last week when the local news did a report on how she’s been selling lemonade at her mother’s bakery after learning she had three “cerebral malformations” that were causing seizures and needs multiple surgeries.
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The treatment requires Liza and her mother to fly to Boston, and even with insurance, the costs are already pushing five figures.
“As a single mom and the financial supporter of both my children, this is not something you can budget for,” Liza’s mother, Elizabeth, told CBS 42.
Of course, as soon as the story spread across the internet, financial assistance started pouring in. Over $250,000 has been donated to Liza’s fundraising page, and flights and housing for their upcoming trip and hospital stay have been comped.
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While it’s a wonderful turn of events that deserves celebration, it’s hard not to be bitter that a health care system is so broken that a small child has to do some sort of gimmick to get on the news and hope people will donate enough money to pay for her to even have a chance at survival.
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Every time a story like this comes out, people question why it’s being framed as a feel-good story when there’s truly nothing good about it at all.
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And with the topic of healthcare already constantly on people’s minds, this is only proving to many that continuing to demand a better system that serves all people is necessary.
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It’s great that Liza is going to get the help she needs, but there’s no world in which she or anyone else should have to go to these lengths to publicly beg for the help they need. It’s hard to imagine any civilized society would think otherwise.
*First Published: March 1, 2021, 7:16 am
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