Lines and Colors art blog

Fantasy art auction in support of Cyril van der Haegen

Art aucion in support of Cyril van der Haegen:  Dave Seeley, Donato Giancola, Todd Lockwood, Lars Grant West, Dan Dos Santos, Gregory Manchess, Jon Foster
Despite what those politicians (on both sides of the aisle) who accept large campaign donations from the health insurance industry might try to tell you, the U.S. health care system is not the “best in the world” and is not “doing just fine” without some kind of government intervention — not while millions of citizens of the most prosperous industrialized nation in the world are uninsured.

Among the uninsured, unfortunately, are a number of self-employed artists. One of them is the well known illustrator and concept artist Cyril van der Haegen, who is battling a rare form of Leukemia and a condition known as Smoldering Myeloma.

Several fellow artists (organized, I think, by Dave Seeley) have set up a fantasy art auction to help Van der Haegen with his medical bills and medication expenses.

Contributors include Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Stephan Martiniere, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Gregory Manchess, Jon Foster, Rebecca Guay, Lars Grant West, Todd Lockwood, Scott Fischer, Bruce Jensen, Sam Burley and Dave Seeley.

There will be a live auction at ComicCon, and in conjunction, there is an online eBay auction that is now open for bids.

There is more information on Dave Seeley’s site.

You can see Van der Haegen’s work on his website and deviantART page.

The eBay auction ends July 14th.

(Images above: Dave Seeley, Donato Giancola, Todd Lockwood, Lars Grant West, Dan Dos Santos, Gregory Manchess, Jon Foster)

[Via Irene Gallo on Twitter]


Comments

7 responses to “Fantasy art auction in support of Cyril van der Haegen”

  1. Thanks for this, Charley. My wife has Multiple Myeloma, so I can well understand his condition – will be taking a closer look at this, as medication in the U.S. will be VERY expensive !!!
    Thanks.

    1. We pay more for the same pharmaceuticals than almost any other country; another benefit of the “best healthcare system in the world”. If you’re moving to the US and expecting to get health coverage here as an individual, be cautious about verifying acceptance of preexisting conditions. Sorry to hear your wife is dealing with this, I wish her the best.

  2. Wayne White Avatar
    Wayne White

    No one seeking medical attention is turned away from a US hospital, regardless of their ability to pay; that is the law. The problem is that many people don’t want to pay for insurance, preferring instead that everyone else pay for them. If people budgeted for insurance, they wouldn’t have to worry about “pre-existing conditions,” because they would already be covered. I’m not being insensitive, I’m being realistic. And what government managed department would serve as a model of efficiency in “improving” health care? Lastly, US health care IS the best in the world, hands down; to suggest otherwise is ignorant.

    1. I don’t want this to turn into a political/social debate over health care, but I knew I was inviting this kind of response when I expressed my anger at a system that could leave someone like Van der Haegen in this situation.

      No one seeking medical attention is turned away from a US hospital, regardless of their ability to pay; that is the law.

      Yes, and the cost to the hospitals for their emergency room care, which is much more expensive than regular care, is passed on to the rest of us who pay for health insurance in the form of increased insurance premiums. This is the reasoning behind both both Romney and Obama’s “mandate” requiring everyone to buy private health insurance or pay a penalty, originally a conservative Republican idea suggested by the Heritage Foundation, to require people to have insurance so the rest of us don’t have to pay for their expensive emergency room care.

      The denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions is simply a matter of greed on the part of the insurance companies (they don’t want to actually pay out anything, just take your money and call it profit). This is where only government can step in and force them to do honest business instead of the natural tendency of these businesses (particularly insurance companies) to cheat, lie and steal at every opportunity.

      No system in a country as rich at this that allows millions of its citizens to go without proper health care is the “best in the world”, nor do we have the best life expectancy, most reliable diagnoses, best overall health rating or best outcomes for medical procedures. We pay twice as much per capita for this care as any other modern industrialized nation. See this article from Reuters (hardly a “liberal” news source).

      It’s a disgrace.

      People like Van der Hagen pay the price for our politicians pandering to the whims of the Insurance industry and drug companies. We have the “best health care system in the world” for insurance industry profits, but not for the health of our citizenry.

  3. David Markham Avatar
    David Markham

    Sorry. That “report” comes from a “nonprofit fund, which conducts research into healthcare performance and PROMOTES CHANGES IN THE U.S. SYSTEM” (my emphasis), so it’s probably another case of rating the US low because it doesn’t do what they want it to do.

    It’s a shame that you couldn’t have posted this without the political grandstanding, because it gets in the way of people helping someone in need by couching it in a political context.

    Next time, think of the person you’re trying to help, not your personal grievances…

    1. So “promotes changes in the U.S. system” = wrong or dishonest?

      Other sources have made similar comparisons between “the best healthcare system in the world” and the healthcare systems in other industrialized nations. The statistics on longevity, infant mortality rate, procedural outcomes, pharmaceutical costs, and per capital health care expenditures are available from other sources, if you care to take the trouble to find them and not willfully close your eyes to the situation.

      I am thinking about the person I’m trying to help, and others like him.

      I don’t have a personal grievance, I’m one of the lucky ones whose needs are actually being met by the current system. I’m fine, thank you very much.

      My grievance is for the uninsured in general, and uninsured self-employed artists in particular, of whom I see far too many.

      Unless the deliberate and heavily funded campaign of disinformation and distortion promoted by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and their undue influence on our political system, is countered with truthful information, these practices will continue unchecked, and people like Van der Haegen will continue to find themselves in this situation.

      1. Another unfortunate case in point: http://t.co/rI2JQVvl