Sharing My Own Healthcare Nightmare

[Ztolkins]

This is my first post but I've been mostly a lurker here on DU since I discovered this place during the campaign last year. There has been a lot of excellent postings lately about personal healthcare stories, debates about which type of healthcare system would be best in the U.S, and many others. I figured I'd add my own story to the pile, which I hope highlights the extreme need for universal coverage in the U.S.

A few years ago I was mountain biking in the Rockies and at one point ended up hitting a tree. I landed on my head and wound up breaking my neck in 3 different places. This left me a quadriplegic, paralyzed from about the chest down for life. That day began a 6 month ordeal through ICU's and rehabilitation hospital until I was healthy enough to go home. Needless to say, I needed much support from my healthcare system, and continue to need that support today.

I think it'd be best to briefly highlight here exactly what I needed within those 7 months.

An ambulance to transport me from the accident site to the inadequate hospital in the closest small mountain town.

X-Rays, an emergency doctor to assess what had happened.

The use of a plane to transport me to the hospital in a major city

More X-Rays, CT scan, MRI,

Two surgeries roughly equaling 10 hrs

A bed in the ICU, the use of a respirator for a month

Another plane to transport me to my hometown hospital after I recovered from surgery

Another bed in that ICU, access to spinal cord specialist, a physical and occupational therapist, and if needed, a psychologist.

Once I was in the rehab hospital I had...

Access to a team of rehab specialists, regular CT and MRI scans

Medication necessary to keep my body functioning

Physical therapy, occupational therapy, classes to teach me how to live with a SCI

A room and bed that I used for 5 months.

Access to LPN's that helped me with personal care things (shower, dressing, etc).

There were many more things, like funding for taking high school classes while I was in rehab, but these were the essential things that I had access to. And I did not have to wait months to get them, they were available to me as I needed them. Of course, once I left rehab I still needed help. A run down of some things I still need...

Near 24 hrs of personal care in which I pay a personal care attendant roughly $3200/month

Initial renovations to my home costing $5000+

A modified vehicle that was $50000

Access to RN's, a general practitioner, and specialists whenever I may need.

Dozens of medications that add up to about $500+/month

A disability income of about $1200/month. Modest, yes, but better than nothing I say.

A new wheelchair every 6-8 years that costs about $17000 each

There are other, less expensive things like catheters and sexy legs bags that I need monthly, but again, those are the major things I need on a regular basis.

So, how much am I in debt for? Nothing. All of this is/has been covered by my healthcare system and will continue to be so. I'm sure some would argue that this is such a drain on the system and that taxes must be sky high. Except they are not, especially when compared to a country like Sweden. As for being on a drain on the system, my government awards me grants to pay for university so that I can become financially independent and eventually pay my debt to society. I just applied for a student loan. I was awarded $6390, of which I will only need to back $1700. I should point out, too, that this system is defended by both conservatives and liberals alike in this country.

This system is a right that I have within my democratic country, that professes certain inalienable rights with our charter of rights and freedoms. Healthcare is such an inalienable right. What strikes me as sad is that these rights were first employed within the beautifully written American Constitution. And while healthcare isn't specifically in there, there is no reason that the U.S should be without such a system, the people deserve it.

Oh, and I live in Canada. You know, the country that has "the worst socialized healthcare system around". Which, though, would you choose: Canada's or the American one?

(sorry if this is long winded)

[PA Democrat]

1. Welcome to DU Ztolkins, and thank you for sharing your story.

[roguevalley]

15. bravo! and welcome. I am so happy for you. I love happy endings.

now go and be productive. ;)

[SharonRB]

2. You need to send your story to the administration

and members of Congress to fight back against those who declare that Canada's health care system is awful. You're lucky you live there. I hate to think what an awful position you'd be in if you lived here and had the same accident and no insurance (or insurance that got cancelled). The renovations to your home certainly wouldn't have beenc covered, nor would your vehicle.

[Hepburn]

5. Excellent suggestion ~~ I think we ALL should make a copy and send it. n/t

[Oregone]

3. Everyone knows Canada kills old people

The US, displaying its dominance, just kills them faster and better because "We're Number 1!"


Good story. People need to learn that socialized *insurance* ain't so scary. Just like the FDIC and unemployment insurance.

[Hepburn]

4. Boy, what an eye opener....

...and welcome to the DU.

Thanks for insider facts about Canadian health care. You were badly injured ~~ horribly injured ~~ but it could have been worse, IMO: You could have been a U.S. resident with shitty for-profit health insurance.

I wish you the best, the very best, and thank you for sharing your very personal story.

:hug:

[TexasObserver]

6. Thanks. Your story is a poignant example.

[mimitabby]

7. welcome

and i'm so sorry for what you've gone through, but thanks for posting it here!!

[rollingrock]

8. Amazing story

I can't imagine what it would be like if the accident happened to you in the states and you had no health insurance. And even if you did, the best private insurance policy in the US probably wouldn't cover even half the the expenses you listed.

[CoffeeCat]

9. Treating people humanely...

...is essential to a civilized society.

You deserved all that medical treatement, and the modifications to your home and car. You deserve to heal and to have
a full and complete life.

I am glad that you have access to a compassionate and humane system. I can't even imagine what people endure psychologically
and physically--when they have an accident or are chronically ill--and they are punished and thrown away by society. It
is truly evil.

Thank you for sharing your story. Please post more often. I wish the best for you and your future. Sounds like
you are on the right track and moving forward. You deserve great joy!

[WeDidIt]

10. In the United States, you'd probably be a statistic

The Death Determination Industry (we have NO Health Care Industry) would not have valued you enough to let you live after such an accident.

[cyborg1966]

28. He WOULD be

My bud in Ontario who got the heart surgery he needed said "if I lived in the States, I'd be dead."

[FormerDittoHead]

11. Thanks for posting. HEY EVERYONE! HOWZ ABOUT MAKING *THIS* A VIRAL EMAIL!?

You know, like the HUNDREDS of right wing viral emails that are being INVENTED every day and sent out to plant lies in the Dittoheads?

Snopes is practically a catalog of these emails...

PEOPLE - *I* think that *THIS* post is the way to START!

How about copying and pasting THIS to people in your address book!???

I'm going to!

[Hutzpa]

30. Excellent idea!

with the acknowledgment of the poster ofcourse


:thumbsup:

[luvspeas]

12. I'm sorry for what you have gone through...

But I am also glad that with all you have had to deal with, you did not have the added stress of trying to figure out how to get the services you needed and how you might have to pay for it. Good luck to you. You sound like you are in good spirits and I hope you have a wonderful future. A disability does not mean the end of the world especially if you have the tools, resources, and support you need.

[spin]

13. K&R (n/t)

[Vinca]

14. Wow - I feel like packing my bags and driving north.

What a horrible thing you've gone through and continue to endure, but it would have been so much worse for you in this country. You would have gotten the care, no doubt, but your parents would be living out of their car and selling pencils on the street after the medical providers sucked them dry. Welcome to DU - I'm so happy you stopped lurking and joined the discussion (or bitching, depending on how the wind is blowing).

[eridani]

16. Please send it to Obama, and to members of finance and health care committees

Also to US newspapers.

[mod mom]

17. We're currently dealing w a CSI in our family but far less serious health outcome.

We live in the US and have good health insurance but the stats I read say only 52% of SCI in US have private insurance.

My husband fell on an unlevel segment of sidewalk while riding a kids scooter. He had a small brain bleed and stenosis of C3-C5. He was in the level 1 trauma center for 11 day, had surgery to relieve the stenosis, replace discs which had crushed, and put a plate between 3-5. The bill for 11 days (excludes any doctors) was over $106,000. He was transferred to a spinal cord rehabilitation facility where he is rapidly improving. He is lucky to be one of the 33% of SCI that will walk. Right now, 5 weeks from the fall, he is still using a walker (for balance) but has progressed enough to walk up 4 flights of stairs assisted w a gait belt. He still has to be cathed every 4-6 hours but he is starting to regain sensation to void. They predict he will nearly recover 100%. We are fortunate in not only having insurance but in that we have many close friends who are MDs and made sure of the quality of care he received. We got into the rehab center right away, not so for many others. Our story isn't the norm.

My husband's 1st room mate was a truck driver from Alabama. He was in an accident w his rig that left him blind, 1 leg amputated, spinal damage and 1 arm partially (muscle) removed. He just moved from Alabama to my state because all his worker comp benefits had run out and he was going to be released to the streets. Can you imagine that in America, a previously employed individual injured on the job could end up homeless living on the streets? He moved to my state to seek additional benefits (his wife who could not work since she has to care for him is originally from my state)

There is enough stress worrying about health concerns. No one should have to worry about financial issues at this difficult time. We need universal health care!

Thanks for sharing your story Ztolkins. I wish you all the best. Much research is showing great leaps in progress. I'm glad to read about Canada's progressive healthcare and wish our own lawmakers would read your post.

[renate]

18. welcome to DU, Ztolkins, and mod mom, I'm sorry you had such a scary experience

I'm very glad that both the OP and your husband are doing so well after such sudden and dramatic injuries.

What you said about your husband's roommate is really poignant. I just can't believe that in America there is no safety net for him. Well, when I say I can't believe it, I mean I can't believe it's allowed to happen.

[tpsbmam]

19. I'm so jealous.....

Not of the SCI & quadraplegia, that part sucks! But of the medical care.

I have multiple sclerosis (MS) and have ended up in the hospital twice in the last 7 months and I have no health insurance. I haven't been able to get disability because of a loophole THEY have in the system on their end -- turns out I was too responsible and worked for too many years while I had MS and then worked as a consultant for too long after leaving full-time work without claiming disability -- now that I NEED to claim it because I can't work at all, I can't get it. Sometimes I absolutely detest my country.

So the the first time I was hospitalized in the past 7 months was for 5 days -- it was a fairly simple radical loss of balance, leaving me walking with a walker as a result (couldn't walk when I was admitted -- just plain fell over when I tried). The second time was very recently -- I was in the hospital for about 10 days and finally convinced the doc to discharge me, though he didn't want to. I should have gone to rehab as he wanted -- it would have cost me at base $8000 for the first week -- I declined. I had been falling a lot due to weakness in my legs which would sometimes become profound but I could initially bounce back. Then my legs went one night and I couldn't stand up a few minutes later as I had been able to before -- I was essentially a paraplegic with zero strength (and zero reflexes) in my legs for about 6 days. FIrefighters came to the house and lifted me back into bed that night. I finally caved the next day after speaking with my primary doc and neurologist (finally got both through a great local program) and went back via ambulance (another cost) to the hospital, knowing I already owe them a fortune. As I said, they wanted to keep me in the hospital longer than they did and wanted me to go to rehab, which I had to decline. Some of the strength had come back into my legs, but they were/are still too weak to walk on (if you know grading, they're at about a 2 to 2+).

I now owe the hospital tens of thousands of dollars I don't have. Fortunately, my local health department provides some decent services (my primary is there and I fill my prescriptions there for next to nothing -- I wouldn't be able to afford them if not for the health department & the program I'm part of, which gives me access to specialists & drastically discounts my meds that specialists prescribe). But I have the hospital bills hanging over my head and I bloody well resent it. How sad not to be able to go to rehab -- I'm now using a wheelchair and haven't had the benefit of wheelchair training (e.g., transfers, etc) so I'm winging it. I need an electric chair -- can't afford it. When I needed a scooter when I was working full-time with health benefits, insurance paid for it 100%. Now I have to do my best with a manual chair -- it's fine at home but I can't go out without someone else to push me -- my arms just aren't strong enough with enough endurance (MS again).

So yeah, I consider you very lucky and hope to hell that one day my country counts me as a human being.

Oh yeah, and welcome to DU, Ztolkins!

[Lugnut]

20. Thank you for sharing your story.

I have incomplete SCI at the C4 vertebra location. There was no accident involved. For some reason C4 slipped out of alignment and into my spinal cord putting a significant kink in it. My surgery to fuse C3, C4 and C5 was done in 1994 in a teaching hospital in Philadelphia PA by a reknowned SCI researcher and neurosurgeon. At that time I was insured by what used to be traditional BC/BS.

I did not have to get referrals for my office visits or approval for the surgery. After all was said and done the bills for the hospital, surgeon, halo brace, OT, PT and the like was a little over $100,000. I was left with my phone bills for calls to my home a little over 100 miles away. A visiting nurse showed my husband how to wash my hair and me and care for the halo brace pins. I was not billed for this service.

A short 15 years ago most of us who had health care insurance had no copays, deductibles, provider lists or drug formularies that took away our options and those of our physicians. If I were faced with the same situation today I would very likely be facing the quadriplegia I was able to avoid in 1994.

[Joe the Liberal]

21. Ok now imagine if you had been living in the US....

and didn't have health coverage. I don't think you would even be alive right now and even if you were you would probably have had to declare bankruptcy by now. And America is supposedly the "greatest nation on the face of the earth", yea if you're rich.

Anyways thanks for sharing and welcome to DU :)

[shireen]

22. please send your story to ....

Bernie Sanders (so he can use it to compare against the US system)
http://sanders.senate.gov/

and Ed Schultz, (he's putting together a field trip to study the Canadian healthcare system)
http://www.bigeddieradio.com/about/contact/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30031533/

I'm very sorry to hear about your accident, but am very glad you're receiving such excellent medical care.

[HughMoran]

23. Thanks for sharing yet another healthcare nightmare

Many of us have had to deal with this nightmare of a system and are SICK OF IT!!!

If they don't reform healthcare now, it's time to take to the streets and force action.

[snappyturtle]

24. Thank you so much for posting your gripping story. I am sad you

were seriously injured but so happy to hear of the tremendous system that helped and continues to help you. I'm sure you know what would have happened had you been in the U.S. I live in fear of my husband or I becoming ill.

[Demoiselle]

25. I am sorry for your pain, and glad that you were(and are) so well and lovingly cared for.

A belated welcome to DU, Ztolkins.

[Bette Noir]

26. Bravo, hugs, and when can I move to Canada?

[cyborg1966]

27. Excellent story...let the TRUTH be known!

I live within sight of the Canadian border, and go over quite a bit.

I have Canadian health care to thank for one of my good friends over there still being alive. He had to have emergency open-heart surgery. He got it, no waiting, excellent care, excellent follow-up and I didn't have to cross the border for a funeral.

The real, underlying issue with health care here is:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

To the Republican Party, everything is a commodity to be bought and sold on "the market." It doesn't mean shineola to them that people's lives are involved. They have this retrogressive, troglodytic insistence on holding to Ronald Reagan's 1981 pronouncement that "government is the problem."

I have heard many, many stories like yours, not just from Canada, but also from Australia, the UK and elsewhere.

I know which I'd choose.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms in your Constitution is something to be envied. Here, the far right basically interprets our Constitution as if it were still 1787.

O Canada...the True North Strong And Free!

[lk9550]

29. interesting

good to hear from you.

[Hutzpa]

31. Thank you so much

for sharing this experience with us, the problem with most Americans is that they
have not traveled to see what is out there and the MSM is not doing a better job
in educating people with current affairs programs.

They will argue that people might, MIGHT not want to see it, so they instead will
produce brain dead shows that will keep that Rush Limpballs audience entertained.

An experience like this should be documented.

Yet, there are Americans arguing against their own interest, arrrgh!! the idiocy....







Thank you once again for sharing.

:thumbsup:


:kick: & R