A Possibly Fatal Mistake - NYTimes.com

(NOTE: New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof writes about his longtime friend "Scott" who despite having the means and the knowledge of what risks not obtaining health insurance could bring, failed to get himself coverage. The article begs the question, if "Scott" didn't care enough about himself to get health insurance, why should we care? True, it would be an awfully unfeeling and unforgiving America to call home if we decide Scott isn't our problem. He admits he made a mistake-a huge one. How forgiving should America be in this case?)

A POSSIBLY FATAL MISTAKE...by Nicholas Kristof, NYT...

MY wife and I attended my 30-year college reunion a couple of weekends ago, but the partying was bittersweet. My freshman roommate, Scott Androes, was in a Seattle hospital bed, a victim in part of a broken health care system. Strip away the sound and fury of campaign ads and rival spinmeisters, and what’s at stake in this presidential election is, in part, lives like Scott’s.

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Damon Winter/The New York Times

Nicholas D. Kristof

Scott and I were both Oregon farm boys, friends through the Future Farmers of America, when Harvard sent us thick envelopes. We were exhilarated but nervous, for neither of us had ever actually visited Harvard, and we asked to room together for moral support among all those city slickers.

We were the country bumpkins of Harvard Yard. Yet if we amused our classmates more than we intended, we had our private jokes as well. We let slip (falsely) that we kept deer rifles under our beds and smiled as our friends gave them a wide berth.

Scott was there when I limped back from the Worst Date in History (quite regularly), and he and I together worked our way onto the Crimson, the student newspaper. He had an omnivorous mind: Scott may be the only champion judge of dairy cattle who enjoyed quoting Thomas Macaulay, the 19th-century British historian. Scott topped off his erudition with a crackling wit to deflate pretentiousness (which, at Harvard, kept him busy).

By nature, Scott was even-keeled, prudent and cautious, and he always looked like the mild-mannered financial consultant that he became. He never lost his temper, never drove too fast, never got drunk, never smoked marijuana.

Well, not that I remember. I don’t want to discredit his youth.

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A Possibly Fatal Mistake - NYTimes.com: