A very smart Balloon Juice community member, quantum man, e-mailed me over the weekend with a good idea:
I recently saw some discussion about keeping a log of violent events since Trump’s election. I have a similar idea, but I am neither tech savvy enough, or internet savvy enough, to pull it off. My idea is for some folks to collect stories about people who end up dying due to loss of health insurance when (assuming it happens) the ACA is repealed. The stories could be collected and put into a kind of narrative history of the consequences of repeal of this act. This narrative history could help put a face on the people who suffer as a consequence of this action. I believe it was Stalin who said something to the effect, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. Someone needs to put a face on what is possibly coming with repeal of the ACA. Maybe you could suggest such a project in one of your posts.
In comments to my first post-WTF healthcare policy thread, a few people noted the limitations of the media. They chase very few stories compared to running things that are handed to them on a silver platter:
I wouldn’t worry. Unless it’s somebody you know you will have to go out of your way to find out about all the deaths. It’s not as though the media will give it much press.
Don’t be so sure about that. As a former media member, I can tell you that TV in particular loves to show someone suffering on camera so the shut-ins who watch can say, “how awful.” But they won’t go find those stories, they will have to be brought to them. Otherwise, it’ll just be the usual fires and fatal automobile accidents.
I can only do a Google Forms for Version 1.0. There will be a better way of inventorying the very predictable results of Repeal with a minimal replacement plan.
But let’s get it started here and then we can build out.
Here is the form to enter your story: