The celebrated author E. Lynn Harris died last week at 54 because of heart disease and complications from high blood pressure, the coroner’s office concludes.
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Prof. O.G. Whataschnozell
Thank you Queerty. I am sadden at his death and do wish people would understand the importance of health insurance and not let a golden opportunity pass all of us by to get universal coverage.
It is not the best plan in the world (what is?) but something beats nothing.
RIP Mr. Harris.
james ii
of course, i don’t know what advice Harris was following or if he was taking medication, but this is only another instance that reminds us all (especially those past 30) to see a doctor regularly and get things like blood pressure and possible heart conditions checked out.
Fitz
@james ii: For those of us who can. Who knows what his finances looked like. So sad. Too darn young, he probably had some more good works in his head.
anony
So sad…he was so young. He contributed alot to the gay community, and with his openess served as a good face for young gay men of color.
hardmannyc
@james ii: I’d say more emphatically that it’s a wake-up call to watch our diets and get some exercise! Funny how Americans automatically think “health care” instead of “behavior.”
TANK
@hardmannyc:
Because healthcare (proper healthcare reform) needs to cover the full cycle of health from prenvetion (healthier diets and exercise as well as routine screenings–e.g., imaging for strokes–for preventable illness before they become ongoing conditions which cost 40% of that $1.9 trillion spent last year). Healthcare and “behavior” are not distinct.
Fitz
@hardmannyc: I understand your point, but: We don’t have the technology (yet) to improve someone’s compliance with diet and exercise. we DO have Statins and Ace inhibitors, etc. The right way is both, but in medicine there is a saying “Treat the patient in front of you with the tools in front of you.”
Prof. O.G. Whataschnozell
The last I heard people do get kidney stones, pneumonia to the point where they have to be hospitalized, food poisioning, apendix bursts and other ailments. The same applies to muscle marys too.
Think for a minute, queen, what if you blow your knee out doing squats? After you scream at the top of your lungs because of pain and no health insurance should I call an ambulance or let you “BE INDEPENDENT AND CARRY YOUR OWN WEIGHT” and let you hobble on home and suffer? You tell me.
It is better to have and not need than to need and not have. E. Lynn Harris sold nearly 70 million books. He was not a poor man by any standards. HE ALSO HAD HEALTH INSURANCE.
Would you be as lucky? Stop the B/S and understand this fact. The men at the companies that received TARP money ALL HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE paid for by you and I. I find it scary that there are queens out there who would find room to debate this issue. I mean really. How stupid have we americans gotten? Oh, and just one more thing on those companies. The poor souls who got fired because they had to let a lot of people go have now run out of unemployment insurance and are probably not going to make what they once did on another job but to bottom line it, they have no insurance at all. AND THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DOWNFALL OF THE COMPANY.
No wonder europeans do not want to immigrate to here. Oh, and by the way, though they do have higher taxes has anyone notice how they do not have the health problems and costs that happen here??
Some of you are outright pathetic to even try to steer away from a once in a lifetime chance to finally have health insurance. Many of you clearly have not had to try to pay your of pocket expenses for prescriptions either. Trust me, you do not want that day to ever come. It can bankrupt you.