We believe in being good stewards of our planet, our citizens and our country. To achieve those objectives, we give 10% of all our profits to organizations that also share those values.
To that end, we have chosen three organizations to support:
Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women 'grateful to God for the inestimable blessings' resulting from civil and religious liberty and 'believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.' It pursues the stated object of the founders: 'to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education' outstanding among American colleges 'and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.' As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains 'by precept and example' the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.
The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.
By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.
Unlike other hospitals, the majority of funding for St. Jude comes from generous donors. It costs $2.2 million per day to operate St. Jude,and public contributions provide 75 percent of the funds necessary to operate the hospital.
Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. While they accept insurance, many services provided by St. Jude have never been covered by insurance, and will not be in the future. In fact, only 14% of the money to operate the hospital comes from insurance recoveries and 9% comes from grants. This is vastly different than most other hospitals that can generate more than 90% of their revenues from insurance recoveries and other sources. And it's a different financial and operating model than large grant-making charities.
The kids who come to St. Jude are suffering from life-threatening childhood illnesses such as cancer and sickle cell disease, and many of our treatment protocols require care that can last for years. For example, the average cost for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer, is more than $485,000 over a two to three year treatment plan. When they begin treating a child, they have a responsibility to ensure that they will be able to complete that treatment and care for that child for as long as they need them.
The inability to pay for essential medical care is not just a significant problem for the uninsured, but also for people who have health insurance. Rising premiums, deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance prevent many people from being able to afford the critical treatment they need. 58% of Americans have delayed or gone without essential medical care because of high out-of-pocket costs. $8,100 is the average amount Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and hepatitis C spent on their medications in 2019. Patients are four times more likely to abandon their prescriptions when faced with a co-pay of $50 or more.
The PAN Foundation is an independent, national 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to helping federally and commercially insured people living with life-threatening, chronic and rare diseases with the out-of-pocket costs for their prescribed medications. Since 2004, they have provided nearly 1 million underinsured patients with $4 billion in financial assistance.
Partnering with generous donors, healthcare providers and pharmacies, they provide the underinsured population access to the healthcare treatments they need to best manage their conditions and focus on improving their quality of life. They have personally helped save my life.
We invite you to visit each of these organizations yourself and see what wonderful work they do.
Roger Pearson
President
Seagull Technologies Inc