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

[Hitthebestbooth]

...that a famous actor, recognised worldwide for his role in Dawson's Creek (putting this in the first lines for the benefit of MNetters who love to comment 'who??' on these threads) struggled to pay for his cancer treatment? His death has left his family 'out of funds'.

Now, James Van der Beek had enough fame and affection from fans that a Go Fund Me has raised a lot to support his family already. But there must be countless families across America who are ruined by medical bills - if Dawson couldn't pay for his cancer treatment, how do non-famous people in ordinary jobs cope? What do their families do after they've been crippled by the costs and still lose their loved one along with their homes and security for their children?

As a millennial, I was so sad to read of James' death. I loved Dawson's Creek. But it makes me very afraid for a future where Farage gets his hands on the NHS and we find ourselves in this position too. I have plenty of bad experiences with our healthcare system and am not saying it's perfect. But if I or my husband are diagnosed with cancer tomorrow, we won't have to sell our possessions or ask friends and family for money or risk leaving our kids with no home after treatment costs. There are plenty of wealthy people out there eager to take the NHS apart and sell it off, and for all people say we'd get a European system and it would be improved, it seems far more likely that capitalist greed will win out and we'll actually get an American model.

James Van der Beek's death highlights just how ruinous that model is. He spent his illness selling off memorabilia and trying to raise money. He died knowing his family's finances were left decimated. And he was someone with more resources than most. It's a sobering indictment of how bad things can get, and I am truly afraid that a Reform government would put us all in that dystopian scenario.

There are all kinds of options I could put for a poll but I'm just trying to make it really simple.

YABU - US healthcare is fine
YANBU - US healthcare is a terrifying prospect

Well as a widow most men in their 40s who die, die knowing that their families finances are going to now be difficult. The average family can’t sustain a death. I was always independent and on a good wage but for the first time had to get into debt when he died and am only now 7 years after coming out of it.

Obvs I can’t comment about the costs of care it was ofc free on the nhs. I did notice he had done a lot of healthcare ads so either he received payment or got some treatment free so his job / name allowed him to get that rather than Joe Public who wouldn’t have had that opp.

You are right to point out in your post about the ace age person. I can’t stand all this “oh look a famous person has died”‘when there are hundreds of normal men/ women/ families in that same situation.

I have much sympathy for his wife though. All those kids navigating grief she’s going to need her armour on.

It is shocking. One of my favourite things about Angela Landsbury is she used to create guest roles for older and out of work actors on Murder She Wrote so their medical insurance continued to be valid.

Me and my husband have really comprehensive life insurance policies and thank goodness as the critical illness payout when I had cancer helped enormously. I was so lucky to not have to worry about medical bills. Cancer is so stressful, so upsetting, I cannot imagine what it’s like to have to then have to worry about essentially going bankrupt to pay for your ongoing care. The US system is awful.

So sorry for your loss, and yes of course you're right that if someone dies in their 40s then along with the devastating emotional loss, it is also a financial problem. I just mean how much worse that financial issue would be if the family had been forced to pay vast sums of money for treatment first. From the reporting of James VDB's death, they had to spend all their savings on healthcare and so his widow is left not only without his earning power but with their finances already ravaged before he even died.

YANBU to be against the US system, but YABU to think that the NHS is the best alternative. I would support a European model which offers better outcomes than the NHS in its current state.

Gosh that’s wonderful! I didn’t know!

The American system is poor, but so is the NHS. There are better systems than either.

What type of insurance did he have? America is a cruel place if you are unable to afford a comprehensive insurance policy.

Very sad for his family.

My point is a lot of widows already suffer great financial difficulties should a husband die. Yes that would get worse if we had to pay for treatment but the financial difficulties are already here for a lot of us we are already living with jt. It doesn’t get talked about and a previous government changed it so we got £3k one off payment of support rather than £hundreds per month until children were 16 (can’t remember the correct figure but would have been significantly more than £3k ).

He’s not the only one. For example John Ashton had to launch a go fund me in 2021 in the US for cancer care. The health insurance there often comes with significant co-pays and pieces of denied treatment.

Well, ignoring your clickbait .... title

if Dawson couldn't pay for his cancer treatment, how do non-famous people in ordinary jobs cope?

You mean Van der Beek? (Or do you mean Dawson the TV series?)

VDB was in a famously unstable profession. After Dawson's he had piecemeal acting jobs. He was not a home-owner. He had 6 kids. Likely if he were in a regular profession he could have organised health insurance a part of his employment package.

Of course healthcare in the US is expensive and yes, the model is seriously flawed. But you are BU to suggest that 'non-famous' people = financial ruin. It's really disingenous.

But I don't think we're getting that. Farage has close links to the Republican party and US health insurance companies will reward him handsomely for handing over the NHS. The man is a greedy, corrupt moral vacuum and will do it in a heartbeat. There will be no European system - he'll sell the NHS to American insurers.

I have a friend in US who husband died young with brain tumour . He was a firefighter with great insurance. But his uncovered medical expenses were over $1 million . His colleagues fundraised to cover as much as they could . She was still left with thousands in debt and 7 years later still paying .

I agree OP and it's something I often think about. Here in the UK we have a lovely home and a really good standard of living. All generations of my family work hard in professional fields going back generations.

If we lived in the States, due to inherited autoimmune family health problems going back at least 100 years we'd be bankrupt, living hand to mouth.

But plenty of Americans don’t have insurance. Why they objected to Obama care is beyond me but 27 million without insurance is a lot of people at risk of destitution if they get sick.

Plenty of people are in unstable jobs or jobs that don't offer good health insurance. My point really is that someone pretty comfortable, with options like selling TV memorabilia, sponsorships and celebrities organising fundraisers to help (the cast of Dawson's Creek did an event to raise money for his treatment) still struggled to pay the costs of cancer treatment. Most people don't have those options available to them in the first place.

That’s not luck, that’s basic life planning. It blows my mind the number of people that don’t have life assurance / critical illness / income protection then complain about benefits being too low to live on. Trying not getting your nails done and make proper provision instead.

Thr NHS funding model needs to be scrapped and started again by Keir Starmer. It’s just not working. We want a European funding model. What would be disastrous is if he didn’t have the balls to do it, it fell to Farage to fix and then we’d definitely get a US model and we’d be fucked.

Come on Keir, don’t be such an idiot!

The changes to Widowed Parents Allowance, under the banner of Bereavement support payment being more inclusive as it includes younger widows and widowers without children is one of the biggest changes made by the Tories that people seem to have no clue about unless it impacts them.

How they got away with saying that switching from £114ish a week until your child was out of school age to £350 a month for 18 months with £3.5k one of payment was for the good of widows and children is staggering.

Their comment that the previous payment system put people off remarriage was scandalous.

Obama cared, the other’s don’t, they only care about money.
The HSE like the NHS isn’t perfect but they won’t let you die because you don’t have thousands to throw at medical care, even with insurance, you cannot cover every eventuality, once the policy expires and your sick, no company will want to cover you.
Very sad, especially in a super rich country.

We’re not getting that because all mainstream parties flatly refuse to admit there are issues with the NHS, laud it as some sort of deity. We need hard truths and realism from the moderate parties now before Reform get in and tear everything up.

Stories like this are so common. The fact that this is a celebrity death and emotive to many people just shines a light on what normal families experience under the US system - it feels impossible to imagine from here. And I've had a really shitty time with the NHS lately and had to wait fifteen months to even be seen for a gynaecology issue so I'm really not saying it's working brilliantly in the UK, just that it's vastly preferable to facing bankruptcy or dying because you can't afford treatment. I'm quite scared of that, because for the first time it does seem possible that it could happen. The man who fucked us over with Brexit will absolutely fuck us over with healthcare too, so long as he can profit to the tune of even more millions.

Don’t be so obtuse. Do you think people on benefits can afford life assurance/insurance/critical illness payments?

Adam Sandler also does this. Well, out of work cast and crew, maybe not so much old perhaps.

Farage isn't going to be looking to emulate European models of healthcare. He's not known for being a lover of Europe! He'll want US style.

I knew nothing about him until this thread, and have just seen a beautiful photo of the family. It’s tragic for them.
But six children? That’s a huge responsibility for her. You need a bigger house, a bigger car, the years of needing supervision are longer… food clothes and clubs are nothing in comparison.

I agree about Farage and I sincerely hope that Reform isn't elected. But the NHS is an issue whichever party is in power.