To think the most shocking thing about James VDB's death is...

I have been self employed for 14 years in a job I love that benefits society snd earns me a median wage. It would just not be possible in the US as I couldn’t find private health insurance without an employer. It makes me so sad. Everyone should not be forced to work for big employers who have access to large scale benefits packages.

But still have a mansion worth millions.

That would involve a huge amount of admin.

This is why we have to not let Reform etc get into power and sell off our NHS

The US model of health care in notriously poor worldwide and know for bankrupting ordinary people.

In fact latest biggest problem they now face is acceleration in already rapid closing of more rural hospitals and limits on what ones left offer - ie manternity care often going. There system is competely fucked up in so many ways.

NHS - is has many thing going for it - but also has many problems - it a mix of best and worse care worldwide and as population ages costs keep going up. I suspect some other part insurance/part state system may come in over time - there are many counrteis with variations of this though many of them also face huge challenges from agimg population but many have better outcomes than NHS.

NHS and US system are both at extreme of health care systems avaliable and there are many other countries with other options out there - all with the own issues and benefits.

I can assure you, there are no holidays or meals out either. It’s irrelevant what you pay for insurance. What about those with pre-existing conditions who are turned down for all insurance? DH and I were turned down flat and are uninsurable. DD’s quotes were more than her mortgage and completely beyond her means.

My mum has American friends, one of them had her baby via c section and posted her hospital bill on Facebook, even with insurance she had to fork out hundreds of dollars. Me in the UK with my c section, nada. I was one of those people who barely used the NHS, every now and again I'd get an ear infection, and needed antibiotics, or antidepressants, but not much else. Had a baby and without the NHS I'd be destitute. DS had an MRI last year, I dread to think what that would have cost in the USA.

I wouldn’t assume that just because someone is famous that they are rich. He was in a TV show that ran for 5 years over 20 years ago. He’s not done much since then so essentially an out of work actor with six kids to support.

Some other replies on this thread have me astounded that there is such a lack of care for the welfare of children in society following the death of a parent.

We're not talking about an ordinary family here though, this was a man with a net worth of millions.

My DH has stage 4 bowel cancer and literally yesterday we were informed that he has "less than six months to live". It's like a black abyss opening up in front of you.

We have done our best to mitigate financial problems with life insurance, and have put me on his bank account as a joint account holder, applied for power of attorney, there will be a modest widows pension - but the truth is that even now, having kept on top of all those financial elements as best we can, we still don't know exactly what those numbers are going to look like when the time comes, or how long everything will take to settle down, or whether I will be left with a monthly shortfall. And all of this has to be sorted out while you are grieving, while you are suffering indescribable emotional pain - how do you do that? I think that if we had had to find money for treatment on top of all of this, well there is just no way. No way at all. We would have had to sell our home probably to do that, we don't have money to spare. I find it horrifying that the US system destroys families financially when they are struggling to cope with cancer treatment, it is completely inhumane. The whole process is hell on earth already without being financially ruined as well. We cannot and must not allow Farage to do this to our country.

But that life insurance only covers the amount remaining on your mortgage. It doesn't cover the cost of raising multiple children, some for potentially 18 years. It also does nothing to address the loss of earnings that the surviving spouse/partner may incur due to caring for someone who is terminally ill, let alone the fact that after their death one person is responsible for the care of their mutual children, and may need to reduce working hours to facilitate this.

The financial burden placed on a single parent following the death of a spouse is significant. All at a time when they are dealing with their own grief, and helping their children navigate theirs.

Some other replies on this thread have me astounded that there is such a lack of care for the welfare of children in society following the death of a parent.

what is an European style health system?
Evrry single country in Europe has different system.
which one would you recommend?
FWIW I am completely against anything similar to the US healthcare.

It's crazy, isn't it?

The shocking thing for me is that people are willing to donate millions to this family who are not on the breadline and could sell the huge house and buy a modest one, leave the private schools and attend public ones, etc, but will happily step over the bodies of homeless destitute people discharged by hospitals to the streets.

The fact that he moved his family from LA to Texas in 2020 suggests to me they may have already been struggling for money back in 2020. The tax burden in CA is very high and many people in the past few years have chosen to relocate from places like LA to e.g. Austin in TX, where the taxes are much lower. The move could also have been ideological, if they were Republicans, as this is another major reason for people to make that move.

And somewhat misleading that the Go Fund Me page doesn't say the kids go to private school.

The reality is that many sad fans who would have no chance of sending their own kids to private school will be funding private education for Van Der Beek's 6 children. I don't think that's morally right.

Says underfunding and incompetence of the admin, actually. Sorry about your mum but this was not my experience when my brother (suicide), DH (cardiac arrest) and DM (age and lung infection leading to sepsis) died. Everyone was caring, and information was there. Blackpool ITU and a London hospital, btw.

Which begs the question of why did they have 6 kids?

That's difficult in the US with health care since even the well-off can run out of insurance. But true, his DC don't have to go to private schools.

YANBU about the US health system. But YAVU about James financial situation.

Fame doesn't equal money. Not all famous people are multi-millionairs. Dawsons Creek was nearly 30 years ago. I don't want to speak badly of James Van Der Beek but he was hardly mega movie star.

It's not sad it's outrageous. This can happen if a child dies, too. The parents are bankrupt and still owe the insurers - e.g. a child with leukemia can cost 300k in health costs even if you are insured.

I must say, even though I was sad at his death as Dawson's Creek was a part of my childhood, I was surprised they had 6 kids.

Surely they should have ensured they had enough funds?

If they were on welfare, they would have been called irresponsible but for some reason it's fine when it's the rich.

Employer contributions already fund the NHS. The US model with employer based health insurance stifles entrepreneurship (because you won't have health care if you set up a business so it's a huge risk esp if you have DC) and job moility (because if you have health care needs or DC with health issues you cannot move employers because you will/may lose your health insurance and the new insurers may not cover what the previous one did).