FINAL 'Help Andy' letter

The letter is up on the PDA blog:

http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=22#more-22

...and has been blasted to our activist community, friendly blogs and other alt-media folks.

Cross your fingers.

and another 25 grand once it's done.

:cry: We live in a "pay or die" country. The wealthiest country on the planet and American citizens face a "pay or die" reality. It's just so,...messed up.

we tax payers will be paying for national health insurance for the citizens of iraq!!

our new welfare program!!

fly

get worse in the future. Sigh.

If you have a little, give. :(

and then had stopped by the time I tried to use it in the middle of the night. I just tried it again and it still doesn't work. You get an error message that the account can't accept payments now, try again later.

So, if someone asks, this Amazon payment system for Andy is currently defunct. The link is here (provided by sfexpat2000):

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P2TRHRVBGX9KOX/102-6873839-9047353

This is really too bad, as it is a great choice for way to donate.

I asked sfexpat2000 about this and she said it sometimes works - here is her comment from a few minutes ago:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3570921&mesg_id=3571100

RECOMMENDED - I'm glad you have this loud voice for Andy, Will. Thanks for using it for all of us.

PayPal-ed and passed around! :)

we need to notify the johns hopkins monday morn and tell them if we have the money or not...so we need a running tab ...it doesn't amatter how much it is..we just need to keep track of how much we have coming in..its imperative we know the numbers...

and thank you so much for your donation...you have done a wonderful thing with your generosity!!

hugs to you!!:hug:

fly

means the world to me that you're doing this. :hug:

And :kick:

That's a fantastic letter. Can you get the paypal link to work?

If you make a donation then please send a PM to sfexpat2000. She is keeping up with the donation totals for the financial office at Andy's hospital.

You can also send email to her at info@dougzilla.com

:kick: maybe malloy will mention andy tonight since he put him on his site. http://www.mikemalloy.com/ one can hope !

i begged him to mention the donations for andy!!

so keep our fingers crossed!!

he owes me one anyway!!

fly

sfexpat2000 is taking care of keeping track of the money for Andy, so it's important that she be notified of donations so she can adjust the totals.

For tonight, there are MATCHING FUNDS UP TO $1000, so if you donate tonight contact her so she can take advantage of them to DOUBLE the amount until the $1000 has been reached. This applies to PLEDGES, so if you intend to snail-mail the donation to Andy, it will still be counted for tonight's matching fund if you let her know.

Thanks Will, and yes I agree with others on this thread-
let's ask Mike Malloy to ask his listeners to help too-
Can anyone on this thread supply a number for Malloy so that
few of us can call in to suggest it?
I love and adore Andy and I want to do
what ever I can to help.

BHN

couldn't get amazon to work, and don't have pay pal acct. Am sending check tomorrow and PM'ed sfexpat2000, so please send me Andy's snail mail address....thanks.

Andy Stephenson
P O Box 25624
Seattle, WA 98165-1124

via Paypal:

Andy_Stephenson@comcast.net

edited to add: The Amazon account isn't working reliably - sometimes it does but it never has for me. So I'll send via snail mail. Since I PMed sfexpat2000, my donation will be doubled with tonight's matching funds even though my check won't arrive for several days.

all contribution methods are as follows..

1) via USPS:
send a check or a money order to:
Andy Stephenson
P O Box 25624
Seattle, WA 98165-1124

2) via Paypal:
(You must have a Paypal account)
http://www.paypal.com/
After logging in, choose "Send Money" and
enter Andy's email address as the recipient
Andy_Stephenson@comcast.net

3) via Amazon
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P2TRHRVBGX9KOX/102-6873839-9047353
Just enter the amount and click "pay now"

Not to repeat, only to add-
for those of you not familiar with it- the DU Panic room
is Yahoo message board established to provide
an emergency meeting place on the net for the times when
DU is not operating and those with DU addiction, "panic..."

"Hi DU Panic Room Members,
If you are interested in donating to the Andy Stephenson fund raiser,
her is how you can:
go to http://www.paypal.com
If you do not currently have a Paypal account, you will first
need to create one.
Once your account is established, simply click on "Send Money"
Andy's email account is:
Andy_Stephenson@comcast.net
Whatever you can spare until our friend is back on his feet
will be greatly appreciated by Andy, of this I am certain."
BHN

Andy Stephenson
P O Box 25624
Seattle, WA 98165-1124

Thanks! So glad you posted! :hi:

he is going to tell about andy!!!!!!!! listen in!!!

fly

more about ANDY yea!!! Mallory rocks !

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

i wanna listen in so much,,
tending a visitor here or i'd be glued on!!

on dialup, & my browser has hung up *3* times now
just trying to get Andy's thread to load fully
so i can kick it again ...looks like it is NOT
gonna load :-(

would somebody kick for me when you get a chance, please?

later,, when things settle here


:pals: :hug: :kick:

I am sorry you can't hear it sweetie , Malloy is reading what Will wrote today for Andy !!!
I am sitting here crying now, will keep both threads kicked for you okay.
hiley
:hug:

http://www.whiterosesociety.org/

http://www.whiterosesociety.org/Malloy.html
scroll down to April 29, 2005 show.
:kick:

It won't be much but we will send a bit to help a friend.

And we will kick this thread.

I have passed this to all my friends asking that they do the same.

Hopkins DOES have a charity care program, they talk about it on the website:

The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Outpatient Center
Rated best hospital in the nation year after year for excellence in every specialty, this flagship of Hopkins Medicine includes such renowned centers as the Brady Urological Institute, the Wilmer Eye Institute, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Heart Institute. Drawing patients from around the world, Hopkins Hospital also provides more charity care than any other hospital in Baltimore. Its nurses have achieved coveted Magnet Status. Located across from the hospital and connected to it by an underground concourse, the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center includes facilities for diagnostic testing and imaging and outpatient surgery...

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/healthcaredelivery.html

Andy should qualify for the program as an unemployed uninsured person. Hopkins has an obligation to provide a certain amount of charity care both federally and probably locally. Certainly, they have a moral obligation do help out medically indigent people.

There are class action suits that have been filed on this subject nationwide. Google search Scruggs + class action + hospitals

One of my office mates just spoke to some of the Ways and Means staffers a couple of days ago about this subject, in part. They called him.


Laura




Laura

who I think has Medicaid in Washington State (which they have no obligation to accept). That may make him ineligible for their charity program.

THAT is the same BS local hospitals try and hide behind. Charity Care is exactly what it says: Charity. As in no expectation of payment of any kind. Medicare and Medicaid are not charity and the hospitals know that full well, but try and pass it off as some kind of community service.

Ask for a written copy of the charity care policy. They are doing the usual two step to avoid using the program if they claimed that his out of state residency is the issue preventing charity care.

Additionally, I really think th hospital may be over billing his charges if they are saying 25K up front. Typically they charge uninsured people about twice what they charge people with insurance. They claim it is because insurance companies have "negotiated rates." THAT is BS.

What makes this all so pathetic is the fact that on average, hospitals only recover payment on about 5% of the total charges incurred by the uninsured. It is NOT because uninsured people are dirtbags who don't pay, it is because hospitals do not give most of them a fair deal and the patients get tired of not being able to pay.

This is absolute bullshit for any hospital (let alone one of the standing the Hopkins has) to be jerking a patient around like this on billing and collections. Get on the website for Richard Scruggs--the class action lawyer suing the hospitals for failure to provide charity care, and get in contact with somebody there.

I hate that this is happening for Andy, but I REALLY hate the fact that this happens for EVERY uninsured person in this nation. We have people who do not seek treatment and DIE because of this exact same shit. It happens every day and it is due to hospital (corporate) greed.


Laura

patient whose condition is such that there is real time pressure on getting treatment if it is to be effective!

from the bottom of my heart!!!

you are the best!!!

fly

Beautifully written and beautifully presented letter.

Thank you, WRP. :patriot:

:hi:

KICKITY-KICK BOOM!
Do not let this thread die, my fellow DUers!
BHN

is a kick for you BeHereNow and Andy.

progressive Democrats, might they be contacted for help? . . . I'm thinking of people like George Soros, David Geffin, Ted Kennedy, John and Teresa Kerry, Rosie O'Donnell, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Michael Moore, etc. . . for many of these folks, the amount of money that Andy needs is pocket change . . .

i sent to oprah!!!

please help out and send to them!!

thanks ..fly kick!!!!!!!:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

what this was for, and where it went.

PDA has good, strong, righteous friends.

*crossing fingers*

Wish he could give this as an example

and we can still help by passing this along.....

“Kids First Act” - S. 114, to provide health care coverage to the 11 million American children who currently go without
snip---

More than 500,000 people have signed on as “citizen cosponsors” in support of KidsFirst at johnkerry.com and nearly 20,000 people across the country have called into Kerry’s “Give Voices to Our Values” phone hotline to record their powerful, personal stories.
snip----
http://www.johnkerry.com/features/kidsfirst.html

We can write to Senator Kerry and tell him Andy's story as well.
Too many in this country are without healthcare and many who have insurance still cannot afford all of their medications, I know this personally from my own situation.
Americans have to stand together and fight for healthcare for all.....

so Doug and I can write -- we live very simply. I'm trying to turn my brain upside down and think differently.

I sent this to my L.A. Green friends -- it went out to 3K people. Arnie sent it to our vote reform activist network. I went through my address book and blasted it to everyone that can read. A DUer sent it to Mike Moore at mike@michaelmoore.com

TrueMajority is a good idea, I think I forgot that one. Ben Cohen was the only one among the 527s that put on a vote reform campaign BEFORE the election.

OBS, if you make a list of names, PM me. I'll call anybody. Just call me Shameless. :hi:

:kick:

And a reminder that sfexpat2000 is the one who spearheaded this fundraising for Andy. I think Will should respect that and include her as a contact in his emailing/blogging so she can keep an accounting to present to Johns-Hopkins--that is important to Andy getting the surgery in a timely fashion.

what a great name !

It won't be long until "bev" can be removed and Andy will start feeling well.
:applause:

I'll send this 'far as I can.

Beth

and I love him like a brother.

That this can happen here just leaves me speechless with rage.

Forty-something hours until Nurse Ratchet *must* capitulate. }( :kick:

But it has a category asking me what kind. Sorry for my ignorance, but is it other, quasi-money, or what?

Okay, I just send some money. Now I need to pm someone I sent it, but again, sorry for my ignorance but I don't know how.

It's above a posting from William Pitt. Click on the head icon and in the profile is a place to click on to send a PM.

I was a bit baffled, too.

Also, I wasn't sure about whether I would first have to transfer money from checking to PayPal in order to send that "quasi-cash." As it turns out, you don't. Thank goodness, because if I had to go through that many different pages with my buggy computer and my slow dial-up, my computer would probably have frozen up on me.

I don't keep a balance in my PayPal account. I just use it to receive donations from readers of my websites, and that is transferred every two weeks to my checking account. That means my PayPal balance is usually $0.00.

So for those of you who don't keep a balance in PayPal, you can still donate quickly and easily. Paypal will withdraw the funds for you from your bank account. You won't have to do a thing.

:kick:

Thank you for the colorful UPDATE!!! Yea !!!
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

EVERYONE at DU and all the other thoughtful people who have donated for ANDY :yourock:

:kick:

first update i've seen since mid-day eastern

:thumbsup: :woohoo: :woohoo:

demodonkey, thanks! :toast:


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Then write letters to the editor talking about this travesty. Bomboard the hospital with letters about denying surgery because of an inability to pay. They will not want bad plublicity.

Send the story to the media - making note that it happens to American's every day. (And they say Universal Health Care in the UK and Canada are bad because some people might have to wait a bit for non-emergency surgeries????)

Heck - write James Dobson to see if the family of faith want to save a life.

Be the media on this.

you have a very good head on your shoulder's there !
thanks for posting that....
:applause: I love DU for helping so and everyone else who are working hard to make sure Andy can have his surgery and beat this cancer !!!
We will keep working on Health care like always but even harder ...
:patriot:

:kick:

:yourock:

:kick:

put links up at his site for Andy one of his Action Alerts.
So many helping We CAN DO THIS FOR ANDY !!!
I love DU you rock !

http://www.mikemalloy.com/
:yourock:

:kick:

$14,389!

:kick:

we are going to re-kick our letter tomorrow or Tuesday. We had to send over the weekend because, well, we had to. But I want to kick it again on Monday or Tuesday to catch anyone who missed it over the weekend.

You may want to consider letting JH know we have 16K in hand. That may keep the wolves at bay for a few more days.

People have piles of email to plow through on Mondays. You could also try sending it out later on Monday.

so people will have more disposable income.

Early in the week is best. Beginning of the month is best. Will, do you have anything in the letter encouraging people to forward the letters to others who might be able to help? Some people will do it automatically, but other won't.

Some people will help because of the electoral reform issues. Others will be touched because medical care should not be a privilege. And thankfully, some will help because they are full of compassion.

nt

health care plan for all americans...it should never come to this. Pay up or die. It is disgusting. Greed over human life, what would Jesus do?

Freakin hypocrites