James Van Der Beek announced this week he is selling off his Dawson’s Creek memorabilia. If you are a nineties alumnus such as myself, you understand why hearing the opportunity to own a piece of a beloved show had my nostalgic ears tuning in. Then I heard he is in all reality being forced to make a choice between affording his cancer treatments, Van Der Beek announced he is battling stage three colorectal cancer in November 2024 and holding onto materialistic items that he most likely intended to pass down and split between his six children.

Think about it. A Hollywood actor is not some blue-collar peon slob like the rest of us. We think the elite class, or those we see on TV, must be rolling in the dough. If that is true, how can it also be true that James Van Der Beek of all people cannot afford his own medical treatments without being reduced to essentially the same measures the rest of us have to take when we visit the pawn shop every couple of months just to keep the lights on.

Has our healthcare really come to this in America? And let’s be honest, our healthcare is not even that great. As one of the undeserving poor who also suffers from autoimmune disease, and who has worked extensively in the healthcare system in various roles and settings, I can assure you your care is only as good as the people on duty when you come in. When you really boil it down — doctors used to be happy doing their job for a pig and maybe a gallon of milk. It is a lifesaving profession after all and withholding care should be tantamount to murder, certainly in the case of a patient battling any type of cancer.

Just isolating one incident from many with no health insurance, I once went to the ER after being sick for months and having lost over sixty pounds, only to be told in a very blasé tone by my very sage physician that I had developed yet another autoimmune condition and without insurance their best advice was for me to go home and “Eat lettuce until the nausea” that I had had for roughly six months already, “subsided.”

I think most of us understand lettuce has little to no nutritional value and certainly not for someone chronically dehydrated and underweight from malnourishment. This is ridiculous advice to give anyone. While working in healthcare I heard several unkind comments about the uninsured, as well as witnessing lackadaisical healthcare provided for them. Yes, when it comes to the ER, it is true the facility is probably not going to see most of the money they charge the patient for, however, it is equally true the healthcare system financially assaults its patients’ bank accounts and possessions with very little care or concern for causing any harm; aka “blood money” to those who cannot afford to pay but wish to stay alive for the sake of themselves, their parents or children. Uninsured patients often live paycheck to paycheck and will likely forgo medical care until the situation becomes an emergency. Like it or not, the ER is often the only avenue open to someone both poor and ill. Sliding scales for the chronically ill or those requiring the expertise of a specialist is little more than a joke.

Everything, including the medication patients, such as diabetics for example, need to stay alive cost an exorbitant amount. I worked as a pharmacy technician, and it is crazy how much medications cost. With the rise in groceries and other expenses, I wonder how some families are even getting by.

I’m not advocating for a return to the bartering system, but I do think the cost of medications and treatments should be regulated in favor of the patient. Those working in the healthcare system could still make a bloated salary, just not off the backs of their already ill patients.