Did Obama Pick Wrong Health Reform Icon?

[cornermouse]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/17/politics/main6306376.shtml

A woman championed as the Obama administration's emblem for health care reform does not have to choose between her home and her health, according to officials at the Ohio hospital where she is being treated.

With a self-reported annual income of about $6,000, Natoma Canfield is a prime candidate for financial aid in the form of Medicaid - the federal health care program for low-income and disabled people - or charitable assistance.

And the Cleveland Clinic said it has no intention of putting out a lien on Canfield's house - or letting the billing process interfere with her treatment.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Pretty stupid

No one on his staff did any research before he spoke?

[cornermouse]

3. I don't know.

You would think they would but who knows?

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I'll bet his corporate masters at the insurance comanies know

:)

[robinblue]

6. Her situation does look dire and like you, I wonder if the WH

had done any background research. this could turn into McCain's "Joe".

...Canfield said Tuesday that she had just met with her adviser in her hospital room before undergoing a round of chemotherapy in the afternoon.

"I will have to apply for Social Security disability and then something called Medicaid," she said.

Asked whether she had understood what Medicaid was, she said: "I heard of it but I didn't really realize what it was."

The idea that Canfield would have to give up her home originated first in the letter she wrote to the president, in which she explained that she feared she would have to sell it in order to pay her medical bills.

Canfield has racked up thousands of dollars in debt from previous medical treatments, including a recent gall bladder infection, said her sister, Connie Anderson.

"She was always raised to believe that you took care of yourself," Anderson said, explaining why her sister had not tried to apply for financial assistance before. "And she didn't want to be, you know, part of the system."

Because Canfield was self-employed, there are no records of her business, and she said most of the people whose houses she cleaned are now in nursing homes or have died. She said that she doesn't have any savings left, and that with at least a month of chemotherapy still to go, she won't be generating income anytime soon.

[mmonk]

2. Absolutely.

It's why I posted in a different thread it seemed fraudulent.

[babylonsister]

4. No. Is the AP burying other dire possibilities? Yes...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x225990

[dkf]

7. I hope she was reporting all her income.

Last thing she may need is scrutiny of her finances. When the media gets ahold of you it's all out there.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. She could still face financial troubles. Medicaid will only go back so far to cover previous medical

bills. I think everything before that is still her problem.