My response to the post of Bernie saying if you can't feed your family you are not free
Apparently, my response was too aggressive for the DU lounge-so here goes:
I am angry with this country for good reason...my adult daughter died because she was $3 over the limit that the state of Washington allowed for medical care. She left a 14yr old daughter in her death. She did not have to die...all she needed was medical care and RX.
I tried to get her to go to my clinic but she didn't want to have me incur more medical debt. You should have heard the silence when the doctor's office collection agency called my home and I told them she was dead. I find with a lot of people unless they had experienced the PREVENTABLE death of their child it doesn't make more of an impression. My anger is with those of you who have the money for medical care and you let this happen. And you conservatives that are so quick to say well she should have been working....well she was working but of course paying a living wage is just too damn hard for you cons....I doubt if any of you even begin to understand what you do and many of you just don't care as long as it isn't your children. If I could take my family and get out of the failure of a nation into a country that takes care of its working poor...I'd do it in a heartbeat....I have no respect for this country or the people so willing to tolerate this type of situation. I had the misfortune of being born in the US..everytime I hear one of you extoll the greatness the American I want to vomit.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's true. Most don't understand unless it touches them personally. 
It is heartbreaking to read. I can only imagine what you've been through. 
My heart aches for you. I know it's meaningless but I'm so so so sorry...
Words just fail.
to provide help to those who need it.
Thank you for sharing. We need to keep hearing about these situations. Thresholds for care access cannot be rigid like that. (Single payer would be ideal)
The state could probably save money even, doing single payer.
I can't believe her life came down to a margin like that. That is wrong on so many levels.
And I completely understand your anger. Again, I am so sorry.
assholes at the top who could have prevented it without a single loss to their privileged life style.
new customers they were forced to cover because of ACA were much less healthy than they anticipated. Really, you stupid shits? You didn't figure that people who haven't seen a doctor for many years might not be as healthy? Can I tell you how much I hate those bloodsuckers? And our Congress, too, who have taxpayer paid for benefits for life but deny the same benefits to The People they are supposed to represent. They are worse than bloodsuckers, they are bottom feeders.
Republican family values means "My family is valuable. Yours is not." As I watch them get meaner & meaner with every election cycle & I begin to question everyone I know who votes republican.
I have a repub friend who called me to rant about all the anti-woman comments repub men were making back in the 2012 election. "They aren't taking away my birth control or my daughters!" And two weeks later she 'liked' Romney & Ryan on her FB page. 
What the fuck? I have friends who love to hike the trails & they vote repub. The very repubs who cut funding to the trails? What the fuck? Do you people have a brain?
It seems to be a sad fact that too many people have no empathy until they've experienced something bad in their own lives. Add to that a culture that constantly tells us that if bad things happen to someone it's because they deserved it. Well, sometimes yes, but not always. Not always.
Not paying a living wage is criminal. I do not get the attitude that employees are the enemy. Our everything-for-profit mentality is going to kill us & the planet. People's greed is going to kills us.
Sorry about the rant. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. More so because it did not have to happen. May you find peace.
the working poor do not matter.I am one,so is most of my family
This will happen again and again.
Much peace and love to you.I mean that.You are not alone.
I, too, am angry that we spend staggering amounts on "defense" and "national security," but we are so miserly and punitive when it comes to things like medical care and basic survival needs.
There are so many people, even on DU, who feel that it is the persons fault that they could not afford x or y. That they should have picked a different major or just got a better paying job or done this or that.
A lot of people do not realize that most people are not capable of that physics doctorate or being a brain surgeon. Most people usually capable or being trained to do the normal day after day work in a office or a factory. But we farm that work out to overseas companies. Most people do not have the mental agility to do financial sector work like they were told a decade or so ago.
We were all raised to believe we are all so smart. I know I was. I was tested at 135 many years ago, but that did not help me in high school and the first year of college. That was not enough of an edge when the b-polar and mild schizophrenia set it. But I was lucky enough to get work at AT&T where I did do quite well for a while. But I had to change jobs frequently to keep my self challenged.
A lot of those opportunities no longer exist in this country though. So now we have smart kids having to take the jobs that those who do not have the mental agility used to be able to work at.
Below is a listing of occupations that were generally associated with people of a certain IQ. Note that the average IQ is generally thought to be about 100.
MDs, JDs, and PhDs 125
College graduates 112
1–3 years of college 104
Clerical and sales workers 100–105
High school graduates, skilled workers (e.g., electricians, cabinetmakers) 100
1–3 years of high school (completed 9–11 years of school) 94
Semi-skilled workers (e.g. truck drivers, factory workers) 90–95
Elementary school graduates (completed eighth grade) 90
Elementary school dropouts (completed 0–7 years of school) 80–85
Have 50/50 chance of reaching high school 75
Average IQ of various occupational groups:
Professional and technical 112
Managers and administrators 104
Clerical workers, sales workers, skilled workers, craftsmen, and foremen 101
Semi-skilled workers (operatives, service workers, including private household) 92
Unskilled workers 87
Adults can harvest vegetables, repair furniture 60
Adults can do domestic work 50
I am so sorry.
You are absolutely right.
This should not happen. This should never happen. Not in one of the richest countries in the world, should any man, woman, or child risk death because they can not afford care.
I feel your anger. 
