How bad is the state of healthcare in the United States right now? How about this: Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman had to sell his Nobel Prize gold medal to help pay for medical expenses.
Washington Post has the obituary, which is worth a read for Lederman's many accomplishments:
Sometimes called the “Mel Brooks of physics,” Dr. Lederman was known for his humor and engaging lecture style. (“I’m so old,” he said when he won the Nobel, “I can remember when the Dead Sea was only sick.”) He brought an innovative spark to science beginning in World War II, when as a soldier he helped develop the Doppler radar.
“It was a cruel blow when I got caught speeding years later with a Doppler radar gun,” Dr. Lederman told Smithsonian magazine in 1993, “and the judge didn’t care when I explained that I’d helped create the thing.”
Photo: FNAL/Wikipedia
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He was 96, so he had Medicare at least. But he also had dementia. For long-term care, such as a nursing home or round-the-clock assistance, Medicare requires that you spent all your personal assets down before the insurance takes over. The medal would have been considered a personal asset.
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This is really sad! One would think so respected a scientist would have access to reliable health care coverage. This "great" country is going down the tubes fast.
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