This story appears in today’s Wall Street Journal–but, of course, we’ve been privileged to be on top of this crisis thanks largely to the passion of nyceve, with important assists from DrSteveB. It was shocking it its brutality and detail:

Chris and Vickie Cox’s health insurance never covered the full cost of treating their children’s bone-marrow disorder. They relied on donations from their church, neighbors and family to plug the holes in their coverage, which ran as high as $40,000 a year.

That safety net is now unraveling. The slumping economy is pulling down fragile networks of support that in better times could keep families with insurance but big bills from falling into a financial hole.

The three Cox children have a rare disease called Shwachman Diamond Syndrome, which curtails the production of bacteria-fighting blood cells and digestive enzymes needed to absorb nutrients properly. It can lead to life-threatening infection, bone-marrow failure or a deadly form of leukemia.

  So, first things first: The Cox’s had to go, hat in hand, to get donations to make up for the pathetic health insurance they had. But, the economy has gone south, thanks to the rip-off artists on Wall Street and in the mortgage industry so the money is disappearing:

Until recently, the Coxes stayed afloat on a patchwork of Good Samaritan efforts and rising home prices. The parish of their former church, Abundant Life Baptist of Lee’s Summit, Mo., rallied around them, even after they moved from the Kansas City suburb to North Carolina. A medical fund set up by the church raised tens of thousands of dollars. A separate annual fund-raiser organized by neighbors has generated more than $50,000. And the Coxes tapped more than $100,000 of equity from their former Kansas City home to finance travel to far-flung hospitals before selling it in 2006.

But the economic crisis is rattling their makeshift network of assistance. A New Year’s water-skiing fund-raiser that raised $24,000 a year ago pulled in less than $11,000 this year. Monthly donations to their former church medical fund have dropped nearly 80% from a year ago.

  I bolded the part about tapping their home equity because I have been outraged by the persistent drum-beat that there was this great wave of irresponsibility on the part of the American people who were riding a wonderful housing bubble so they could irresponsibly finance their luxurious lives.

  Well, the Cox’s story tells the real deal: millions of Americans had no choice. They had no health care and, if they did have coverage, it was too expensive. So, they did what any person would do to protect their family–they looked for any way to make sure they could pay the bills. The crisis we face comes from greed, incompetence and an economic system that denies people health care and, as I wrote, a fair wage.

  So, where are the Cox’s now?:

The Coxes face more than $40,000 in unpaid medical bills as the commissions that Mr. Cox makes on top of his $47,000 base salary dwindle. At the same time, the family’s medical and dental premiums at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, the respiratory-device maker that employs Mr. Cox, jumped about 13% to $876 a month for 2009.

To slash expenses, the family is considering moving out of their rental home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and into their travel trailer. "We don’t care how we live," says Mrs. Cox, 40. "We care how the kids live."

  And they are not alone:

Stories like the Coxes are proliferating as the recession intersects with the growing number of families who, in better times, could cobble together support. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that conducts research on health-care issues, estimated that as of 2007, 25 million Americans had to spend at least 10% of their income — 5% for low-income families — on out-of-pocket medical costs. That’s a 60% increase from 2003.[emphasis added]

  This is criminal. This must stop. It boils down to this: we either kill the for-profit insurance industry and enact single-payer/Medicare For All OR we allow the continued killing and economic destitution of Americans to continue.