My Personal Health Care Nightmare Story
78This is me. I am an RN.
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When Will People Wake Up About the Need For Health Care For All in This Country?
I wanted to share with everyone my own personal health care nightmare story.
I already shared it with Barack Obama.
I submitted my story at the "Organizing for America Health Care Action Center" at
http://origin.stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/update_landing/d61a5482d1/56286
Which is where my story and all its gory details can be found in its original version.
(Although I have never heard one single word back, nor even an acknowledgement that he received my story.)
Yeah! But it was ok to use MY catch-phrase!
Here is a faithful reproduction of what is written there, so you won't have to surf around to find it:
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I am a 52 yr old person who has several life-threatening illnesses.
Due to my illness, I have been unable to work for over 2 years. Thus, I have no health care insurance, and no money to pay for doctors, diagnostic tests, nor even for my medications.
Without insurance or money to pay, there is no doctor and no clinic who will take me. The one specialist who agreed to take me on a "charity" basis, treats me like garbage, refuses to listen when I try to tell him my symptoms, refuses to order diagnostic tests that I know I need (I am a Registered Nurse, and I know!), and has even been verbally abusive and threatened to refuse to prescribe my medications that I have been on for many years.
I have applied for Social Security Disability, but been denied.
This is my second go-around with the Social Security Administration - I applied 3 months ago and just received the first denial - Now I will have to hire a lawyer again. Last time it took me 2 1/2 years to get through the process. When I got to court, the judge agreed I was "totally disabled and there was no job I can do", but refused to let me have Disability, because I was trying to work 2 hours a day so I would not starve to death.
In the meantime, I am doing without any health care whatsoever, and also doing without essential medications that I need to live.
I have no money whatsoever, no income at all.
And consequently, all of my utilities have been cut off, including electricity, water, phone, everything, and I had to move out of my home, and I am now homeless, on top of being seriously ill and doing without medical care and my medications.
Also, I am going to now lose my home entirely.
We have trillions of dollars for the bankers. Billions for car manufacturers. Hundreds of billions for pre-emptive wars against non-aggressive nations to kill innocent civilian women and children. We have plenty of money for illegal wiretapping and other outrageous and unnecessary things.
But we don't have money for health care for American citizens???
It is bad enough that you have to wait about 5-6 years to get Disability when you are too sick to work. What's up with that?
Also: how are you supposed to have the medical records to support your disability when you can't go to a doctor, nor have any diagnostic tests done???
And while you are waiting for the Disability check that you can not ever get, you starve to death, go without medical care, and end up homeless, and lose your home. There is something very wrong with this picture.
HR 676 would allow me to have the medical care that I need. There is no other way I can get it. If I don't get it, I will die. I don't want to die because of a lack of medical care and the treatment and medications that I need to live.
You selfish Americans need to wake up and stop being so disgustingly cruel and selfish. You bitch about your tax money going to help Americans, but you don't even bat an eye when it is hundreds of millions going for wars and bailouts for big bank executives!
You are going to pay the same taxes anyway, regardless.
(I have paid them for 35 years, and believe me, they got PLENTY off my RN wages! Money that I paid out by the tens of thousands, that I want back now, when I can not help myself, and when I need it!!!)
Would you rather have your tax money go to killing people in foreign countries who have never hurt you, or to big bank and insurance CEO's, or to rebuilding Iraq, or buying useless crap the bureaucratic govt thinks it needs?
Or would you rather your tax money went to make sure all Americans have medical, dental, and vision care?
Over 50 million Americans are doing without medical care. This is a CRIME.
MEDICAL CARE IS A RIGHT - NOT A PRIVILEGE ONLY FOR THE RICH.
Sure it's nice if your job gives you health care. But in KY only about 5% of employers offer it.
AND WHAT IF YOU ARE TOO SICK TO WORK?????
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There it is. That's the story.
I uploaded it several months ago when I had to move out of my home because I could not afford to pay the utilities, and my lights and water were shut off.
It's all pretty much the same, only worse. I am now 53, not 52 anymore.
The "one specialist who would take me on a charity basis" now refuses to see me, because I can not pay him. In the 2 years I had seen him, he never ordered not even one single diagnostic test! Basically I was not receiving any care at all, anyway - but it was an avenue for getting my prescriptions that I need to breathe. Now I have nowhere to get them at all. The local emergency rooms will not prescribe your routine medications for you - you are supposed to "get them from your regular physician". Well how are you supposed to do that if you can't have a "regular physician"?
I am presently living at a past employer's house - a person who has end-stage liver cirrhosis, with accompanying Korsakoff Syndrome, and who is very abusive. (In case you don't know what Korsakoff Syndrome is, it is alcoholic dementia that accompanies liver cirrhosis. It is similar to Alzheimer's disease, and the people who have it become very confused, agitated, lose control of bodily functions, experience memory loss, and become unable to control their emotions.)
Over the past couple of months, I have had to deal with all sorts of outrageously violent and abusive behavior, including being kicked, arms twisted, getting spit on in my face, choked, attempted to push me down the steps face first, tried to throw a pan full of hot oil in my face, been called every filthy name ever imagined, been threatened with all sorts of things including death, have heard all sorts of filthy sexual crap, and have seen my beloved pets abused by a frigging lunatic.
It's a good thing I am able to control myself. Because anyone else would have knocked this asshole's head off his shoulders by now.
Not to mention the fact that I am still expected to do all the same caretaking and housekeeping work that I used to do here 6 years ago, but got PAID for! It doesn't matter that I can barely even take care of myself - much less anyone else!
But I can't do anything about it. There is no where else to go. Not here there isn't.
There is a 6 month or more waiting list for homeless shelters here. And it is no place to be, trust me. Besides which, I am not giving up my precious little Foofy dog.
Annie's Nightmare Story - Goes Along With Mine
Annnie got hit by a car a week and a half ago because the jerk I am staying with will not let her come in the house, even though she is a house dog.
She is only 7 months old.
Her right hind leg and lower belly looked like a meat grinder got ahold of them. It was horrible. I had to "doctor" it myself, because I have no money to take her to the vet. It was a good thing I knew how and had the things to do it with. I did wound care on her twice a day for ten days and had to wrap her leg with an Ace bandage for 5 days or so because she had some tendon inflammation & the leg was swollen. I thought it might be fractured at first. She could not walk - I had to carry her throughout the day and night to the grass where she could use the potty. She could not lay down by herself. I had to pick her up and lay her down. The wound became infected and I was afraid I'd lose her, but then it did heal. Nothing was broken and no internal injuries, fortunately.
She is fine now, thank God. Though she will be badly scarred forever and walks a little tippy.
But I am not fine. I am very angry that my poor dog was subjected to this for no reason. Such a beautiful pup & the very sweetest little dog I have ever had! She is almost human - "talks" to me!
Yeah, I'm PISSED!
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And why am I still in this situation?
Why?
Because there is nothing I can do about it. I am too sick to work anymore. And I am too sick to bounce around from place to place like I used to be able to do.
I wish to God I could. I wish I could breathe. I wish I didn't need to do 8-10 nebulizer treatments every day, and I wish I could get back up again when I sit down somewhere. I wish I didn't feel so weak and break out into a sweat all over anytime I try to sweep the floor or take a shower. I wish I could plant a garden again and walk my dogs. I wish I didn't wake up several times every night not being able to breathe. And I wish I could dance again.
But I just can't do it. So that means no money. No income.
I am still waiting for my Disability. I am ready to file my appeal now, because I have been denied twice now.
I don't have much hope. Remember, last time they denied me because I was trying to work 2 hrs a day, 5 days a week, even though they did agree that I was "disabled & there was no job I could do". (their words!)
What really angers me the most, is that I went to the Social Security office for the drunk I live with, to file his claim for Disability (since he is not able, because he stays drunk all the time!), and guess what? They sent him HIS check within 2 months.
Is that fair? That a person who is purposely killing themself with alcohol should get a free ride instead of treatment? And that a person who is truly sick should get no help at all?
WTF is wrong with this country?
It makes me sick.
Every time I get on this subject, I get furious.
I am not a lazy person, nor a lounger. I am an over-achiever who owned my own International Marketing Company when I was 23, and had 9 employees. I have worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time since I was 16 years old. I worked my way through college with 3 jobs and was a licensed foster parent who took in emotionally disturbed teen-aged girls. Yep. I did all that and went to college, too. Half my class flunked out - but I didn't.
That is probably why I am sick now. Because I over-worked.
But now I am too sick to do it anymore. I can hardly get the dishes washed.
Which is why I sit at this computer almost 20 hours a day, EVERY day, trying to figure out how to make enough money to get away from this lunatic and be able to support myself.
Because it's all I'm able to do.
It's also why I keep reading this blog:
http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/2007/02/blogger-basics-making-money-online.html
To try and figure out how to make enough money on the internet to support myself and get myself and my beloved pet babies away from this lunatic I am forced to live with.
And also because my box of breathing treatments is almost empty and I don't know where on earth I will get any more. Or how I will breathe when they are gone.
I have no hope whatsoever that the US government (notice I did not say "MY" government!) will ever do the right thing.
I will be very interested to see what kind of comments I get here.
I wonder what kind of people make up the HubPages community?
Anyway.
I urge each and every one of you to do whatever is in your power to do, to force our government to make sure that everyone in this country is able to receive the same quality of health care, whether they have money or not, a job or not, pre-existing conditions or not, addiction problems or not, whether they smoke or drink or not.
We need to STOP being so intolerant of others' shortcomings and faults.
We are all human beings. And we are ALL entitled to proper health, dental, and vision care.
Why should someone who is rich be able to have dental care and glasses, but the poor person should have to suffer with dental pain and be blind?
Does the amount of money we have define us as a human being? Can you take it with you when you die and they put you in that coffin you take your last trip out of this world in?
Why should a person who has an addiction be barred from getting health care, or barred from having a home or a job? Aren't these the very people that we should be helping? Make them stronger, so we can ALL be stronger?
Why should the poor and the sick be punished? Aren't they suffering enough?
They are already homeless, hungry, and jobless. They have already lost everything.
Should they be kicked and ground down into the dirt some more on top of what they are already suffering?
Where is your compassion, Americans?
Quit judging others less fortunate and less perfect than yourselves!
It could be YOU!
When I graduated from college with my RN degree, I never thought I would get sick and not be able to work. I never thought I would be destitute. And I never thought I would be homeless and have to go without medical care to the point where I am afraid I will actually die from the lack of it.
It's a good thing I know about medical symptoms and what they mean, and a good thing that I am intelligent and can study alternative and herbal remedies, to try to heal myself, or at least to deal with some of my worst annoying symptoms.
Trying to be my own doctor.
But what about the people who don't have a college degree? And don't know enough to look for alternative treatments?
Why do you think there is such a massive demand for herbal remedies and health supplements? Because people are having to treat themselves - because they have no health care insurance, no money, and now no jobs, either, with the economic collapse we are living in. They have no choice but to try to take care of themselves.
This makes me be ashamed to be an American. How about you?
Think what you want to think about me spilling my guts and exposing myself.
It feels good writing it.
And maybe it will do some good for someone else.
There is nothing you can say to me to convince me that the big health care insurance companies and big pharma should continue to dictate whether Americans live or die.
So don't even try.
Just think about what I have said here. And do the right thing.
Educate yourself about HR 676:
http://www.hr676.org/
Read the bill:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-676
How you can help:
http://www.hr676.org/11.html
Then watch this video "Sick for Profit" and if it doesn't make you mad as hell, then there is something wrong with you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKI9be55N00
And here is the matching website for "Sick for Profit":
http://sickforprofit.com/
Do you want to help me? I need it.
Visit my websites/stores. Buy something if you can afford it. Refer other people there, maybe they will buy something.
http://angelina-ballerina.webs.com/ (This website was rated in the Top 1% of new websites uploaded to Webs.com in the past week! Not bad for a person who didn't even know what html was a few years ago. Angelina Ballerina, of all things! What a person won't do to try to earn some money! Well, it's a fun place for little girls, anyway! Makes me feel good! Even if I am broke...)
http://WesternKyFisherman.bravehost.com/
http://WesternKyFishermanStore.bravehost.com/
If you think of something better let me know.
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Hi MagicStar, I'm in the UK where we have had universal healthcare for over 60 years. I read stories like yours with such a sense of disbelief. How can such things happen in a civilised country in the 21st century, and yet I know that they do.
You so totally have my sympathy. On one of the forum threads about American healthcare there are a number of people who seem to think that Medicaid and charity mop up everyone without insurance, yet there are many stories like yours on HubPages. I hope things improve for you very soon, and that your internet endeavours start to pay dividends.
hello magic,
blown away by your story. I am hanging on by a thread myself. I am 54. I live day 2 day in a daze with my 4 legged sidekick jack.
2 be honest, the last 8 months I have been trying to procure nembutal..I have also been trying to income from the web but have given up on that after repeated disappointment...
4 myself, I wish that the powers that be would offer euthenasia as a kindness to those that they consider bottom feeders aka those that can no longer produce...
I would gladly choose this option while I still retain some dignity..
most people, sadly, regard those who fail economically as sinners...the terrible plight has come about as your fault...
this is america, the grace of god is measured by your ability to acquire and retain material wealth...as sad and as contradictory as this sounds, u have but to look about u..
I wish u well and appreciate your sincerity..it has helped me to express myself here honestly..
that is why i say, if the government considers us too much of a burden, can't they at least offer a viable solution to human misery..an escape?
Most people in the U.S. are exactly one disaster and two paychecks away from the streets. We have no social safety net in this country. I was at the county records office of the city where I was born a couple of weeks ago and by chance ended up there on the first day of 'subsidized housing application week'.
That's right--there is ONE WEEK during the entire year when people can submit an application for subsidized government housing, and it is on a first come first served basis. At least twelve people came in just in the few minutes I was waiting for my birth certificate. (I needed it for something else). We have nowhere near enough housing for poor people here. In the city where I currently live, the homeless population went up 25% just this year. Now the food banks are shutting down for lack of money and donations, just as the number of people using them is jumping off the charts. It's really just damned scary.
I'm sorry for your situation. It sounds like you are doing what you can. If I were you, I would call a social services hotline in your area and see if they can hook you up to any privately funded charities that might be able to help. There are several--many of them funded through United Way in each separate locale. I know that's not much help. Failing that I would start asking around at churches next. Unitarians and Catholics ones will often try to help, and if you have any Quaker communities nearby they are good too. Good luck to you and hang in there.
Old Firm: Yes, it does pay to bone up on the laws. Especially the Social Security Administration laws which determine who is eligible for Disability. For example, in my case: the law says if you blow a less than 51% FEV1, then you qualify as disabled. 3 months ago when I had the medical evaluation they sent me to, I blew 17%-39%. Last time it was 47%, 3 years ago. It made no difference. They disqualified me because I was trying to work those 2 hrs a day to keep from starving.
It seems no matter how you think you know those laws, you can not battle them on even ground because they are so adept at rolling out little known "loophole" laws to knock you back out of the game again.
I'm doing what I can.
Thanks for coming to read.
To John Guilfoyle: Thanks for sharing your own frustration.
I know there are others who are in the same position.
But listen. It is too easy to give up. That's what they WANT you to do. They want to starve you out, and hope you'll croak before they have to pay you. (Oh, but it's ok to buy new helicopters worth hundreds of millions and build fancy new Embassies in Iraq for our rich leaders to play with!)
Screw that giving up! I won't do it. Period.
I'll be damned if I'll let their messed up politics cause me to destroy myself. Nope. THEY are the ones who need to change! Not me!
No euthanasia for me! I love life (or if not the way things are right now, at least the THOUGHT of how life SHOULD be!) I want to LIVE! There is too much to see & do yet in this world we live in!
As far as giving up on the internet. I refuse to do that either! Other people are able to do it. If they can do it, then why can't I??? Are they smarter or better than I am? I doubt it. They just know what they are doing and I don't. But I can most definitely learn.
IF I make my mind up that's what I want to do, I CAN DO IT!
And SO CAN YOU!!
DON'T GIVE UP!!! That's what they WANT you to do. That is a perfect reason for you NOT to do it!
GET MAD!!! AND GET BUSY!!!
As far as: "most people, sadly, regard those who fail economically as sinners", you are absolutely right. People here in the US judge others by how much money and how many "toys" they have. When they see someone who is failing, they automatically categorize them as a "loser". They do not ever stop to think that perhaps we might be tougher than THEY are, because we are strong enough to deal with this crap.
NOT EVERYONE who is having financial difficulty is a loser! Most are just good people like anyone else who have had a traumatic event in their lives which destroyed their infra-structure. Once you are knocked down, it's damn hard to get back up again. Especially if you have an impediment like being sick. Or in some people's cases it might be an addiction or a criminal background which prevents them from being able to participate in society. Those are limitations which need to be done away with also. It is insane to keep the very people who SHOULD be working and bettering themselves from doing it!!! STUPID!!!
If we start making life easier & better for these "Losers", everyone gains! Why can't people see that? Crime rates go down, less crooks on the streets having to steal to feed their kids, less need to turn to drugs as an escape, etc, etc.
Seems simple to me.
But don't give up. Pull yourself up, dust yourself off, & roll up your sleeves. Give your dog a kiss and say "I can do this!"
pgrundy:
Thank you so much for reading & commenting.
You are so very, very right. Most people are only a paycheck or 2 away from losing everything they own and ending up homeless, sleeping under a bridge somewhere. (This is why I constantly urge EVERYONE to prepare for an emergency!! You never know when you will have no food, no lights, no water, etc, etc for some reason)
In my own case, it was illness that knocked me out of the game. This is the most common cause. (Since when do REAL AMERICANS punish SICK PEOPLE???) For some others, it's a job lay-off, an addiction, a stint in jail or prison. (Don't ever forget the US has the biggest prison population of any other country in the world! We have 5% of the world's population - But we have a WHOPPING 25%!!! of the world's PRISON POPULATION!!! Most people who land up in jail are people just like you or me who didn't do much of anything wrong enough to deserve having their whole life and families destroyed over it. C'mon! Selling a bag of weed is worth destroying a life over??? Americans need to STOP JUDGING AND PUNISHING OTHERS SO HARSHLY FOR THEIR MISTAKES AND START HELPING THEM INSTEAD!!!
Like you, just for shits & giggles one day when I was in town a few weeks ago, I stopped in at the Subsidized Housing Office at the Municipal Building. There is a TEN YEAR WAITING LIST for single adults less than 65 without minor children. IN FACT THEY ARE NOT EVEN ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!!!!!
And the charities who help out with emergency food and help with utility bills are OUT OF MONEY!!! One place where you could get food once a month now only lets people have it once every 4 months! (Guess you're only supposed to eat every 4 months???) Other places simply just tell you: "Sorry, but we do not have anything!"
Our government is not telling us the truth about how bad things really are. Take my advice: Prepare yourself for hard times - stock up food, supplies, gas, something to barter with, etc. Think of what you would need if you were thrown out in to a field somewhere with nothing. What would you need to survive?
Also, if you can, plant an ORGANIC garden with HEIRLOOM plants, and can or dehydrate your harvest and store it. So you won't starve when things get bad. (More on heirloom gardens here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Preserving-Genetically-Tru and more on survival preparation here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Common-Sense-Disaster-Prep
The one thing I do know is that I've seen a lot of shit in my life. I've been a lot of places and seen lots of bad stuff. Some stuff people should not ever have to see, even.
But I do know one thing. There is NOTHING that God CAN NOT FIX!!
I will NOT give up my values of right and wrong.
And I will NOT give up on succeeding on the internet. I intend to keep at it until I make it work!
(Rosalind Gardner, move over, cuz here I come!)
I admire your perseverance...I praise your honesty...but magic, don't u know by now that the way things are set up u r crippling yourself somewhat by your honesty when applying 4 assistance?
I've been around the block many times...seen more than I expect anyone to believe, unless they have seen also..
I am an idealist also, many who gain assistance know how to play the game and acquire...it is another means of control....u r made to buy in...then u keep quiet because u don't want to lose the scrap u r thrown..
I guess I am weary...I have fought against injustice all my life with little gain...
consequently, I have lost much, from my anger I willingly accepted these losses...
ah well my friend, I have given jack a scratch of the ears from u, he sends his thanks...
perhaps i'll try a little harder...perhaps i'll write again now that I can sign in at hubpages again...by some miracle today...
perhaps i'll write about meeting jfk jr in 1996...
maybe i'll write about paul schrade, who is 84 and trying to reopen the rfk assassination investigation, he was shot also that day...he grew up in my town...
perhaps these stories will provide some with entertainment...
truth is certainly far stranger than fiction...yet if related as fiction, is more readily acceptable..
I do go on..I laud your attempts at awakening those that slumber...my ennui is an effect of my inability to slumber...
it's a small world for those whose eyes stare unblinking..
keep up the good fight comrade (why must that wonderful word bear such negative connotation in the western world?)
4 now I bid u luck and love and
peace...
Yes you are right - a woman I know applied the same time I did, back in February. She purposely pretended she was crazy - answered the "Who is President of the US?" question by saying "Lincoln" over & over - she has been getting her check since April. No more crazy than I am. And definitely NOT SICK! Healthy as a horse!
I don't have it in me to be that dishonest. I just can't do it. I feel I shouldn't have to anyway because I really AM sick in a debilitating way. Guess you have to be a conniving crook to get Disability? Lie & pretend to be crazy? I know a guy who is paralyzed from the neck down. Uses a motorized wheel chair, can't get up or down by himself, can't dress himself, but can type on a keyboard using a stick in his mouth. They won't give him Disability. They say he "could work in an office" typing on a keyboard with a stick in his mouth... I wonder who would empty his colostomy and catheter bags while he was at work??? Or who would get him up out of bed and dressed and to work???
They don't care. I can't think of anyone who could possibly be MORE disabled than a quadriplegic, can you? WTF is WRONG with people in this country?
Well I HATE injustice. And I will NOT shut up.
It's like someone told me once when I was discouraged about ever making a difference in those messed up foster girls' lives. They said: "It may not look like you are making a difference right now, but maybe later, something you showed them will come back to them and be the basis for something good."
I still remember that.
As far as the writing, John: I, too, love to write just for the fun and craft of it. It would be wonderful to be an internationally acclaimed writer whose name was instantly recognized and not have to ever worry about money again.
But I betcha our friend Grizzly would have this to say:
"Screw writing for pleasure - I'm in it to MAKE MONEY!"
Is there a happy medium? I don't know.
Maybe so, if you are able to pick the right thing to write about, (good keyword analysis) and optimize your article right for the search engines so you get lots of traffic. And if you put the right affiliate products on your page and use the right keywords to get high-paying Google ads on there so people will click on those ads and buy your affiliate stuff.
I think maybe you can do both. But right now, sitting here with ZERO in my bank account and running out of breathing treatments, I tend to think more like Grizzly!
Either that, or I am writing just to get this stuff off my chest and I don't give a rip if it makes any money or not as long as I get to have my rant.
Whatever... Just don't give up. Jack is depending on you!
(Give him another scratch or 2 for me and a treat if you have one!)
That JFK article sounds good. Be sure to make it sound spectacular so you get lots of traffic - and put good stuff on there for people to buy.
" don't have it in me to be that dishonest. I just can't do it. I feel I shouldn't have to anyway because I really AM sick in a debilitating way".
And I totally agree with you...it is a crying shame the way our fellow humans are treated by "the laws that are to protect us". and I ADMIRE you for your honesty and your loyalty to it...I can't stand liars...they have something to hide or they wouldn't need to lie ( in my opinion)
Here in the state I live in they MUST treat you if you are sick and provide a doctor from the state...They also offer insurance according to your income...but I know it isn't much coverage and it costs a lot. I used it for many years after a very serious hospital stay which was covered by the state...I paid the premium because I felt as if I was repaying for the care I received for nothing...and it was in the 10 of thousands...
My dear keep your good attitude and you shall be added to my daily prayers ( for whatever that is worth to you). I just do not understand the people today...Money is the ROOT of ALL evil...God Bless and give woof woof a hug for me...:O) Hugs G-Ma
Yes I don't understand people today either. The only thing most people seem to care about anymore is themselves and avariciousness. They are cruel and devoid of compassion and caring for other living beings. The only thing I can figure out is that they have totally rejected God's love so irrevocably that He no longer lives inside of them. God's grace and love flows through us, but only if we let it. I believe that is the problem: There is no God - and no love in these people. If only they knew - that while they think they are gaining so much - they have actually already lost everything!
I don't ask for much at all. Just a simple little place to live, don't need luxuries at all. Nothing fancy. And enough to pay my little bills, have food to eat, and enough to feed my furry babies. And a computer so I can try to work. That's not asking much. I am not a person that it takes very much to keep me happy. I find my joys in other ways that have nothing to do with money! Like learning new things, watching nature & wildlife, reading, watching things grow, doing artistic or creative things...
Here, too, they have to treat you in the emergency rooms of the hospitals. But they will no longer write your prescriptions for your routine medications. You must have that done by your "regular physician". But you can not GET a regular physician with no insurance and no money to pay them.
The whole damn system makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
So. Instead of letting people go to a regular physician so they can stay healthier - they would rather completely neglect these people until they are so direly ill that they are forced to go to the emergency room or be admitted into the hospital. Then it costs a fortune to pay for it.
Isn't it simpler to keep people stable and out of the hospitals and emergency rooms? DOH!!!
The big problem is that the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies are making too much money by keeping everybody sick! It's time to ditch them. They are bloodsuckers - draining the very lifeblood from America's most defenseless - SICK PEOPLE!
PLEASE go to: http://sickforprofit.com It will really open your eyes.
I hate liars, too. I hate cruelty and ignorance even worse!
Your prayers are so very much appreciated and worth the world to me! Thank you so much for saying that. Don't worry about the doggy huggin - they get plenty of it! (Also the kitties do, too! Thanks for your kind words G-Ma!
You are a sweetheart! :)
MagicStarER, you have seen a lot of trouble in your life and this seems like the hardest time for you. I am not in a comfortable place myself, but it doesn't begin to compare with yours. I agree that to let your fellow man suffer while you enjoy riches is a giant shame.
I want to say that free medical care is not a right, but a privilege. That being said and before you fire torpedoes at me, I want to add that in a country this wealthy and blessed, it is satanic not to have compassion on those who can not take care of themselves. But I fear the government, and I never stopped to think until now, that the reason we are calling for forced compassion is because so few have compassion. If the majority of people who have money were to have compassion and give to those who need, we wouldn't need a government orchestrated health care system. So it is sin that drives us into more sin.
It's true that people like you slip through the canyon abysses of government bureaucracy. You are in my prayers sister, I am so very glad that you are keeping your faith and hope. I would gladly pay more taxes if it meant that everyone got the care they needed, (including me).
Here's some-one else with similar troubles. you may be able to support each other.
best wishes.http://hubpages.com/hub/HELP-TYPICAL-ER-VISIT-in-U
Alexander M. - You seem to be a nice, compassionate person. But I can not understand why you would think that medical care is a privilege - or is it just "free" medical care that you thik should be a privilege? Let's take for example the little baby in the "Sick for Profit" video. The one who needed the surgery and where the insurance company denied it, and the baby suffered all sorts of trouble, was in terrible pain and suffering, and required even more invasive procedures, like the feeding tubes, etc.
Do you think that little kid had a RIGHT to receive the surgery she needed so she could live a normal, pain-free life?
Or would it be a PRIVILEGE to be able to eat and digest your food like a normal person.
Every single human being on this earth has the RIGHT to receive the full scope of present technology as far as preventive and curative medicine, dental care, and vision care. Regardless of what their finances are. People should not be forced to run around in pain and suffering, with agonizing or debilitating medical conditions, with rotten painful teeth, unable to see, nor should they be sentenced to a needless DEATH just because they don't have any money to pay.
I want you to imagine, for a moment, that you have lost your job and your health care insurance. Now, suddenly you develop an ulcer on your leg. But no doctor will take you because you can't pay them. So you go to the emergency room. They give you prescriptions for antibiotics and some stuff to dress the wound with. But you have no money because you lost your job. So you can't afford to buy the prescriptions the ER gave you. Meanwhile, the ulcer continues to get worse. You are in terrible pain. But you can't go see a doctor and get anything for the pain, because no doctors will take you. You try everything you can think of at home to try to cure your ulcer. But nothing works and it just gets worse and worse.
So you go back to the ER. They tell you that the leg is so badly infected that part of your leg will have to be amputated.
So they check you in and amputate the leg. But you can't afford to pay for the physical therapy nor for the prosthesis. So you have to do without. And now you can't walk. So you can't ever go back to work again, now, can you? You might be lucky if you can get a wheelchair out of them. But you won't get the prosthesis. They cost about $20,000. No way.
Well, so now you can't go back to work.
So you apply for Social Security Disability.
Do you know what they will tell you?
(And I quote, word for word) "Amputees are not considered to be disabled under the current guidelines".
So you are screwed, aren't you?????
So what do you think?
Do you think you had the right to receive medical care for the ulcer you had on your leg? Or was it right for them to say "screw you" and let your leg rot off, because you could not pay for the treatment?
WAKE UP, Alexander! You seem like a nice guy.
EVERYONE has the right to the SAME MEDICAL, DENTAL, AND VISION CARE!!!!
REGARDLESS OF THEIR ABILITY TO PAY!
Or do you think rich people should be able to receive all the best care, live comfortably and pain free, while poor people should have to suffer all the worst consequences of easily treatable illnesses, living in pain and agony, and dying from these conditions because they can't get any treatment, and also run around with rotten teeth, and agonizingly painful dental conditions, no glasses so they can't see, etc., etc., etc.????
So only rich people are deserving of receiving health care?
They are better than poor people? In what way, I would like to know.
Because they have more money?
If anything it should be the other way around. Most rich people are nothing but crooks who got their money by stealing it, and by screwing other people over. I could give you several hundred examples of how this is true.
Does one person deserve to live in pain while the other gets to enjoy relief? Are not BOTH human beings?
Who feel the same things, experience the same human condition, the same emotions, etc?
I'm sorry Alexander, but you are wrong on that one.
EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE EQUAL MEDICAL, DENTAL, AND VISION CARE REGARDLESS OF ABILITY TO PAY.
PERIOD!!!
Anybody who says or thinks different, is going back to the dark ages - or back to slavery days. Where it was believed that white people were more "deserving" than black people. Or like the European nobility believing it was "more pure and deserving of the best" than the "masses".
I REPEAT: EVERY HUMAN BEING ALIVE ON THIS EARTH DESERVES TO LIVE OUT THEIR LIFE IN THE BEST POSSIBLE PHYSICAL CONDITION THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED.
Or do you think it is a person's fault that they have some illness or condition, and that they should be PUNISHED for it?
Be careful what you say. Because what you say (like saying free medical care is a "privilege") can come back and bite you in the ass one day.
Another thing I wanted to say in that article is that Doctors are making way too much money. And there is no way they should be receiving the "kick-backs" they are getting for prescribing certain "brands" of medications and medical supplies. That is just ridiculous, and goes against good medical practice. Why is it allowed?
Doctors have been allowed to achieve such positions of power that they believe they are Gods. In other countries, they are not making the kind of money they are allowed to make here. They are public servants!!!!
As a reference, look at all the doctors in this country going into politics, who have the money to finance all the way up to and including a Presidential campaign, of all things. Where are they getting all that money? OFF OF YOUR SUFFERING!!!!
And then when they screw up, you can't even sue them anymore. They are FAR too exalted, and their heads far too swelled up with their exaggerated opinions of themselves. They are far more interested nowadays in their bankrolls, and not in "healing" and "doing no harm". All they are is puppets for big insurance and big pharma. And all joined up together to SCREW US OVER.
Why do I say this? Because nowadays a doctor can refuse to treat you if you can't pay him. Used to be they had to treat you regardless. And there is no longer a way to hold them accountable for their neglect or incompetence.
Where is the power? In the wrong place!
I truely feel your pain. I to am disabled, and just like you, I was also denied. I did everything right, filled out all the paper work, and prayed alot. After I was denied the first time, I received a revelation, and I beleived it was from God. Instead of laying down and just die, and I didn't want to go out and spend the money it would have cost me to pay a lawyer, because beleive me, Disability is not a living, I went and sat down with my congressman and spilled my guts out, and do you know what happen? they helped me with the paper work gave me some more advise lead me by my hand, and presto, I qualified and am now receiving what I worked for all my life. I am 55 year old, but beleive me, I much rather be working then having to be on S.S. Disability, but I had no choice. Go see your congressman and drop your Lawyers. It's cheaper. God Bless, keep you in my prayers.
I am so glad that worked for you. It may not be much, but it is enough to keep you from being homeless. And the Medicaid that you get lets you go to the doctor and have the medicine you need.
I don't think that your method would work here. Our Congressman Ed Whitfield is not exactly what you would call accessible. He rarely comes to the city I live near and whenever he does he is surrounded by all kinds of crowds of people. Maybe if I wrote to him?
You poor love - thinking of you!
Thanks for the good "thinkings"! You are so sweet! :)
I am so sorry about your medical problems, but let me tell you this as my own testimony. The health care doctors cannot help my disease. They don't treat it,the Lord has been interceding to help me the whole time. Know this, you will not die if the health care fails you, if you know and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. He will personally take care of you. Test Him on it. I have given my whole life as a sacrifice to Him and testimony that He does help those whom ask Him for it. With God on your side, no one can be against you or take your life unless it is His will alone. Trust Him, especially if He is the only way out for you cause no one else will help you. He has promised, if you are a believer, that He will never forsake you or leave you, or put you through more than you can bear. I am proof of that.
Thank you, Sciantel, for this comment - it caught me in a moment where I am just ready to give up, with tears running down my face everywhere. God is all I have left. And I am waiting for Him to hear me and help me. Because the situation where I live has become so abusive that I MUST get away from it NOW, and I have no way to do it. My family will not help me, and I can not even find anyone to give me & my belongings a ride to my home, where, even though there is no water and no electricity, at least I am safe from abuse. So there is no other source of help but God alone. I am waiting, and still crying. Sorry I can't help it anymore.
Don't feel bad. Lately I have had trials too where I've cried and wondered why Lord?
MagicStarER, I can't believe a college grad, especially in Nursing,is denied Disability. I am so sorry to hear this, I did not realize your situation was so devistating. I could not read your website on My Space because my adobe kept crashing my computer. If you read my My Space page, you know I have asthma. What is an FEV1? I was not allowed my SSI Disability fro my asthma, so I did what many others have done and I settled for a Mental Illness diagnosis. I was homeless for 14 years out of 20, between 1980 and 2000. Then I stopped running. Now I live in an apt that is full of both black mold and white mold, and I can't move. I don't have the money for one thing, and the gov. agencies I got my apt from won't do anything to help me due to the asthma. I had an inspection today and she failed my apt. for water leaks in both the kitchen and bathroom sinks and the bathtub. She is coming back in 3 to 4 weeks to see if the landlord has fixed it. If he starts tearing up the walls to get to the plumbing all that crap is going to go airborn. I was on a ventalator in the hospital in April, and I'm terrified I'm going to end up back there again and I might not survive next time. My oxygen saturation level was down to 40% at the time I was hospitalized. The social workers at the shelters refused to accept that I had asthma as serious as I do, they and the doctors they sent me to refused to send for my childhood medical records for 30 years. By the time they passed a law that I had a right to copies of my medical records, the hospital that my pediatrician had sent them to archive, destroyed them because I did not get in touch with them soon enough. 20 years of my life through the paper shredder. The gov insurance you get through Medicaid isn't much better than nothing. Most doctors won't accept the insurance and when they do they have an attitude. I do think it has everything to do with income level, but also social status. I come frome a very wealthy family, and even though I had no money when I was a child, because my pediatrition knew my wealthy uncles, I got better treatment. It has been very obvious to me through the years. Worst, I believe they don't think they have an attitude. I realize this is probably not much help, but I was nieve at first and I thought things would get better once I stayed in one place for awhile, then I learned this is just the way it is. So then, was the question, what can I do? I can follow your example and complain and keep at it. You have been an inspiration to me just from what I have read on your My Space page, I would never have known you also had been homeless from what I was able to read. So you have a special gift, and I will pray for you. Thank-you for sharing your story.
You really need to get away from the mold. (This is what happened to me, too, and why I am sick now, the mold causes scarring/damage in your lungs!) Is there any way they would give you a different apartment? Bleach kills mold. Air cleaners can help. I washed my walls and ceilings with bleach, but there is really nothing to do but to get away from it. Your furniture if porous, is also full of mold spores and you will have to get rid of it. Carpet is full of mold spores, too.
"Breathe Easy" tea from the organic section at Kroger's helped me. Get some and drink it.
I feel so sorry for you, because I know exactly what you are going through - I went through it myself. Get away from the mold or it will kill you. I know how sick it can make you, and it is DEATHLY sick. You have to move.
It sounds like you also need a nebulizer, do you have one?
Black mold is no joke. You can die from it. Where are the leaks exactly? Is it in the wood under the pipes? In the walls? Pour bleach on it. Get an air cleaner. Wash everything down with bleach mixture.
It sounds like you're one of the ones who gets massively screwed by the system, and I'm sorry. But that's how they do it to you. They suck you in, then you become dependent on them.
You're an RN. You wrote that hub on what to expect when you're going through school, perhaps you can tutor or set up a, I don't know, RN prep study course or something. With all the interest in people going to nursing school, it might be a good way to scare up some funds.
Or you could try to do some sort of a consulting gig. You, yourself would supervise, but you could find people to do the legwork. Surely you can think of way to help doctor's and hospitals save money. Maybe you can build a consulting business out of that. I've known several people who do very well with consulting about meeting and keeping JHACO accreditation.
I'm sure if I knew more about the field I could think of plenty more ideas to help you get a business going, but maybe some of the ideas I've presented will get you thinking. Good luck and God bless.
LOL! Or I can build web sites, blog, and write articles... :)
I was on the front end of no insurance and my Daddy died when I was 51/2 years old. My Mama was left with elevn children and 8 in school. She called the school bus the glory train. She worked day and nigh and never asked for government help. We ate weeds, polk salet, had a cow, pig, and chickens. If we didn't raise it we didn't eat it. Doctor bills were paid for by you. A doctor never ask for insurance unless something big needed attention. Even x-rays were paid by you. Now people in the medical field are too busy testing for such foolisness as broncittius (sp) when he could listen to your chest and know what was wrong. You go with a cut an he poored a little something on it and sent you on your way. I was 10 yrs. old when I seen the first band aid. We used scorched white rags. Sometimes it was the pillow case. You didn't cut it up but used it, washed it, and put it back on the pillow. My Mama made every rag I owned. I had the toothache all the time and put amonia in my mouth to relieve the pain. My lining came out of my mouth. I pressed on and the tooth never got fixed until I was 18 and paid for it myself. I learned from my Mama do for self and forget about the world. Now I know you are having a horrible time breathing and it is almost impossible to walk but you can blame your government for what has transpired. The government solves nothing but gets you in worse shape. They are the ones that demanded the insurance companies have HMOs and PPOs and the insurance companies pay for the doctors. This raised prices at the doctor's office. Then they, the government demanded the insurance companies get into the stupid preventive care. You can preach until you are blue in the face but that does not help some people getting sick. Preventive care is a joke. The government needs to get off this bandwagon. People should have screamed like I did when the HMOs and PPOs came out. What I'm getting at is that the National health care will be worse. When all the Government layers added to the healthcare bill (I'm speaking thousands of paychecks) you will still get no help. It will only be worse. When we had less government, less taxes, less non profits and not for profits (sponging off the tax monies) we had a decent life and we had a job for which people had money to help out others. As poor as we were there were neighbors worse off than us and never a meal was on the table that there was not at leat one stranger eating at meal time. People had time for families and neighbors. Government, EPA has strangled job growth, the intervention into insurance and their operations has caused premiums to go through the roof. Government asking for more and more of your dollars to hand to non profits and not for profits in the form of grants, hand outs, etc. They just give it a name so the can dish out the pork that is not theirs to dish out. Government is spending the stimulas causing inflation and on top of that raising taxes on the few that is working now. I had an uncle who couldn't breath either and he walked five miles to out house every few days. He never had a breath, a treatment, etc. He would use the mint along side of the road and cursh it to help him get his breah so he could make it to our house. We all gave our pillows to him to sleep when he came. You know why he would make the jorney? To check on his dead brother's wife, my Mama.
I hear you calling the person names that gave you a place to lay your head. Why don't you try praying for him. Praying the Lord give him/her health so you can live in peace. I hear you thinking of more love for your dogs than the man/woman giving you a roof, warmth, and food. You see how for the kindness goes for your animals but not for the person helping you when you can't help yourself?
Lady I do feel sorry for you and I'm praying as I type that the Lord gives you wisdom and helps you become the care person Jesus was when people spat on him. God gives you a book to live by. The book is to keep your life simple and be greatful for what you have and appreciate what you have. I know hub pages is a good place to vent but when you learn how to love a appreciate what you have you will find your life more fullfilling. The Lord may have sent you there for a reason. He may want you to help the person you live with so the person you live with can help you. God works in mysterious ways and he may be working through you. Get up a pray and thank God you have the breath to do it.
I'm sorry your life has made the turn it has but cussing any and every one because you need what they have is not the way to improving your life. Pray and be thankful for what you have. God has a plan for you and you need to be asking Him what it is he needs for you.
I was greatful for the life I've had because God has taught me to be greatful for the small things in life, appreciate what I have done with my life, and prepare for the worse to happen in my life. I can, cook from scratch, do my own cleaning, painting, fixing, repairing, and my husband does the same thing. We are both pack rats because we save it for someone else to use or use it ourself. We both work but we may eat in a resturant 4 times a year. We eat leftovers until they are gone or turn green. I work sick every day of my life. I have Mernier's Disease, a dizziness on a daily basis,that keeps you confused, sick to the stomach, and hard to drive in traffic. The job I have requires physical labor, working computers, talking to people and eating a lot of hostility, and working until the job is done not the hours says I can clock out. I'm legally blind in one eye and have 20/40 vision in the other. I ask for help when I need it but most people would not work if they had to do it under these conditions. I work longer hours than others to do the same amout of work because my vision and dizzyness slows me down. I repeat work for corrections because of this. I stumbled through school, working jobs no one else wanted, and today at 57 years old I still don't have a career. I make a little better than minimum wages. I say all this because I don't want you to feel sorry for me but to say I feel your pain and lifestyle. I say this because I agree with the conservities (individualist). Keep Government out of my life and let me live it. Let me make my own decisions. Yes they are hard and life isn't easy. I've lived through cancer at age 32. I treat myself with herbs. I have been sick and disabled all my life but I was taught you have to go on even if it hurts. I might add that I had good insurance and was miss dianoised (sp) nine (9) times. I have a broken back and my hands are numb but I keep pressing on. When God gives me the strenght to get out of bed I will press on to do the best I can.
Press on and pray you will be surprised at the confort you will have in just a few short days.
Enjoy life don't cuss it.
Have a daughter with life threatening medical challenges. Its an everyday fight, only to be audited by the Government, and have to prove all of the expenses over and over, keep as many as receipts as I can on what the insurance won't pay, gas , travel, etc medical supplies they don't feel are important but make her life easier...its ridiculous. It can take over your life! I fear for when she turns old enough to where she does not get covered by our insurance!
Yes, you are right - it is an every day fight all the way around. I am still fighting, but losing hope that I will ever be treated like a human being.
The Old Firm Level 1 Commenter 2 years ago
I have to comment , if only to offer my support, such a it is.
I do not live in the USA so cannot attempt to offer advice over your plight. I am in a similar situation in my country, although obviously not as cruel, and I am receiving some support, albeit begrudged in some areas. My knowledge of local law has eventually given some me of the entitlements that are my (taxpayed) right although I'm still being pestered and refused by the proliferation of petty swine who overpopulate government and quasi- government departments.
I can only suggest that you direct your obvious intelligence to extracting from the net the laws that support your case and presenting them to welfare insistently.
Remember that most government employees are not remarkably bright, and even those that are want desperately to protect their jobs. If you can show them that they can give you what you need lawfully (take the responsibility of decision from them) they will do as you wish. If further you can show that not obeying their directives will endanger their positions they will (unless absolutely stupid) give you what you require.
(Example: Welfare act NWA3 sec2 sub sec3 states that as a registered non earner I require a state financed medical examination to determine my eligibility to receive continuing medical assistance) I made up the quote, probably don't use it, although a bit of artistic BS seldom goes astray.
I hope that this helps you.
Regards,
TOF