Even a White House Staffer Is Relying on GoFundMe For Medical Bills, After Covid-19 Related Amputation

President Trump has spent the entirety of the covid-19 pandemic flaunting safety protocols and questioning the importance of masks, knowing full well that his access to exceptional healthcare is all but guaranteed. But those just outside his exclusive circle haven’t been so lucky. Now, after loosing his foot during a serious case of covid-19, a Trump White House official is relying on the kindness of strangers donating to a GoFundMe intended to pay his medical bills.

Bloomberg News reports that Crede Bailey, chief of White House security, contracted covid-19 in September and has been severely ill ever since. Though he is now recovering after a three-month hospital stay, his right foot and lower leg had to be amputated along the way. He is currently living in a rehabilitation center and will be fitted with a prosthetic leg, but it doesn’t come cheap.

Now, Bailey’s friends are raising funds for him via GoFundMe in hopes of helping him get his life back in order.

From the GoFundMe:

[…] First let me say that Crede will NOT be happy I’ve done this as he is a proud man who is the first to help everyone else but would never ask for help himself.

But the reality is this. His family has staggering medical bills from a hospital stay of 2+ months and still counting in the ICU and a long road ahead in rehab before he can go home. When he does make it home there will be major changes necessary to deal with his new, and permanent, disability.

WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL HELP. We don’t want Crede or his family to carry the financial burden, we need them to focus on his health and recovery. Please donate whatever amount you can! All funds will go to medical bills, renovations, and equipment necessary as a result of his disability.

Bailey’s family has long kept his condition private and reportedly asked the White House to keep the news under wraps. According to Bloomberg, whether Trump has offered funds to either Bailey’s family or the GoFundMe is unclear.

Trump long downplayed the dangers of covid-19, even after contracting the virus himself. However, Trump had access to exclusive treatments and state of the art care. In October, the New York Times estimated that Trump’s three-day stay at Walter Reed Medical Center would have cost the average American $100,000. Of course, the price tag was covered by the federal government. Bailey—an avid Trump supporter—unfortunately, isn’t as lucky.

The GoFundMe is steadily creeping up to its $50,000 goal, and will likely be successful as it makes the rounds in the media. Those behind the GoFundMe are dubious as to why Bailey, a public servant, is receiving so much attention when hundreds of thousands of others have stories to tell. The answer is simple: In one of the richest, most powerful nations in the world, a man whose job revolved around keeping the President of the United States safe, cannot afford to pay for medical bills and treatment following complications from a deadly virus that the President of the United States brushed off. It’s a nasty irony as much as it is a cruel reminder that this nation’s dysfunctional health care system often fails the very people it is meant to protect.

Bailey is just one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who depend on donations to pay for medical expenses. He shouldn’t have to be.