Leading up to his death:
For those of you outside of the community (and possibly wondering why the furry side of social media is on fire), Dragoneer did a hell of a lot for the furry community. FurAffinity is the largest furry art host and social network; he could have sold out and allowed AI, or made the site friendly to corporate advertising, but he didn't.
He intentionally didn't.
If he had, he probably would have been able to afford healthcare, but he didn't.
He died because he wanted to keep the site in the community instead of whoring it out to corporations, resulting in him not having the money for healthcare when he needed it the most. I wish I'd been more aware of what was going on because I would have chipped in to help (if he'd allowed it).
It makes me fucking furious that the US, the country with the highest GDP in the world by 10 TRILLION DOLLARS, still allows this to happen.
RIP Dragoneer, we'll never forget you. Wherever you are, I hope it's filled with fur, feathers, scales and wagging tails.
Edit: made some formatting edits
This is a contender for one of the worst things I've ever read. I'm sure this happens more often than we realize but that is just brutal. Someone's making money off this and it makes me sick. RIP Dragoneer. I've not visited FA much but it's always felt like "Old Internet" to me and I appreciate that.
and it's not even doctors or nurses getting the money, it's not going to better hospitals...just lining some corporate's dragon hoard.
What's worse is the fact that 85% of those exorbitant bills are either substantial overcharging to game the insurance system, or costs associated with paying entire departments of people at the provider whose job is to figure out how to get insurance to pay them for procedures.
Our oppressive healthcare costs are entirely the fault of the private insurance industry, and the corrupt politicians who accept bribes to keep it that way.
While I disagree with your metaphor (Really? Dissing dragons when you're talking about furries? C'mon dude /jk), it's so fucking dumb. This might just be my experience, but difference in price is painfully obvious when you compare hospitals to private practices. In my experience, private practices in the US can be significantly cheaper than hospital visits (I'm assuming the costs were from a hospital, that's the only time I've seen charges that high).
The last time I visited my endocrinologist it cost me $200~$300, despite being one of the best endocrinologists in my area; and while that is still expensive and it might not be a pulmonologist, it's nowhere near what he was having to pay just to get his lungs checked. That should be the opposite; but between the obscene cost of medication, doctors trying to pay off college debt from +10yrs of medical school, and greedy hospital and corporate CEOs, the cost of healthcare is sky-high.