The CHARITY hospital here in my neck of Louisiana....

[jus_the_facts]

....made me jump through hoops to prove I didn't have any income to qualify for FREE CARE....I provided all they asked for and had it notarized too.

They've sent me bills anyway and have now turned me over to a collection agency for 172.00....all they did was give me MORE prescriptions for medications I DON'T need..instead of any real help...I get another slash into my already shitty and totally unnecessary CREDIT rating.



I've already been screwed by a supposedly FREE system....and will get bent over repeatedly with this so called reform DEAL. Having to pay extortion payments to insurance companies just like the mandatory liability coverage for my 20 year old car that I can't afford to keep fixing anymore. :evilfrown:

[jus_the_facts]

1. a shameless kick.....fwiw.....which is ALL shit.....yet again.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. If you are below the poverty line, then you will get government assistance for the health insurance.

This is the affordability credit in HR 3200.

[jus_the_facts]

3. There is already supposed to be FREE care here.....

....but it's a LIE...government assistance for the health insurance that I shouldn't even need in a state with a charity system is a JOKE too.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Where? I know of a 27 year-old student, who had to have emergency gall bladder surgery. This woman

owns nothing that cannot be transported in my station wagon and I would estimate is valued at about $500. She was given a charity pass from the hospital (around $35,000), but was still sued by two of the doctors. Their suits were granted and if she ever makes any money, she'll still have to pay those bills.

[jus_the_facts]

6. We're talking about two different circumstances....

....in two different states if this happened in Arkansas....you say your friend got a charity *pass* but is still getting screwed....I'm saying the state of Louisiana is supposed to offer free care to people who can't afford it....but it doesn't because I'm still getting screwed too...regardless of the how and why of what we were told to believe...it has backfired in our faces....guess we'll just have to wait and see if there is any truth to this reform either. :shrug:

[TheKentuckian]

9. Not to cast stones from a glass house

but have you noted the government in Louisiana?

I mean what are the odds that the system wouldn't be designed to fail?

[jus_the_facts]

10. Same can be said about all gov't programs....

....looks to me like the entire system of gov't is failing us from top to bottom...no matter what state you reside in.

[Posteritatis]

12. I assume she has to pay far more than $35K too? (nt)

[sinkingfeeling]

13. No, I think one doctor is owed something like $6K and the other is around $2500.

[juno jones]

5. Means testing.

It so easy for those who have never endured it to reccomend it for others. Preferably poorer others.


Several years ago my mother died. I was supposed to get her Honda. But fate intervened and I wound up buying a used Saturn with the bit of money I recieved.

If I had owned the Honda, I would have been over the arbitrary line of assets that is drawn between the needy and non-needy. I would not have been able to get certain assistance that helped me out when I had to do the unemployment thing for several weeks (a dickhead boss fired me illegally). You can't have assets over $2000-$5000 in many programs such as food stamps. So you should sell your reliable car, your transportation for work, to qualify for temporary assistance? I guess I'm lucky that my Saturn is reliable although not as new or as aesthetically correct.

Sorry to hear about the hospital. We poor always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

[jus_the_facts]

8. Always damned if you do....and always damned if you don't.....

....the haves will always control us have-nots....no matter what sort of deals they try to make us believe we're getting...it always boils down to "the same ol' song and dance" in the end.

[libodem]

7. Both of the hospitals in my area were investigated

a couple of years ago, because they claim to give charity to the poor, so they can receive tax-exempt status. Both have huge buildings and mega lots. If you own anything they put a lien against it when they do assist you.

[jus_the_facts]

11. So was anything done about them?

...or was more money wasted on an investigation that didn't accomplish anything?

[libodem]

18. Just gave 'em a scare

and I think they got a little looser with some of the debt forgiveness.

[Vidar]

14. Recommended. I'm sorry you've had to go through this crap.

[jus_the_facts]

15. Thanks....I've become used to it.....unfortunately.....

...."que sera sera...what will be...will be." :banghead:

[polly7]

16. Gawd, reading this sort of thing is hard.

I'm so sorry, this just shouldn't be happening anywhere.

[jus_the_facts]

17. Thanks....it shouldn't..... but it does......

....and will continue too. :hi: