Ever been sick & too broke to go to the Doctor?

[Philosoraptor]

Ever got so sick that it made you flat broke? Ever been worried about your sick daughter and the fact that you can't afford to take her to the doctor?

Ever gotten a chronic illness that kept you from working? Ever tried to get the benefits that you have coming to you only to be told you don't qualify?

Ever been so poor and sick that you feel defeated?

Many people just don't understand what its to be poor and sick in America.

[durrrty libby]

1. More than 40 million people understand perfectly n/t

[FreeStateDemocrat]

15. How many people beyond the 40 mil are under-insured and still can't

afford to go for preventive or non-critical medical care? I have never seen this number reported, but medical insurance for major medical can be almost worthless since its coverage is so limited to only catastrophic illness. I have a feeling that the number of people who are both un-insured and under-insured far exceeds the widely reported 40 million.

[rucky]

2. That's the #1 reason for bankrupcy.

But it's worse than that. Bad policies cause unnecessary suffering and death.

There was a recent study that reported wealthy people have longer life spans and less disease than poor people worldwide. We as a society should not tolerate it for one more second.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Nope.

But then again, I'm Canadian.

And there's no reason on Earth why you can't have a system like ours.

[SammyWinstonJack]

37. There must be, or else we'd have one. I'm guessing it's nothing

more than pure greed and brainwashed morans who'd rather pay through the nose or deny themselves affordable care, RATHER than too have some poor person get care they can't pay for. GREEDY SELFISH BASTARDS! Also, nothing stays the same way forever, so Canadians shouldn't take for granted their health care system. Just sayin'.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Another reason to promote wellness

There's no reason why proper diet/exercise cannot be taught in the schools, or promoted at public places like senior centers. We're lucky here in AR in that the governor, in one of the few good things a repuke has done, has promoted wellness centers around the state, and one connected with the local college has opened near where I work. It has encouraged not only public institutions but private ones, like churches and health oriented businesses to provide services such as exercise classes and nutrition classes.

Sure, this won't stop someone from getting injured in an accident and have to go to the hospital, or stop someone from getting an acute illness. But it can help with chronic illnesses-both in maintenance and in prevention.


Of course, the best help would be to follow the lead of our neighbors to the North and have national health insurance.

[gator_in_Ontario]

Yes

I'm there right now. Really need to go to the doctor, but can't afford it. And this is something that will not just "run its course". So I was just sitting here wondering what to do...its sad...sad and scary...

[Epiphany4z]

5. Never not been able to go to the doc

I have been lucky we have always had insurance through hubsters work. However..I have insured and not able to afford the meds my doc prescribed. With the insurance company we had last year my meds still cost me over 200 a month. We paid 70 a week for insurance . I had to skip things like checking my blood sugar and allergy m eds and take only what was totally necessary. We have a new Insurance company now..the premium is lower and the meds are cheaper but it is an HMO and they are pretty strict about what meds the doc can perscribe...Most of it I am fine with...but it had taken me month to adjust to the new meds.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. I have chronic disease and can't afford treatment and doctors.

And even if I could get treatment I don't think that I could work and keep afloat during the required year of chemo. This is what America is all about.

[freeplessinseattle]

14. That is so very messed up

Why is it that a court can order a that teenage cancer patient to get chemo against his and his parents wishes, but for most people if they can't afford it they're shit outta luck.


take care

[vickitulsa]

39. Great point, freepless! I always think the same thing

whenever I read about cases like that. Not to mention all the times I think about those who are suffering and ready to let go because it's TIME for them to finally let go, but others whose business it is NOT butt in and force them to be put on ventilators (or kept on them) or otherwise to remain among the Living Dead And Suffering.

"Irony" just doesn't quite capture how utterly insane it is....

:mad: :grr: :banghead:

[izzie]

7. My age 70 plus understand this very well. We grew up with it

Many kids in my age group did not go to dentist, have their eyes checked or could go to doctors. Schools used to do a lot as I look back on lot. I can still recall the TB testing at school done by the state, eye check ups and general things like that. The TB test were really a pain as I always came out Positive and had to make the trips to the big centers for x-rays. Some people read positive on those patch test and it means nothing but it still meant a long day waiting for buses and lines to see doctors. I can recall my father giving money to church so it would filter into families that need health care. He was a nut about good care and could have it for us and he had a soft heart. There were no welfare things to help like today so people really did go with out care even if you needed it.

[Philosoraptor]

9. My parents, bless em', did it all without med. insurance.

Back in the fifties, I got a catastrophic illness as a baby, and they were so poor they couldn't even pay the rent. Shriner's hospital was my only salvation.

And granny, bless her, born in 1912, lived to be 94, and had her health all the way to the end. She raised 3 kids during the poor times, no aid, no help, husband ran off, I can only imagine the hard times.

[izzie]

45. All I can say about our parents and grandparents is this

they were very lucky to be able to pay in an age when you needed it to just live. My father was a working fool and he said he had to be because my mother was so ill he had to have the money for the best care she could get. She died in her early 30's any how but he did drag her to world class doctors trying to save her. And you just had to have the money to pay for care. I think that with all the tax payers money going in to study of medicine it is time that it becomes a free thing. Better than letting the profit makers taking the results of so much the tax payers is really doing. I would like to know of one part of the doctors educations to the drugs you take is not the results of tax payers money. It is hardly a 'boot strapping' type thing any more and we are letting some people take profits that should be returned to the people who back it. They are skimming off the profits that should be returned to us in care at a rate that is hard to take. Ins. is just part of the skimming I think.

[Vinca]

8. I don't consider myself poor, but I can't afford insurance.

Anyone a little older, a little heavier or with any medical history is screwed if they try to buy private medical insurance. My only ace in the hole is my husband's dual citizenship. If Democrats don't retake Congress and get things moving toward universal coverage, you can call me a Canuck.

[Arkansas Granny]

20. I'm in the same situation. I work for a small company which

cannot afford to offer it's employees a health package. We've tried to find something affordable, but we have a few workers over 60 and a few with pre-existing health problems so it drives up the premiums for the entire group to the point that the company can't afford their share of the premiums and the employees couldn't cover their share either. The last time I looked into private medical insurance the premiums were outrageous for minimal coverage. Luckily, I enjoy very good health, but that could change and accidents do happen. Not a very secure feeling.

[SoCalDem]

46. This is the driving force behind "early retirement"

It's the modern day equivalent of "putting people out on the iceberg, to just float away".. Older employees cost too much to insure, so companies like to ditch them just before they start goosing prices upward..

Of course, most of them fall into the abyss when they lose jobs at 45-50 (with 15-20 years before medicare kicks in). I guess if they survive minimal or no care for 15 years, they might be ok, but a lot of people are dying younger than necessary because their "second careers" are less lucrative and have little or no insurance with them.:(

and yet we are "the compassionate nation".:(

[schmuls]

23. Well, I guess I shouldn't have sought out medical help when I

had panic attacks. Now I have the choice of retiring when I get full coverage from my employer, and spending a fortune on health insurance (if I can even get it), or working another 11 years, until Medicare kicks in (if it is still around then). Ain't it grand to live in Bush's America?

[Vinca]

24. Our insurance premiums hit the stratosphere when my husband

was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He always told the doctor's bill person not to submit claims unless he authorized it since we had a huge deductible and were unlikely to hit it unless there was a catastrophe. The bookkeeper submitted a bill to the insurance company for the diabetes anyway, and now, even though it's a mild case controlled by diet, our insurance - if we could afford it - would be triple what we were paying before. Insurance companies only want you when you're healthy.

[formernaderite]

44. unless you're already ill, try a personal comp policy with a high

deductible. They're pretty reasonably priced, even in states that require you to buy comprehensive insurance policies. Some states have cheaper insurance rates because they do not require the insurance companies to cover alternative care treatments.
I am self employed and have a policy with a deductible of $1000 that covers a family of four, costing about $300 per month. Next quarter our second youngest child will be off the policy and we will further reduce the payment, plus I'm going to up the deductible to $5000, my monthly will be about $190. None of us visit the doc more than once per year, so it makes sense to save the money. These sort of policies cover emergency visits at 80%, and if you figure out how much you spend at the doctor, you can structure your deductible. The insurance policies that have co-pays of $10-20 bucks are the expensive ones...certainly not worth it for the average person, and they cost companies between $900 and $1400 per month.

[freeplessinseattle]

10. oh yeah, that vicious cycle

It really sucks that when to get well you need to be well enough to make money to go to the doc. plus the stress of missing work can contribute to ailments. I have missed so much work bc of migraines, the meds are so expensive and leave me often too spacey and sleepy to work more than half a day but am completely out of commision with a migraine. The meds that work are so expensive, and they've been holding onto the patent for over ten years by "reformulating" the meds, grrr($20ish a tablet for imitrex, need more than one for a multiple day migraine or really bad single day one. and of course keeping them down when having a nauseaous migraine is a challenge, and the shots are 90$ and wipe you out). I couldn't imagine having other more chronic illnesses that require more than prescriptions, at least I rarely have to go to the doc. I really feel for you, wish I could help.

[Philosoraptor]

11. Hang in there Freepless.

Fortunately my wife's ins. helps me, but I've been unemployed because of health problems too. For many years I had no insurance, and just paid as I went, but without her ins., i'd be up shit creek as well.

A person shouldn't have to get sick with worry over getting sick. and meds should be FREE to the poor.

And if a person can't keep up, the freepers call him a welfare junkie.

[freeplessinseattle]

12. Thank you, just sharing does help

It is so nice to be understood and not feel like a whiner, why can't more people get that it is really hard to "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" when you're barely able to crawl to the bathroom. laying around in bed instead of working sounds indulgent but can be a living hell.

What will it take to get people to get that the economy would do better if people had better more accesible healthcare? Seems like a no brainer to me.

[Philosoraptor]

13. Just knowing you're not alone.

It does help in a perverse way. No one wants to hear you whining, I've found that out the hard way, but if its to a fellow traveler, only they can understand what you're going through.

People don't think about it till it happens to them, or a loved one.

Why don't the Democrats push this harder?

[vickitulsa]

25. This discussion has hit home with me, I've lived this nightmare

for the last five years. And longer, really.

Getting healthcare before then was not easy, even though I didn't feel like a "poor person." I worked, always I worked, and worked like a dog; but as an executive secretary, even at the peak of my career in 1998, I only earned about $28K/yr. Employees at that low a level find it difficult to manage to pay for employer-provided healthcare plans even if they're available. The payroll-deduction cost to the employees kept going up year after year, as did the copayments required at the doctors' offices!

I'm sure it's gotten lots worse since I was forced to retire due to my disabilities. Disabilities, by the way, which would not have overtaken me so soon had I been able to afford decent healthcare!

I finally acquired employer-provided healthcare in 1996 for the first time, and soon after that my bad knee on which I'd had three previous surgeries "back in the day" when it was far cruder than now, finally broke completely down. Those previous surgeries also had not been well done, since I was compelled then to resort to Voc Rehab and other government healthcare providers where the docs/quacks/hacks run "mills" for people they seem to look upon as freeloaders and idiots. One "doctor" was in my eyes a total butcher, and he made my knee even WORSE than it had been!

But when I finally had a pretty good healthcare plan, and my knee was so bad I could no longer work, even on crutches as I'd done so often, I had to try for improvement with a total knee replacement. Guess what? Even with a good doc and hospital, they STILL bungled it! Just bad luck there, I think, or the general uncaring attitude of so many doctors who may have cared earlier in their careers but don't now.

I'm giving a few details here just to reveal to those who haven't "been there done that" what it can be like for even the hardest working low income people out here.

Repetitive motion injury and advanced arthritis in my hands due to their overuse in my career finally ended my ability to work forever. I typed 130wpm for 33 years, and my hands suffered the consequences. (What I did was equivalent to pressing 80 TONS of weight PER DAY, by the way, all in tiny amounts in keystrokes, and all on my fingers and hands! Think about it...)

Suddenly in 1998, I could no longer type, and the pain in my hands despite every ameliorating thing I found and tried, became so excruciating I could no longer do much of anything. I couldn't even turn the faucet handles, wash my hair, hold a cereal bowl without dropping it. My hands were hurting even worse than my knee! Just TRY to find a job where you won't need your HANDS!

To shorten the story, I had learned from helping two friends in the past win appeals in their applications for Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits, how to go about the process and fight till you win it. I was forced to live with my ex-husband who had become a crackhead and whose apartment was living hell to be in with the constant threat of arrest along with him. For TWO F'ING YEARS I fought the System, determined to win my case. I finally did, but I barely survived the process.

And that's the thing I wanted most to say here: The System has been made so difficult to wade through and prevail in that most people give up or die before they win their case! And the cold hard truth of it is, that is precisely what "they" want to happen!

The same is true of the VA disability process, which I've also participated in before I became unable to type, helping Vietnam veteran buddies to obtain their just benefits.

What I learned the hardest way possible is that, in order to obtain even the very poor version of healthcare that Medicare and Medicaid provide, you have to deliberately allow yourself to become SO poor that life becomes almost unbearable -- especially to those who have always been hard-working, independent people. In fact, for many, the process itself is so humiliating on top of the physical pain and distress they are in, some prefer to just "do without" until they die. Many opt out via suicide. --Most people have NO CLUE how many thousands of people in this "rich" country commit suicide every year due simply to the fact that their pain and misery from injury and illness are so severe they cannot bear it any longer.

These are people who would fight to live just like anyone else, but the fight to obtain healthcare is what does them in. That and the fact that physical pain becomes simply too excruciating to bear any longer, especially without adequate treatment.

I've been VERY CLOSE to that limit myself many times, and only in the last couple of years have I mastered The System well enough to have a reasonably decent life again. I live in very meager circumstances, though, and I'm always on the very EDGE, always aware that one more thing going wrong can tip me over that edge. Life is frightening beyond words, and if I hadn't learned long ago how to just ignore the scary facts and carry on day by day, I wouldn't be able to stand it. Many I know have NOT had the gumption and pain-tolerance I have, and they are now GONE.

What kind of country IS this we are living in these days anyway???

The humiliation of having to become SO poor in order to get healthcare that you end up living in virtual squalor in terrible neighborhoods, knowing others who used to be your "equals" would now look upon you as a welfare junkie or lazy bum adds so much insult to the injury I can't express the depth of the heartache it causes....

Thanks so much, Philosoraptor and FreeplessinSeattle, for opening up this conversation for people like me. If I hadn't been as articulate as I am due to my education and career skills, I don't think I would have won my SSDI case EVER. I know so many others have given up, and some have died needlessly and others are headed that way because of it.

It's downright CRIMINAL what is being done to the poor in this country. Pushing people like me who were middle class (lower middle class but still middle class and happy in life) down into the lowest, poorest class simply because of physical injury or illness is so wrong it makes me furious. I couldn't even accept the car my mother gave me when she had to stop driving because if I had it put in my name, I'd have a "total worth" of more than $4,000, which is the cut-off for allowing me to receive Disability!!

Can you BELIEVE that sort of crap??

It's happening, folks, and right here in the so-called land of the free, home of the brave. Yeah, well, the bravest people I know are poor, sick, and injured -- and many are dying. Right before our eyes... they are all around you, only most won't look at them. Or look upon them with disgust and contempt -- and FEAR.

It's wrong, just wrong, wrong, wrong.

I'm not a whiner, either. I'm just outraged.

Hang in there, fellow travelers, and those who care about us here at DU! YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT ALONE!

[Philosoraptor]

26. You've hit all the nails on the head.

My feelings exactly. The bullshit you have to go through, the rude, impersonal cogs in the system. Its everyone's nightmare just to get sick.

Its been a lifelong thing for me, since birth, but it gets worse as you age.

Getting sick is trauma enough, being unemployed makes you sort of a non person, who can't keep up, and people won't admit to having this attitude.

I wonder sometimes if we are all in different dimensions of reality here, the way some people just don't see or care about the suffering of others.

GREAT POST!

[Bethany Rockafella]

29. Thank you for sharing your situation.

We should all be outraged.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Yes I have

My heart goes out to anyone in that situation.

[Hissyspit]

17. All the time!

[FlaGranny]

18. Yes, all those things.

We didn't have health insurance for at least 10 years at one point. My husband developed cancer during that period of time. Talk about scared? The VA took on his care because he is a veteran and we couldn't afford the surgery and treatment otherwise - although we really couldn't have been considered "poor." The VA gave him "special dispensation" because it was cancer and he was not otherwise eligible. If they hadn't, I don't know if he'd still be alive.

[nosillies]

19. We have insurance and a decent income, but still have made the choice

not to go to the doctor due to money before. It's no secret that medical care is bankrupting the middle class.

[elehhhhna]

22. I defer the dentist. It's ridiculous.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Many times.

We were very poor, hungry poor, when I was a kid. When I was 4, my mother was finally forced to take to the hospital when I had mastoiditis and my temperature reached 106. Spent hours in a tub full of ice cubes trying to get my temperature down so the doc's could operate. When that failed I became an experiment. Continual, every 3 hours for 10 days, I was injected with the "new" wonder drug, penicillin. Obviously, it worked.

Minor ailments like 2 broken ribs, a dislocated knee-cap, tooth-aches, the innumerable ear-aches following my sole visit to the hospital, were "home-treated"..if noticed.

There is nothing romantic or beneficial about poverty.

[vickitulsa]

27. People, could we PLEASE Recommend this before it's too late?

I'd sure like this thread to be seen and read by a lot more DUers than it ever will be without making it to the Greatest page....

EXCELLENT discussion! And thanks to all who are sharing their own stories and their outrage.

:hi: :loveya:

[Philosoraptor]

28. Please and THANK YOU Vicki.

There really are other priorities besides war.

[vickitulsa]

31. "Other priorities than war..."

How right you are! Terrible as it is, war is war is war -- and if we're not directly involved, we can't stay intensely focused on it every day for all our lives or we would HAVE no lives.

I so much appreciate your sticking with it, Philosoraptor, starting threads on this subject till at least some good discussion gets going. :) I noticed at least one other thread on the topic from you today, and I hope one of them makes it to the Greatest page. Usually I end up telling parts of my story where they are pertinent in threads on other topics; but since I've been here at DU for a year I don't think I've seen a really good, thorough discussion of this whole healthcare MESS we're in!

Not saying there hasn't been one, just that I missed it if there has.

The suffering of so many Americans, young and old, sick and injured, poor and poorer, is getting to be so extreme and obviously is so damned UNacceptable, it makes me wonder about my dedication to my country sometimes. I know everyone's so busy working hard themselves, trying to make ends meet and bring up the kids "in style" to be happy productive citizens in their own right, and often that takes all the time and energy they feel they HAVE.

But for so many -- and especially for "boomers" like me who are now reaching our late fifties and even early sixties, the time we have always known would come is arriving. Time when we are looking to the Social Security system we've paid into for over 30 years to come through for us. To BE THERE in a big way, in many cases. Those benefits are called "insurance" benefits for a REASON! We paid thousands of dollars for several decades to purchase that insurance for just this purpose, and it's not a "giveaway" when we receive them -- it's what we paid for!

And what people just don't understand is that the System has been allowed to deteriorate and become so damn complicated over the years, and the obstacles thrown at people by the SS System are so immense, it's just impossible for a great many who are sick, injured, and even dying to get help from it!

I can tell you know this, and you probably also understand that so many are totally UNprepared for what awaits them when they go to collect even their basic Social Security benefits. The System now does everything legally possible to delay and defer, obstruct and obfuscate, so that people get weary and go away, try to make it without claiming their due benefits! I once thought it was just a function of a bureaucratic system, clogging up and getting overlarge and clumsy, but there's more to it than that now.

What used to aggravate me to no end was when I'd go into the SS office and talk to a staffer, I'd often be treated with such contempt. There I'd sit, knee hurting like hell, hands hurting worse because I had to use a cane or crutches, begging for the very benefits that I'd by-god PAID FOR all my working life! The staffer would go off to make copies of my documents, and I'd sit and look around his/her cubicle, no larger than the ones I'd worked in for years, yet so homey just like I'd made mine. Little trinkets and decorations placed just-so, photos of the family and loved ones on the cubicle walls, tacked up with push-pins, maybe a fresh flower in a vase on the desk. I'd stare at the IN and OUT boxes, remembering how most workdays had been quite pleasant for me, since I had ENJOYED being productive and busy!

I always knew it wasn't the peon level workers in the SS administration who were reducing me to such misery, however, since they didn't earn a lot more than I had back when I could work. But then again I figured "they" probably would have a helluva lot better retirement and healthcare benefits than I could dream of, just because they were government workers, and I'd get angry.

My dad was a State Trooper for the OHP in Oklahoma for 23 years, retired in his forties and still received enough in pension and retirement benefits to provide for 40 more years of nice living for my mom and him. And now Mom receives more than three times what I do monthly, just in his pension since she's a widow! And that's from another government job, see, a state one. She also has great healthcare and never has to worry about obtaining it.

Both of them tried to get my brother and me to see the wisdom of acquiring government jobs, but nooo, we had to decide to make it in the commercial world! I just didn't like the guff and crap that a govt job brought with it -- I'd seen my dad go through it many times. My brother got an advanced degree and became a pharmacist ... but now he's sixty and working his ass to the bone, paying for it with stress that's causing health problems to an otherwise healthy guy. AND he just lost almost ALL his pension saved up on the plan they had at his hospital when the corporation was gobbled up by a larger one and simply discarded the old plans. He's almost desperate now, seeing what I'm living with and worried about how he'll survive it if it comes to that for him.

People just don't know how worried they should be! I don't advocate worry overmuch, but they most definitely should be concerned and concerned enough to try to do something about it NOW, while they still CAN! They don't realize that when they're older and tired or sick or injured, they won't find it easy to muster the energy and the plain old pluck it takes to fight the System long enough to receive even the most basic, minimal sustenance and healthcare.

Part of me knows that as more Boomers reach retirement, there's gonna be a huge uproar such as this country has never seen over this criminal government's outrages. But will it be TOO LATE then??

I'm doing my part to try to wake them up! :)

My dad used to say that the U.S. government would NEVER be able to withhold SS benefits to our citizens because they would simply DEMAND that it follow through on promises made and services PAID FOR. He was pretty convincing ... UNTIL I found myself fighting for my very life in that System! Even he began to wonder by the time I'd lingered TWO YEARS in the application-and-denial-and-reapplication process, if he might be wrong about this issue. And my dad NEVER thought he was wrong about ANYthing! Hah! ;)

We need to GEAR UP, folks, and we need to be doing it FAST. We need to utilize the enormous strength and energies of our population, the ones who are young enough and strong enough still to hold up to the grueling battle ahead. We need to awaken them before it really IS too late.

If we don't at least TRY to do this, we will have failed them just as our government fails us right now. If I were walking along a path in the mountains, in the woods, and couldn't see a hidden drop-off ahead so I stepped over a cliff, badly injuring myself, I would be sure I made others aware of the unseen danger in that path. We need to PUT UP A BIG RED WARNING SIGN in front of people's eyes, where they cannot miss it!

Okay, RANT OVER, for now. But thanks again for giving me the encouragement to lay it all out there for once, in one place instead of in bits and pieces everywhere! GOODONYAMATE! You deserve a medal -- and most of all you deserve decent healthcare for life!

[AbbyR]

30. Ah yes...

My husband is dying. In April, before he was eligible for Medicare, he worked until I forced him to stay at home. At the end, he took a wheel chair to work and sat, just trying to hold his head up, but disability didn't come along until after he had already aged into Medicare. We now have Medicare and a medigap policy for him, but it won't pay for as much home health care as he needs, and I can't stay home with him, as one of us must work to keep bread on the table.

He stays at home, alone, with the phone beside him, except for two short visits from home health daily M-F.

I will probably lose the house after he dies, because the SS will not be coming in any more.

I firmly believe that if he had been able to get help sooner, he would have lived much longer.

I hate what this country does to its poor - and I'm not even poor enough to be considered poor!

[vickitulsa]

34. Oh Abby, how I feel for you. Your last line says it all, too!

That's the one thing I find it is hardest to communicate to most people -- that they may be fine now, while they can still work or a family member can, but things can change so fast it will stun them if they don't think ahead and PREPARE!!

Thanks for sharing YOUR story -- it's tragic, heartbreaking, brings tears to my eyes that have cried so many, for others as well as myself. Yet yours is one of so many just like it, I'm sure you know!

People often recognize that they are "just one or two paychecks away from poverty." But most are completely unaware -- or are ignoring the knowledge -- that they are also one serious illness or injury away from that same sort of destitution!

As another poster said in this thread above, "there is nothing romantic about poverty" -- NOTHING.

I'll be thinking about you and your husband ... I know what that "sitting by the phone" thing is all about, believe me. And please do TRY not to work yourself into a condition that leaves you even worse off, as well! I know it's not that simple, but I just had to say it. Most of us fail miserably when it comes to such a logical thing as taking decent care of ourselves.

And of course, many of us just have no choice.

We're all in this together, so let's all hang together!

[blues90]

32. I do worry about this

So far my heath has been alright (knock on wood ) However since I am now unemployed I have no insurance . In fact I have not had insurance for 18 months . When I was fired from a longterm job 18 months ago and had a 4 1/2 month job in this period now it's been 5 months with no job .
I had good insurance but the dental became a joke , jsut when I was fired I had two days to get o the dentist to finish some work in progress and then some teeth had to be removed because I could not afford my part of the bill so I lost teeth I could have saved .

I have no idea what will happen now , most jobs I do find offer no medical and little pay so just to maintain a roof and food will be a struggle at best .

It is one scary world we have got now , you know damn well no one cares about you and you are on your own from now on because this admin will not change pace and will only continue to kill us slowly . This is a reality i have to face and cannot fool myself to think it is any less than a complete horror .

We did nothing to deserve this treatment any more than the people of Iraq or Lebanon and yet we are not being bombed but death and suffering can come in many ways , all have the same end result .

people continue to talk about protesting or revolting but really , who will be the first one and how many will follow and how many will it take and what are we willing to sacrifice . I don't have these answers , I truly wish I did . Sometimes is seems having a gun for a way out is what we have left for an insurance policy .As sad as this may sound it seems as if this is not far from reality for many who sit here and worry and suffer . They simply don't care . There are many who do not have the time to wait for some dream of national health care whether too ill or too old like me , to old . What a lovely country we live in isn't it ?

[Straight Shooter]

33. I would love to have my taxes spent on waste and wars returned to me.

It's easy to die in America with no one but your close friends knowing about it. I am still trying to get the funds to go to the dentist and get all my regular physical check-ups done, since I had a very close call several years ago, which incidentally wiped out all my savings.

Repubs need to understand that the money we spend trying to pay our healthcare bills would be poured back into the economy. But they want to keep Big Pharma strong and American citizens weak. :(

[lonestarnot]

35. How 'bout a tooth ache and can't afford the dentist? That should

count.

[OhioChick]

36. This subject scares the hell out of me......

I have a chronically ill child that needs weekly medical treatment. Over the years, I've watched what our health insurance covers dwindle down. (and the price go up) For the past 4 or 5 years, I've had to cough up at least 10 thousand a year..........and this while "having" health insurance. I worry what the future holds.......I worry terribly.

on edit to add: The 10+ grand is not for healthcare premiums, but for out of pocket costs.

[lonestarnot]

38. Yep.

[anarch]

40. yes

I would go to the doctor right now, for a couple of reasons, but I can't afford it.

[Iowa]

41. K&R...

The impact of the health care fiasco in this country isn't limited to the poor. A great many are impacted. Example: If you check out some of the early retirement groups, you'll see that access to health care is the biggest concern by far. Some go without insurance altogether; and these are millionaires!

Another example: College students covered by their parents' insurance... Did you know that if you become too sick to attend classes, that your insurance company will drop you at precisely the time you need health care? You'll be sick, without insurance, and your parents will faced with either paying all of your medical bills (in addition to paying exorbitant health insurance premiums), buying a second policy for you through COBRA, or leaving you without health care altogether. One student, who was deathly ill with cancer, kept going to classes against medical advice so she could remain on her parents' policy. She died.

After the death of Pope Clement in 1268, the cardinals couldn't agree on a Pope. So the citizens of the city restricted them to bread and water and tore the roof off the palace in which they were residing. They elected a Pope in short order. The people should do that with our do-nothing Congress... lock them into a building without a roof in the middle of a hot summer in DC, provide them with bread and water, and keep them there until they either fix the health care mess, or until they die of natural causes - whichever comes first.

[CelticWinter]

42. Am there now

My husband and I went from a two insurance family down to nothing. My husband is disabled now with a infusion pump (morphine, which is paid by a comp insurance) and he has medicare which pays nothing. I have no insurance from where I worked and now am in school full time. I tried to see if we were eligible for state aid and we were 100.00 over the limit for the month. To purchase insurance for him and I is way out of our means at this time, so here we sit hoping that we dont get sick. We have worked hard all our lives, he will never be able to work again and I had to get retrained in another area. Five years ago I would have never thought I would be sitting here unable to go to the doctor when I needed too. It's just amazing to me that I live in one of the richest nations in the world and I cant even go to the doctor.

Celtic

[KT2000]

43. I was shocked

to hear my RW neighbor say that the elite in this country are trying to force universal insurance on this country so EVERYONE would have health insurance. He said when that happens, we will be paying $10 for gas.
Not only do people not understand, they are being brainwashed to believe lies about the situation.

Doctors do not make appointments with people who do not have health insurance. We have a nurse that sees people with no insurance on Tuesday and Thursday for a couple hours. The people who see her are families - young and middle age.

The profit driven health care system means that people with chronic illnesses have no insurance because they have had to quit the workforce. Years of improper diagnoses preceed this.

It is criminal.

[Dr Fate]

47. Yes- even with insurance, I sometimes cannot afford the premiums

n/t

[Joe Fields]

48. You think we're all rolling in dough here?

Been there.

Are there.

[Philosoraptor]

49. You mean you ain't?

No, I never thought that, but I rarely hear from folks like me around here. Maybe I'm just trying to dredge up sympathy.

Been there, are there, now we can suffer together. If I ever am rollin' in dough, I'll let you know, and you let me know, and we'll have a hell of a party.

[kineneb]

50. would be there

but since we are now considered low-income, I actually qualify for California's CMSP (County Medical Service Program) for the rural medically indigent.

We had to get on the program since my job did not offer benefits, and Hubby was headed for dialysis (he is now on it). But to get it, I cut back my work hours, and we had to spend down all of our cash assets. This means no non-Social Security retirement money or life insurance. We literally have $3.00 in our savings. Hubby is now on SSDI, Medicare and Medicaid. We barely scrape by. As gasoline gets more expensive, I can see we will be eating less and less well. There is no "give" in the budget.

To keep Medicaid's coverage of his Medicare Part D, we cannot have more than $1437/month income. We are allowed one car and our home is exempt. Personal property (cash assets) is limited to $3000 in any one month. This includes the SSDI income placed in the checking account. Under this allotment, I can still qualify for the limited medical services allowed by CMSP.

Needless to say, I am a part of the great underground, cash-only, economy. That which is not officially recorded, did not happen.

[progressivebydesign]

51. Broke a few bones that were never seen by doctors...

once as a child, and once as an adult. Health care should be available to all.. but the working poor are the hardest hit of all.

[conflictgirl]

52. I am in that position now!

I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancies and was told that I had like a 60% chance of developing full-blown diabetes by the time I was 40. Twice in the past week, I've woken up a couple hours after I went to bed, extremely shaky and sweaty all over, feeling faint and sick. (Those are typical symptoms of very low blood sugar.) I know that I need to go to the doctor to take a glucose tolerance test to see if I have developed diabetes, but I can't afford it. I couldn't afford the medication or testing strips anyway, if it turned out I do have diabetes. I had to have two other recurring prescriptions filled yesterday and it cost me $78 out of pocket. That's almost a week's groceries and the expense is a hardship. So since I don't have insurance, I'm trying to just cut down on my sugar consumption (I don't usually have much anyway) and keep up my regular exercise habit, and hope that will fix it.

This is not the first time I've known that I needed to see a doctor but couldn't because I didn't have insurance. I just have to cross my fingers and pray that I don't really have any serious health problems, and try to treat things myself as much as possible. Maybe my husband will get a job soon and it will be one with insurance.

[Lorien]

54. Me too

I have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, ADD, hypoglycemia, and an ongoing problem with blood clots. I treat everything with supplements and diet, but the supplements are getting too expensive now. I know that I need another operation on one of my legs to resolve some circulation problems, but there's no way I can afford it. My tuxedo cat also has cancer right now and I can't afford another operation for him to save his life. Makes me feel like a horrible pet mother and an utter failure. :-(

[porphyrian]

53. I've been too broke for medication. - n/t

[tomreedtoon]

55. Yes. SO WHAT'S YOUR POINT????

Are you trying to enlist us in some campaign? You didn't say.

Are you, perhaps, an insurance agent trying to sell insurance?

Or are you just taking a casual survey of DU'ers to see how many people have been screwed by this country? If it's the latter, let me save you some time - if only one person was screwed this way, it'd be too many.

Yes, I'm angry. What's your point in starting this post?

[Philosoraptor]

56. It certainly wasn't to piss anyone off.

Be angry at somebody else.

[tomreedtoon]

66. I'm angry at anyone with pointless posts.

Like, for instance, what was that all about? The original post served no purpose. Everyone here has been screwed by the government. It was like asking "Do you breathe air?" There are plenty of freeper boards where people wouldn't be sure of the answer. This place...supposedly...has intelligent people on it. But when I see a post like this, it not only makes me mad, it makes me want to run up to the guy and put a Bush sticker on his car.

[Jim Warren]

58. Hello?

The point might be to extrapolate the feelings put forth in the OP to the possible millions of uninsured who may be in the same boat.

[tomreedtoon]

68. It still makes the original post pointless.

Because everyone is hurt by the lack of universal health coverage. People on DU - supposedly - are smart enough to know that. The very point of being a progressive is that you care about people who aren't yourself. Understand? There will be NO negative answers here.

There WILL be negative answers - meaning that there would be some productive reason for asking the question - if it were asked on a Republican or Libertarian board. I'd be VERY interested to see how those two conceited groups would weasel their way around the question. But here, where there is no disagreement, all that can result from this thread is a massive, pointless, pity party.

[Jim Warren]

74. So YOU're point is

the disdain YOU feel when what YOU judge a pointless point is made?

YOU could have a point, but if YOU comb YOUR hair right people might not notice.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

75. There's a thing called the 'ignore' button.

Put the thread on ignore if you don't like it.

[tom_paine]

57. Only for one brief period. I realize I am fortunate.

Quite a painful two weeks as I waited for my health insurance to kick in (severe throat infection) and then another two when the first doctor I chose sucked and failed to treat the illness, which I think eventually ran it's course.

However, in the future that the Busheviks are preparing for us, the likelihood of being unable to get healthcare will rise sharply, perhaps exponentially.

I continue to hope that I will never know again, even briefly, that terrible feeling and I sympathize with those that do know it far too well.

[grannylib]

59. Yes, unfortunately...my husband got flesh-eating bacterial infection and

had just been laid off, no insurance at his seasonal temp job...I too had just lost my job to outsourcing for cheap foreign labor, and had been at my new job at less than half the pay for 2 weeks and was not yet eligible for insurance.
Emergency room, MRI, emergency surgery, another surgery, transfer to St Mary's Hospital in Rochester via ambulance; another surgery, two weeks in hospital there, back home, followed by 5 more outpatient surgeries, and over a year out of work for him. NO bennies, no disability, no unemployment, no nothing.

Yeah, I know what it's like.

Also know what it's like to go to the pharmacy with no prescription coverage and ask if I can buy just two Imitrex instead of my whole prescription, 'cause that's all I have money for...they're like $12 each pill...

Thank God we have insurance now, but we're still paying the bills from his illness, and back bills from things we couldn't pay during his illness, and heaven only knows if we'll ever catch up.

But he's alive, against the odds, and that's what really matters.

[Cleita]

60. I'm so glad you made it. That infection could have been

fatal in spite of all the care.

[grannylib]

61. Thank you! They told me the night I brought him to emergency that my

chances of walking out with him were less than 10%, as far as the infection had spread by that point...so yes, we were very lucky!

[MaraJade]

62. Yesirree!

In Pennsylvania, State Employees do not have any type of worker's compensation. The Commonwealth will
pay for visits (to their own hand-picked doctors), but nothing else. So if a State Employee is
unable to work due to work-related injury, the only backup they have is vacation leave or sick leave
time earned. If you are newly employed, or if you have used up your leave, you have nothing in the
way of salary to live on. You have some limited healthcare beneifts, but nothing else.

This means that you have to beg your landlord, mortgage company, credit card companies, car note
holder, et al to give you time to bail yourself out. And all of this while you are trying to recover
from a major injury that occurred at work.

Is there any wonder why there are so many lawsuits?

[Up2Late]

63. I had Pneumonia and Walking Pneumonia (two different occurrences), but...

...had to keep working anyway, a few years back, when I was a Bar-Back. I was sick for months each time.

[Blue_Tires]

64. +1

[DanCa]

65. Do I really gotta go into this? :D (nt)

[norml]

67. I've needed some things doctored and dentisted, that I've just had to wait

on, because I can't afford to it.

I've got two broken teeth that need fixed.

I need new glasses.

I've a skin rash that needs clearing up.

I can only guess why my feet ankles and legs have been in pain for years, since I haven't had a checkup in years.

That's about it.

Should take about $3000 to get the teeth glasses and skin taken care of, the ankles feet and legs, I've no idea.

[hopeisaplace]

69. omg, that is so sad

I can't imagine this. With Health-Care a given here (Canada), I have never known
that nightmare. In fact my neighbors were on their way to emergency with
their sick baby in the early evening. My heart goes out to those without
health-care. Also, to go to the doctor and get a bill? that's
something we've never experienced either.

[Daphne08]

70. Yes, but mostly, it's been the dentist. n/t

[knitter4democracy]

71. I've been poor enough to not afford the meds or the dentist.

I needed dental work and had to put it off for a couple of years, and when we were first married, I couldn't afford the antibiotics I needed for a really bad UTI. My mom, thank goodness, sent us money so I wouldn't end up in the hospital. That's when Hubby was in med school.

During his fourth year of med school, after we'd had our daughter, we couldn't afford insurance for me. I had to fight the state tooth and nail to get our daughter covered in the SCHIP program (that was almost a full time job for over a month--good thing I was a sahm and had the time to stay on the phone for hours--grrrr). We couldn't afford for me to go to the doctor--thank goodness I didn't get mastitis then, like I did later when we finally had insurance for the whole family.

I always tell my hubby: may God strike us dead if we ever forget what it was like to be poor and worried about going to the doctor or paying any bill.

[Vidar]

72. Kind of a chronic state for me at this point.

[sweetheart]

73. Do you include toothaches?

Dental health is as vital as other health areas, and i wonder how many
americans have dental insurance, and whether those rates are at all similar or
worse to those with health insurance.

I've definitely had toothaches and unfinished root canals when i could not
afford to pay the dentist to cap a tooth. When it was finally drilled out,
the dentist explained to me that people used to die from when rear molars would
rot in to the jaw bone and cause infection in to the nerve tissue of the brain.

[electron_blue]

76. No, I've been very lucky