We really need healthcare reform

[Ihatemyglock]

So my father has been living with 2 hernia's in his gut for a 8 months now. To see him walk around makes me want to cry. He has to literally hold them in to be able to walk around. To make matters worse he has been in and out of work. He can not drive a truck with the amount of pain he is in so his main profession is out. He can not get the hernias fixed without insurance because it is not "life threatening".

Luckily he managed to qualify for medicare and was about to get his surgery. Unfortunately he was offered a job and had to take it (or lose unemployement) about a week before he would have gone to surgery. The job falls through (while he is out of state for said job)

He comes back and trys to get his hernia fixed. He was scheduled to have them fixed on the 27th of this month.

He just received notice that he is making "too much money" to qualify for medicare anymore EFFECTIVE the 25th.

Keep in mind he is on unemployment.

So...

My father makes too much money FROM UNEMPLOYMENT to get his hernia fixed.


Makes to much money? More like "we're sorry, our records indicate you are a white male and as such do not qualify for help"


Anyway just wanted to vent my frustration.

[WhiteShadow]

I feel your pain, man. I have relatives that are going through serious medical problems and they cant get the help they need either. Then, you have my mother, who is always without money because she has to spend it all on these extremely ridiculous prescription drug prices, just for her to be able to live another day. All the while, some fat fuck drug company CEO with a cigar in his mouth is laughing his ass off.

[addicted2freedom]

Totally agree on health care reform... just not a fan of such a big task being rushed into our lives.

To me, your dad's situation highlights two of the major problems with our health care system: 1) health care through employment and 2) non-inclusive eligibility requirements for a specific demographic.

Cluster fuck it is. Hope your dad finds a way to get the surgery. I'm sure you researched the hell out of it, but I did a quick search and found this.

Also, have you contacted the offices of your state reps, county councilman, city councilman, etc? Their offices are supposed to help direct you to available resources.

[Pa. Patriot]

We certainly do need healthcare *reform*. Including tort reform.

What we do not need, and will be a disaster, is a complete .gov takeover of healthcare as is currently proposed. That's not reform, it's a a takeover by folks proven to be unable to run anything.

[cadence2arms]

It's a take over! Bottom line. Lets keep giving them more power until we all just work for our allowances, give up all our power, and have to wait in line for bread!

[RoyJackson]

Pa Patriot, I tried to rep you for your post..but I've got to spread the sweetness more first...dammit!
But I agree with your post 100%
I called Casey's office to make my point about the health care plan...my illustration of government in action was the eminently successful "War on Drugs"...
So, instead of a well deserved rep point, you get this cute little smiley motherfucker instead (look up at top of post).

[1861]

Pa Patriot, I tried to rep you for your post..but I've got to spread the sweetness more first...dammit!
But I agree with your post 100%
I called Casey's office to make my point about the health care plan...my illustration of government in action was the eminently successful "War on Drugs"...
So, instead of a well deserved rep point, you get this cute little smiley motherfucker instead (look up at top of post).

I got him for you .

[dc dalton]

Well we can all whine and cry about government 'take overs', asinine things like 'death panels' and all the other stupid crap floating around the internet but the simple fact is something HAS to be done and it has to be done damn fast.

What many people have ignored over the last year, with the economic downturn, is the fact a good portion of those people that lost their jobs have also lost their health care. The numbers of people without health care are going insane. Don't know if you people noticed the report last week about the welfare roles EXPLODING and damn near every one of those new welfare recipients are also getting healthcare.

We (my wife and I) have not had health care in a long freaking time. Why? Because we own our own businesses and the cost to buy it are almost as much as our mortgage every month, and that's WITHOUT dental, eyeglass or any of the other goodies. This is probably damn near the same situation as millions of other small businesses. We are looked at by these fucking greedy insurance companies like we are not worth talking to.

Even back when I had a 'real job' WITH supposed insurance I spent more time appealing some bullshit health company telling me they weren't going to pay the bills more than anything else. Tootie had several miscarriages many years ago and every fucking one of them was denied .. WHY? Cause these scumbags said "it could have been an abortion!" Here's my wife an emotional WRECK because she just lost a child and these pieces of SHIT told us they weren't going to pay for it!

Personally I am 100% behind the new reforms, even if it means a government run company that competes with the private companies and let me explain why, then you can beat me up all you want.

1. The government ALREADY runs a 'public health insurance system', it's called welfare and it's one of the best damn plans anyone could want .. plain and simple EVERYTHING is covered and covered NOW.

How do I know this?

In 2000 my son hit a cable stretched across a path on an ATV and lacerated his liver .. we are talking life flight, emergency surgery at Lehigh, a week in ICU and then two more in a room followed by months of a visiting nurse and rehab. The hospital came to us about insurance and at that time our finances were horrid. We were approved for welfare coverage (health insurance only) and EVERYTHING was taken care of and he got the best treatment Lehigh could offer (literally they saved his life). 9 months later his colon closed due to scar tissue and once again we went to Lehigh ... EVERYTHING was covered and taken care off.

Now granted when we filed suit again the ahole that put the cable up (long story) they told us they wanted to be paid if we got a settlement and we were more than happy to say yes.

So how else do I know this 'public run insurance' is the best out there? Well the fat lazy piece of shit that lives next door has been on welfare as long as we can remember and her and her daughter get ANYTHING they want medical wise.

So what's all this BULLSHIT about the government not being able to run a health insurance company, folks it UTTER BULLSHIT .. they do it now and it works perfectly! Granted the VA has had it's problems but that MAY be another story - not worth going into here)

Secondly how in the HELL can anyone in their right mind, that has dealt with some scumbag insurance company (health or otherwise) say they are looking out for you? Not me that's for sure. Besides the above mentioned incidents I can look back only 3 years ago to the piece of shit homeowners company that told me "NO" when a tree fell on my house and destroyed my roof and rafters. When I gave them the quotes for $20k they said everything but a few shingles was "pre-existing damage" ... took me 15 months, a public appraiser (that eventually gave up) and then a lawyer (that took 33%) to get the EXACT amount I quoted them in the first place and then hand the lawyer his cut and pay the rest out of my pocket.

Insurance companies are out for one thing and one thing only, profits. Personally I think the entire insurance industry is one giant SCAM and should be eliminated like a bad parasite but when it comes to health insurance they are the worst. I don't trust them as far as I can throw them and anyone that does is a freaking idiot! All while the numbers of people without health insurance grows the profit margins of these insurance companies have grown 10 times faster .. and they make those profits by taking people's money and then when they need it they tell them no ... fuck them, no god damned sympathy for them at ALL.

And let's not forget, before Reagen the entire health insurance industry WAS subsidized by the government! He changed that and IMO turned these insurance companies into the blood suckers they are today.

Now do I agree everyone should get free insurance off the back of tax payers? No, I personally think everyone that is without should pay a yearly fee based on how much they make to offset the costs. I also think people that live stupid unhealthy lifestyles should be forced to pay more .. you want to be a gluttonous slob that eats fast food 3 times a day, smokes, is a drug user or alcoholic then they should pay their own way for their own stupid behavior.

And let's also not start this "how horrible socialized medicine in the UK and Canada or France is either" because that's a bold faced lie and I know it first hand from people that have lived in one or more of those places and have used their health care .

Also Tort Reform? Damn Tooting! Personally I say we just start 'shooting all the lawyers' as a very smart person once said!

What I DO FIND hysterical is the ones I see SCREAMING the loudest are the ones that HAVE insurance and probably good insurance ... would love to see how those people felt after a few years without it!

So beat the shit out of me if you want, I honestly don't care. There's WAY too many people here lately that are believing the DUMBEST shit I have ever heard spouted from some talking head and if those people believe that nonsense god help them!

To the OP, man I know how you feel ... I can't tell you how many times THIS family has had to make the choice between paying the mortgage or going for a specialized test or something like that. Too bad too because people like us usually end up having to 'tax the system' even more when we do get sick, all because we didn't have the bucks for checkups, tests and all the other fun stuff people with insurance take for granted!

[Philbert]

So my father has been living with 2 hernia's in his gut for a 8 months now. To see him walk around makes me want to cry. He has to literally hold them in to be able to walk around. To make matters worse he has been in and out of work. He can not drive a truck with the amount of pain he is in so his main profession is out. He can not get the hernias fixed without insurance because it is not "life threatening".

Luckily he managed to qualify for medicare and was about to get his surgery. Unfortunately he was offered a job and had to take it (or lose unemployement) about a week before he would have gone to surgery. The job falls through (while he is out of state for said job)

He comes back and trys to get his hernia fixed. He was scheduled to have them fixed on the 27th of this month.

He just received notice that he is making "too much money" to qualify for medicare anymore EFFECTIVE the 25th.

Keep in mind he is on unemployment.

So...

My father makes too much money FROM UNEMPLOYMENT to get his hernia fixed.


Makes to much money? More like "we're sorry, our records indicate you are a white male and as such do not qualify for help"


Anyway just wanted to vent my frustration.

I was with you until you played the race card. I hope your dad gets the care he needs.

[SlimShady]

I'm all for health care reform, as long as I don't have to pay for YOUR health care. I earn my own way and I expect you to do the same. If you can't, then your family can step up and help you out, maybe they can cut back on some of their expenses to help provide for you.

To the OP, I'm sorry to hear about your father, I really and truly am, but I would ask why you and the rest of your family don't pool your resources to assist him instead of berating the government for not doing so?