need for healthcare reform

Kenneth H. Bacon, 64, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who was top spokesman at the Pentagon during the Clinton administration and later became a prominent advocate on behalf of international refugees, died Aug. 15 of melanoma at his vacation home on Block Island, R.I. His primary residence was in Washington.

After struggling with metastatic melanoma, Mr. Bacon wrote about his illness and his problems with insurance coverage in an essay published by The Post on July 21.

"My oncologist has spent hours filling out forms and arguing with the insurance company to arrange coverage for my chemotherapy," he wrote.

"Now my wife and I are waging our own fight with the provider to arrange payment for my daily brain radiation, which has been rejected as 'not medically necessary' even though the cancer in my brain is growing rapidly."

"For me and other Americans suffering from advanced cancer," he concluded, "the health-care debate this summer is no abstraction. It is a matter of life or death."


After struggling with metastatic melanoma, Mr. Bacon wrote about his illness and his problems with insurance coverage in an essay published by The Post on July 21.

"My oncologist has spent hours filling out forms and arguing with the insurance company to arrange coverage for my chemotherapy," he wrote. "Now my wife and I are waging our own fight with the provider to arrange payment for my daily brain radiation, which has been rejected as 'not medically necessary' even though the cancer in my brain is growing rapidly."

"For me and other Americans suffering from advanced cancer," he concluded, "the health-care debate this summer is no abstraction. It is a matter of life or death."