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I live in Utah, the most revoltingly Republican state in the country. The attitude here toward the poor and disabled is nothing short of revolting. Personally, I wouldn't put it past them to actually kill people who fall into those two categories. Why do I feel that way? Because I am a Social Security Disability recipient who has first hand experience.
An example. When you're on Social Security Disability, they don't give you Medicare for 2 years after your SSDI payments start. By law, they have to give you Medicaid in the interim. In my case, I have Medicaid spenddown, and must pay $336 per month to get Medicaid. They only let you keep $700 to live on (note that rent alone is almost that much). You can't get foodstamps because you make too much money (even though the government is taking back most of it). If you get help from family or friends to pay the bills, they count it as income and up your spend-down. If you don't report the help you get from family or friends, they charge you with fraud. If you don't pay the spend-down every month, they close your Medicaid case. So, because I couldn't afford to pay for Medicaid (which DOESN'T pay for everything, by the way), they closed my case. Last month I had an emergency and ended up in the emergency room. The ER doc referred me to another doctor for follow up care since I will likely require surgery. The follow-up doc won't see me unless my Medicaid is already in place. Medicaid will take more than 45 days to reopen the case - even in an emergency. Now, even if I pay the $336 per month, I will still have ADDITIONAL medical expenses to pay. And because Medicaid forces you to pay the $336 per month or be cancelled, there's no way to manage it so you only pay when you use it. They're forcing you to pay when you have no medical expenses (a scam, IMO). In addition, if you want to see the doctor and pay cash, then use the bill to offset the medicaid spenddown, the doctor still won't see you because they demand TOTAL payment at the time services are delivered. So, for example, if you need surgery, you would have to pay the ENTIRE surgery bill in cash before you could leave the Dr office or they won't see you. And they can't/won't tell you how much the bill will be in advance.
In addition, Medicaid puts you into a plan that's kind of like an HMO. So, I went to the Instacare for the plan I had, but they wouldn't see me and told me to go to the Emergency Room at the hospital (which is in another plan). So I did. Now Medicaid is saying I can't use that hospital because it's not in my plan. So, in effect, your plan practices patient dumping because you have Medicaid and forces you to go to another provider outside your plan, and then Medicaid doesn't want to pay. Another scam, IMO.
Every doctor in Utah I've talked to has this cash or already in Medicaid policy. I've given up on both Medicaid and any hopes of having my medical issues treated. To be honest, I went online to an offshore pharmacy and ordered drugs without a prescription to help control the problem. I will likely not get the surgery I need. I could have cancer, although I'm hoping that chance is low. It may have serious detrimental effects on my long term health, but I have no other choices. Don't kid yourselves - Medicaid is non-existant and even those who qualify seldom get care. And Republicans want to cut this? What's left to cut?
I am treated as a second class citizen because I am disabled. There are so many stories I could tell about how I have been treated by the state - like taking more than 3 months to approve food stamps while I was waiting for SSDI, and the FEDS finally approved it when I applied for food stamps during my SSDI process and bypassed the state after 3 months of waiting. Don't even get me started on how the state handles work requirements for the seriously disabled who CAN'T work. No effort whatsoever is made to accomodate my disability. Reporting the problem to the state agency charged with investigating discrimination is nothing more than leaving your name and telephone number, and no one bothers to ever return the call.
Considering the fact that I paid a LOT of money into Social Security over the years before I ever applied for SSDI, I find the whole environment here revolting. I used to pay $10,000 per year in taxes. Now, when I need something back from them, they want to beat me to a pulp. No one is safe from this since anyone can become disabled and lose everything and be forced to rely on government programs. I learned that the hard way.
I have seriously wondered if the next step is actually killing the poor and disabled. No joke. That's how bad it is.
My question to you is - how far do you think this will go? Is there any hope for those of us who are suffering under this mis-administration? Would there be any outcry if Bush and his minions really did start lining us up for the firing squad?
After Katrina, those questions don't seem so crazy anymore.
And for those of you in the know - what's the best state for the disabled to live in? I really, REALLY want to move out of this state!
The US IS a third world country, and Bush and his minions have made it so!
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