The disgusting difference between my health care and my single-mom friends health care.

[BlueJazz]

Susan is an Honorable single-mom...I've known her for 15 years...she works hard and never has complained (at least to me) about life's hardships. When she says something..I believe it. I and the people who know her would trust her with our lives...She's THAT responsible. She's worked all her life...is the victim of a cheating no-good ex...and has tried to save a little money by holding a 8-5 job pm and a 6-9 pm job.
3 months ago her boss tried to ..ah..(thinking)..well..tried to fuck her. (she fought him off) ..and was fired the next day.
She tried to do something about it but ...this being Florida...SHE's the liar and cannot prove it so it's "Screw you Susan".
She can't find another job yet but did apply for food stamps so..that's that.

Anyway...she went to the emergency room the other night..coughing up blood and feeling very tired.
She said: "They were nice and helpful until I told them I had no insurance....They still ran a test or two but seemed to care more about getting me out the front door than truly finding out what was going on."
She was in the ER about one hour...sent home with some cough syrup stuff and that's the end of THAT trip. (Fume)

I saw her today and she looks like she's aged 10 years....I gave her 450 bucks and offered my support more if she needed it.

NOW..here's MY story...(excuse my rage...just thinking about it.)
4 months ago I developed a ear infection..actually both ears and could not stand up from vertigo.
I have very expensive (and good) insurance so I called an Ambulance ...they came quickly (after getting my insurance codes)...and rushed me to the same..I repeat...same hospital.
Boy..oh Boy...Presidential treatment...2 doctors..one nice male..one nice female...had an EKG (Why..I have no fucking idea. :) )
Had several tests and, in short, was there about 4 hours while a nurse "Comforted" me by hold my hand (at times)...I actually felt rather guilty about the whole thing...I mean, damn...I wasn't gonna die or anything..I just had a typical ear infection accompanied by extreme vertigo...not THAT big a deal.
The bill..I found out was $4927.21...I paid 200 bucks and that was THAT trip.

Without going into a lot of stuff...I feel just terrible for Susan...knowing that outside of her friends...Nobody...no Senators...no hospitals...no insurance people...nobody cares whether she lives or dies and nobody ..except her friends.. will hold her hand.

Sigh..

[WCGreen]

1. It's very sad...

[rurallib]

2. and this nigh on a year since "reform"

reform that I still believe will never happen.

[Mika]

3. UNITED WE STAND!

Yeah. Right.

I'm so sorry to read about your friend's troubles. All the best to her. :hug:


Insurance is a racket. I don't do insurance at my practice. I can deliver real care at a realistic and flexible price.

---

[truedelphi]

4. If your county has insurance for poor people, have her

Try and get on that program. They used to make you prove that you had been to fifteen or fifty job interviews each week before they would approve you, but since Obama went and declared that all the Counties in the USA are on emergency status what with the "recession," and all, she doesn't have to go through that particular gauntlet.

Also, if your County offers General Assistance or especially offers up AFDC (Welfare for parents of children who live at home) she should apply for that.

She sounds like a very decent and proud person, so if you have to coax her into doing this, go ahead and coax her. Our nation has always provided a safety net; at least, that was one of the things we used to do.

There isn't any penalty to anyone, unless they own their home. And now, if she bought the home in the last five years, there isn't any equity in it, so there isn't any penalty unless she lives in a place that is fully paid off and does hold equity.

[BlueJazz]

7. Thanks much...I'll check out those agencies.

:)

[Fuzz]

5. Yup, sounds familiar. If you were conservative you would say 'I have mine'.

But as liberals we think about others.

Plus the inequities in the system end up costing all of us more in the long run.

I also have great insurance, plus good connections with surgeons, doctors and nurses in the family, but I still think single payer is the only way to go.

[Winterblues]

6. Isn't that what Medicaid is for?

Unless she owns her home or has other assets she should be eligible for Medicaid..

[Starry Messenger]

8. k & r

[snot]

9. It's a racket.

[w8liftinglady]

10. i experienced the same thing.I'm the lucky one with GREAT insurance

the uninsured patient or even Medicaid would have been medically treated instead of surgically.
My medical bills exceeded 300K since january.

would have been 1/4 of that if I hadn't been worked up for surgery.

even with the extra er admissions these patients would have,would have been cheaper...not a better outcome...but cheaper.

i wouldn't be writing today if I didn't have insurance.

[raccoon]

11. K&R. This sort of thing is so disgusting. nt

[knitter4democracy]

12. I'm a single mom without health insurance, too.

I've been trying to find health insurance I can afford, and I keep getting told that, with my health history, only BC/BS will take me. The only plan that covers what I need is more money than I have extra in the month. I'm trying to figure out where to cut in my budget to be able to afford it, and even then, it won't cover most of the meds I need or even 100% of any medical bill.

I want public option.

[PassingFair]

13. Me too, Knitter.

:hugs:

[MattBaggins]

18. Almost same boat here.

Out of work and my COBRA is up and I have to pay full price of $1200 a month for my health care to continue.

I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with no jobs out there now that offer health care. I just had to start taking insulin this week and I have no idea how I am going to afford it. I see no help in the Health Reform that passed. I might be able to keep enough money off to the side to pay for checkups and meds but what happens when I am "mandated" to purchase insurance with idiotic deductibles?

I am scheduled to go back to school this winter so we will see how that pans out. I have to have my own insurance for school put with Diabetes and stents in my heart I will never be able to afford my own insurance.

[knitter4democracy]

19. That mandated insurance thing with no public option is something I can't forgive.

Not entirely, anyway. Every time I got some dumb phone call from the DNC about the election this fall, I asked where my public option was and that, maybe, just maybe, if someone helped me be able to afford medical bills and insurance, I'd have enough money to donate.

[earth mom]

14. This is why so many of us were screaming about that joke they called "health care reform".

So sorry for your friend, I hope she doesn't give up and keeps looking for a hospital that will treat her. :grouphug:

[MattBaggins]

15. Your near 5k visit was part of the problem.

In no way am I putting you at fault for the stupid system but it is this idiotic method of charging one person asininely exorbitant prices and kicking other out the door that is creating a snow ball that will collapse the whole damn system soon.

[librechik]

16. wait til Susan gets the ER bill and cannot pay it

that will be even more fun
:sarcasm:

[Swede]

17. In Canada,she'd be in the hospital,getting treated.

Your treatment would not have been so "Presidential" but you would have be treated also. Both of you would not be charged for said treatment.