Why the health care issue is a big deal to me. (Long post.)

Affordable health care for everyone in need is a big deal to me.

I'm 31 years old, but for the last 7 years I've felt double that age. In 1999, I started realizing I had these very oddball moments that seemingly came at random. They were characterized by getting extremely hyper and excessively worried along with heart palpitations and "the shakes". I didn't know what it was, but it happened so infrequently that I never really gave them a second thought.

In early 2000, the frequency increased to a noticeable level. Since I was insured, I went to my general practitioner who referred me to a psychiatrist. After a couple of visits, I was diagnosed as having Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. I was started on some "maintenance medications" (the Doctor's words) and things looked up.

Then I got laid off in October of 2000.
Then unemployment insurance wore out.
Then COBRA became unaffordable.
Then I was a statistic - another uninsured American.

I could no longer afford to see my regular doctors. I could no longer afford the medications.

'No problem,' I thought. I'm well aware there are low income options in my area. By this time, I had been off my medications for a year and the anxiety disorder was becoming increasingly problematic. So off I went to the local so-called "low income" mental health clinic (the Newport News/Hampton Community Services Board).

Sure, they reduced the amount by 80%, but they would only treat me if I saw a psychiatrist ($40 per visit every 2 weeks) and a psychologist ($35 per visit every two weeks). On top of this, they couldn't guarantee any help with the medication costs, leaving me holding the bag on very expensive drugs. Not including drugs, that was going to be $75 every two weeks, or $150 every month. Essentially I had to choose between paying my electric bill or getting the medical help. Guess which option won that debate?

So I turned to the State. Perhaps Medicaid could help me. After three months of dealing with a case worker and bringing in documentation I was told we had "too much gross income and assets" (my wife, the only worker in our household that year, had a gross income of $17,452 on our income tax). They went on to tell me that if I wanted help, we had to reduce our assets by selling our car and our second hand mobile home. To those reading this, I submit the question: What kind of help is it to be told to get medical care you have to sell your only reliable form of transportation and the roof over your head?

Likewise, the Federal Government is of little help. The doctor and administrator I saw during my few visits to the local mental health board recommended I apply for SSI. However, SSI has excessively stringent rules governing disability for mental health patients. Declined twice, my only recourse at this point would be to hire a SSI attorney and to try to fight and show why I qualify under the SSI's rules. However, I've been told by a local leading SSI attorney that my chances are slim because my last date of treatment was so long ago which puts me in a catch-22 of sorts.

This has been my fight for the last 7 years. And with each passing year, the anxiety conditions grow worse, the panic attacks more frequent. They have progressed to a point where I'm nearly full blown agoraphobic. I can't even go to a store 5 minutes away without having to fight off a panic attack. I'm currently trying to build a sole-proprietor business that I've been working on for nearly a decade, but I feel doomed to fail because most of the time I simply cannot go a day without a severe panic attack. Yet there's still no assistance for people in a situation such as mine.

This is just one of two recurring medical situations. In 2006 I was rear ended by a driver who was not paying attention which caused me to break or crack several teeth when I hit the steering wheel. Thankfully that was the only personal injury. However, his insurance wouldn't cover the dentistry costs. They called it cosmetic and no lawyer would take my case because it was so minor. As a result, since I can't afford major dental work costs out of pocket, my teeth are now in a complete state of disarray, despite taking care of them, because of the broken two and the cracked ones.

I know quite a few people in similar situations: struggling to get by, living in chronic pain unable to get medical care without having to pay excessive amounts out-of-pocket. One of my best friends, for example, was diagnosed with diabetes a year ago. When he got laid off, he lost insurance but was temporarily covered by the state. When his benefits ran out, so did his medical assistance. Now he struggles from month to month to see doctors who will prescribe the glucose medications he needs.

Through all of this, I keep thinking back to the Declaration of Independence.
The unalienable right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

If chronically ill people have no access to health care, life deteriorates;
If life deteriorates, so does liberty and the ability to pursue any form of happiness.

In that context, it's my opinion that affordable health care which is available to everyone, not just people who meet a certain set of strict (and often very silly) "requirements", is a fundamental right.

and I would gladly pay more taxes so that people like you (and my mother) can get the medical treatment that is the right of every human being.

I guess I think it's sort of... patriotic.

John McCain is an economic terrorist.

We have set up food and clothes banks in our county for the disadvantaged. I thought it was a wonderful idea, but I asked what these folks did for dental and medical care. (I completely forgot about psychological care!)

Anyway, I suggested we canvas the dentists and doctors in our county and see if we could get each of them to donate their time and services for two people, each month. It's not much, but we have ten dentists, so that is 20 people serviced each month, and 240 each year! That's 240 fewer toothaches for people whose smiles we enjoy!

The problem is, this does not happen by itself. It takes people who are willing to organize and ask these professionals for their services. You would be surprised how many would volunteer their services, if asked. Got time?

You're right - we have food banks, we have clothes for people who need them, we have homeless shelters.
Yet nothing like that exists for health care.

Not only do we need to get government to get involved in this and declare health care a right, we also need to get those people who have forgotten what it means to be a community to get involved again. Not meaning anyone here, of course, just meaning in general. It's been a long time since I've seen communities rally around their own. They do it during major tragedies but then it's back to life-as-usual. :(

If it weren't for my job, I'd be thinking of the dilemma of splitting up our family so my son could get the healthcare he needs (he was born with a congenital birth defect that requires surgical correction and lifelong medical follow-up). Also me - I got diagnosed bipolar disorder a couple of years ago.

Yes, the UK NHS may have its shortcomings, but no-one got sent to bankruptcy court because of failure to pay their MEDICAL bills.

I too am "a statistic". I have no health insurance. One serious injury or sickness would probably cost me my home and put me and my family on welfare. Luckily I am not suffering any real health problems yet.

Obama's health care proposition does not go far enough. Going halfway will not fix the problem. Nothing short of a single payer health care insurance system, such as what they have in Canada will be any help at all. I realize the insurance and drug companies a lobbying hard, because they are growing rich and fat with the system we have now. We just need to tell them to sit down and shut up!

Basic health care is a basic right. Nobody should have to suffer and die needlessly because they cannot afford basic health care. Together, we can afford it.

We have no society any longer, period.

There is no help.

We are on our own and are still expected to pay our masters way.
:kick: & R


BTW, were you in IT?

isn't it? :cry:

I've bounced from job to job since, but holding something down in IT, at least where I live, has become next to impossible unless you know who you have to kiss up to for a military contract job. I hear people telling me I should move all the time, and I probably should, but they all seem to forget moving takes a fairly decent sum of money.

It is maddening to see all of this happening and knowing where it leads but being helpless to do anything about it.

2002 was my final flush down the toilet, then I started my own, completely unrelated, business which was going even better than I expected until I was ripped off. I wish we could make people see that it is coming for them too, but that is not the Amerikan way.

As far as I've been able to ascertain, there is no good place for IT. I'm on the west coast and traveled all over the country looking and found the same thing everywhere. No security, always in a new position at the bottom of the pay scale, always paving the way to have your job outsourced, and the IT department is still run by an alum that doesn't know shit about tech but belonged to the same frat as the bosses kid.

How did your business get ripped off? :(

My IT story: I'm a network engineer. In the late 90's, I absolutely hated working with network engineers who didn't document their work very well. They always said it was their "job security". When I got a job as a lead network engineer for a small business (200 clients, 3 servers - 2 Windows NT, 1 Linux), I kept meticulous records.

That ended up being my undoing. In October of 2000 the higher ups in the company canned the entire IT department except for one tier 1 helpdesk guy. They took the binder of records and outsourced their entire network needs to some third party, lowest bidder company. They just handed all the records over. The company didn't have to do jack.

I still keep records like that but 8 years later the way I got bent over for doing my job still hurts. Though, when I did get benefits, a bunch of the guys I had worked with before - those guys who didn't like keeping records - were also in the Unemployment line.

Just as you describe your experience, I saw the best of the best unceremoniously dumped (usually after being forced to train their replacements) while the worthless hacks seemed to be able to hang on. Between the ITAA fabricated statistics and our colleagues short-sighted false superiority (why would I need a union, my company loves me and I make good money? I'm not some laborer.), I saw the writing on the wall, cashed out and started the business that I wished had existed when I was traveling 95%-100% of the time.

It was a non-kennel dog boarding and day-care facility. I did a bunch of research and found that there was a great unmet demand for this kind of facility, so I broke my first rule of business, don't put money you can't afford to lose into any venture without a guaranteed return. The location was nearly perfect and I was in a very affluent area north of Scottsdale so I estimated that I would be well insulated from the turning economy.

Everything was going even better than I had projected and I had the opportunity to buy the ranchette (big house and a couple of acres) I was leasing. Now, I knew that real estate was way overvalued but the business was bringing in more than enough to justify the expense and moving a business is very risky under the best circumstances, so I decided that it would be fine to just buy them out.

I agreed to the deal on the contingency that they would complete the repairs/upgrades that they had already committed to, fixing the irrigation, replace the septic system, 2 new 3 ton AC units, either removing a foundation or completing the garage that it was supposed to be, removing 4 very large (40 - 60ft.), dead, trees, new flooring and kitchen, etc. They agreed and we did the deal for $600,000.

This was about a year before the bottom fell out of the real estate market in AZ, so I was buying at the top of the market, but as I said before, the business was doing well enough, and still growing, that it was not that important since I had no intention of selling for decades if ever.

What I didn't count on was Arizona's utter lack of law enforcement and completely one-sided government. It may be turning blueish on the electoral maps, but it is still full to the brim with Raygunites and other money-over-people assholes. I thought that, since it was written right into the contract, there couldn't be any problem with the sale. To sum it up, the sellers took the money and refused to fulfill their part of the bargain.

I went to everyone from the real estate board (the sellers were mortgage brokers), to the AG, and while everyone agreed that it was illegal and that they owed me the work or the money, they "declined to prosecute" leaving me with the option of a civil suit. Several attorneys and a few thousand more dollars later it was made clear that Arizona's real estate laws are mostly non-existent, contradictory, or unenforceable, and I was looking at $50,000 - $100,000 in expenses, 3 - 4 years in court, and a 50 - 50 chance at best. Bottom line is that the neither I nor the business could sustain the loss and survive.

Three years later, I've gone from a net worth of almost $800,000 to bankruptcy (we filed on the last day under the old law, any later and I would be even more screwed), my credit is ruined, the house was foreclosed, and I'm starting from nothing in my 40s with a, now worthless, degree in CS. My only small consolation is that mine was one of the foreclosures that brought New Century down.

i lost my job seven months ago, couldn't afford cobra. i have bipolar II and panic and anxiety disorders. there are great mental health and rx assistance programs in my county, but i had to spend an extra $70 a month for a therapist just to get to see the psych for my meds. plus the $50 a month for my meds, but i can't complain because it would be four times as much without the rx assistance.

i'm working a crappy part-time job to stretch my unemployment as far as i can while i try to find a new job. i'm terrified that i'm going to get sick because the last time i did, it cost me nearly $100 to go to urgent care and the antibiotics would have been $150 had my doc not given me an rx for the same one to fill before my benefits ran out.

i am lucky, however, because neither my boyfriend nor my dad will let me go without my meds or food or gas in my car. but it breaks my heart that others aren't so lucky. it is disgusting that anyone in this country should be in this type of situation, but giving huge tax breaks to oil companies and funding an illegal war are far more important.

all my best to you :hug:

:hug:

I completely identify with this part of your post: "i'm terrified that i'm going to get sick because the last time i did, it cost me nearly $100 to go to urgent care and the antibiotics would have been $150 had my doc not given me an rx for the same one to fill before my benefits ran out."

This wasn't in my journal/post because I managed to get through it (only with the help of my mother and tax refund) and my post was outrageously long so I didn't want to make it even longer.

From February to April of this year I had CA-MRSA Cellulitis in both feet. Early in February, I had no idea what it was, and I couldn't afford to go to the urgent care doc. I figured it was just a spider bite or something and let it be. Two weeks later I could barely stand on my right foot and the swelling had gone from the top of the foot to the ankle. It was so severe you couldn't tell I even had an ankle. Once I started suspecting that it could be cellulitis, I realized I couldn't just sit here and do nothing because that would be fatal. (I have all the bills and receipts from this time sitting in my bill box beside my computer so numbers in parenthesis are what I paid for care.)

So I went to the doc. He said it was just run of the mill cellulitis ($380.00 for fee and x-rays). He prescribed Bactrim ($65.00). Three days later, I found out I was allergic to sulfa drugs, so I had to get a new prescription. He put me on Cipro ($55.00). After the 14 day treatment there was no change. I went back to the same urgent care doc ($50.00 follow up fee) and he put me on a second course of Cipro ($55.00) and a course of Keflex ($40.00). While on the antibiotics, I was told to take Acidophilus supplements ($20).

10 days later, still no change. It hadn't gotten worse, but it hadn't gotten better, either. At the urging of my mother, I went to the ER instead of the urgent care doc. They ran culture tests on the infection and discovered it was CA-MRSA. They wanted to admit me, but I expressed reservations about the cost so the Infectious Disease doctor decided to try me on new antibiotics. They sent me off with a 10 day prescription of Doxycycline ($65.00) and Clindamycin ($125.00!). This finally knocked out the infection, but I was miserable for two weeks and lost 17 pounds.

I had to return to the ER for a checkup. The ID doctor prescribed a month regimen of Bactroban topical ($85.00) and pHisohex body wash ($145.00!).

The hospital bills came in. Visit 1 was $1,645.00 for the hospital, $275.00 for the ER doctor and $180 for the ID doctor who saw me. Visit 2 was $650.00 for the hospital and $275.00 for the ER doctor. The hospital gave me paperwork to fill out which, ultimately, absolved the $2295.00 in hospital fees, but not the doctor fees.

Two months, one issue, and, even with the hospital fees absolved, the total came to $1815.
If we hadn't just gotten our tax refund, we would have been completely up the creek.

It is appalling to me that medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country.

good gods! i take lamictal and if i didn't have the rx assistance it would be $150 a month and that's for the generic brand and with the automatic pharmacy assistance from the state (i gotta give the state leg and our governor biggo props for that).

i had to have an $1,100 hospital bill written off earlier this year. the best they could offer as as a payment plan was a four-month plan through the hospital or a six-month plan if i took out a loan through a bank. yeah, that was totally feasible :eyes:

i know how hopeless you can feel in this situation and it's sad that all we can do for each other is lend our support and love. it's not money, but it helps you not feel so alone.

Too many in similar circumstances - our voices need to be heard.

President Obama said that when HR 676 comes before him, he will sign it. Go, John Conyers!

As are many. Take care and know you're not alone in your struggles.

Why not here?!

We need a single payer national health care plan. If we can put a man on the moon in ten years' worth of work, we can definitely do this!

medical insurance. My story is very long but basically, I had Endometriosis (a condition affecting the reproductive organs, that can give women debilitating pain.) And because of lack of treatment I ended up needing a hysterectomy, I had to drop out of college, lost many a job, utterly destroyed my credit, was dependent on pain meds for a while, plus my mother when into debt to buy meds...all of it culminating into where I am now. Not where I should be in life. Although, I am very lucky that I now have a full time job and medical coverage, I was forced to take a mundane job that is not in my field and have not yet finished school. You are not alone. We feel ya. :grouphug: