My assumption is that if she's raising money on GFM, either she truly needs the money or she's in a panic. I simply don't see the concern. Even if she raises like $5M, who cares. People can give their money to whatever cause they want. And yes, there are scammers preying on cancer patients. They typically have a "holistic" program that they push. People can get desperate when faced with their mortality so it's not impossible that he was scammed but we don't know. |
Do unemployed actors have good health insurance? There are 6 young kids and his wife doesn’t have a high-paying career. Money will go fast. |
| There were big entertainment business names like Guy Oseary among the top donors to the GoFundMe. If people want to contribute why should we have a problem with it? This is an untimely passing. |
Once you are sick, there is no way out of the problem of: "I can support my family if I'm working but not if I'm dead." It's too late to get more life insurance. Depending on your copays/deductibles/max payout, cancer can be very expensive even with insurance. Sometimes terrible things happen and you're in a pickle no matter how well you planned. The guy brought a lot of pleasure to a lot of people. If his family needs the money and 50k people in a country of 340 million want to throw $30 their way, what is the problem? |
It's like you've never heard of cancer before. What rock do you live under? |
His wife's earnings potential is not great and she has 6 young children to care for. $2 million invested reasonably conservatively will generate about $40k-$50k per year. How far do you think that goes for a family of 7? If she chips away at the principle, she probably doesn't have enough to send them to college. And then she's entering late middle age with no retirement savings. This thread is full of very dim people. |
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To the poster(s) who are fixated on the GFM, you're focusing on the wrong thing.
Direct your anger on the food industry. Colon cancer rates are rising among the young - why? What is going on here? Direct your anger on our government, who has cut funding for cancer research. Direct your anger on our healthcare insurers, who often make patients go through ridiculous hoops before approving life saving treatments. Who cares about a widow raising money for her family. |
If you are in SAG and work even a little you can keep your health insurance, but it’s not free. Angela Lansbury said she constantly hired her old friends who were about to lose their health insurance for small roles on Murder She Wrote when they were about to lose it. |
| Also recall that he's been sick and unable to work for quite some time, so they've likely been living off savings for a while. |
| And the family is in grief. I have no problem with the GFM. |
That’s so sweet. I think that’s really common for older actors to try to pull a small commercial or walk on on Law and order or whatever to keep the insurance. I think you have to earn like 30K per year to qualify although they also have reduced rate cobra that you can use to extend coverage if you’re not working. So he was probably on cobra towards the end at least. |
Same! Good for them. |
He actually has a lot of acting credits from this past year. It looks like he took a bunch of jobs while he was still reasonably healthy. I think he did the Masked Singer too. Point being he did everything he could. |
NP I understand what the PPP is saying, but I would never say it myself. My DH had a long illness similar to James and when he finally took his last breath, it never dawned on me to open a GFM asking friends, family, and strangers for money. It's begging and we did not and do not have nearly as much in real estate as the Vanderbeers. People are posting that he has two separate properties worth over three million each. If he did not have life insurance, he failed to properly provide for his family in his absence. I always say, my DH financially took care of his family in both life and death. I would donate to someone without resources, but I am sure I am in the minority because I would never donate to a GFM like this. Perception is everything and it looks like a money grab. |
| Personally I think this situation highlights a large issue in this country. Why do people have to choose between healthcare and feeding their families? Why are we so broken as a society. It’s not like he wasn’t working. He did. He had a career, but then he got sick. And then he had to stop. And they burned through their savings taking care of him and living. And here they are. And they aren’t unique. This happens every single day in the US. |