I cried after work yesterday ... trying to help a patient get care

[w8liftinglady]

A patient was diagnosed with cancer. A mother of a high school senior. A beautiful woman with no insurance, referred to the ONE medical resource for the poor.... no ride. I found a volunteer to drive her there.

I am preparing myself for more suffering as safety nets are cut.What have we,as a collective nation,become?

[muffin1]

1. It is a sad day, indeed.

This country can find the money for endless wars and tax-cuts for millionaires and billionaires, but not for the sick and dying.

[wilt the stilt]

2. With the current house majority

poor houses, debtor prisons and orphanages. paradise for the republicans.

[unhappycamper]

3. The US is in a race to the bottom.

18% of the American population is officially in poverty.

[rurallib]

4. We are a third world nation now.

the very, very rich and the rest.
1% have half the money. That is but 3 million people.

[hedgehog]

5. Before anyone dumps on Texas for having a bad safety net -

up here in New York we're facing huge cuts trying to bet the budget in balance and reduce the tax rate. We've been bleeding jobs at least in part because the tax burden is perceived as being too high. (IMO, part of the problem is that people see the high taxes, but don't see additional services as a result. Not that there are no additional services, but people don't see them.)

So what we have here is a race to the bottom. Every state is trying to spend less and less on education, health care, aid to low income people, protection for the unemployed. Every state is under pressure to drop the minimum wages. Just as the Federal minimum wage serves as a basement, we need to start setting minimum standards in these other areas.

Here are some of the problems we face:

education - mandating dollars won't do it - just within my own state, costs are considerably higher in New York City compared to my upstate rural county. So how do you divide a national pot of money, and how do you ensure the money is properly spent without resorting to "teach to the test"?

health - single payer would seem to be the way to go, but once again, what do you pay a doctor or hospital in Manhattan vs. say, Sioux City? How do you ensure patients in both places have access to the same quality of care?

[w8liftinglady]

7. I firmly believe in paying doctors an acceptable wage-

to remove the temptation to sell-out.
I also think that forgiveness of college debt is critical to encourage doctors who truly want to be doctors,not just money makers ( and I have worked with both).
I know several doctors that favor universal health care .
Funnelling more money back into healthcare and less into advertising and pharmaceutical pay-offs would be a start.

[jeff47]

16. From upstate:

"just within my own state, costs are considerably higher in New York City compared to my upstate rural county."

That's 'cause we don't need none of that fancy book learnin' up here.

As a more serious answer, the dream of most upstate parents is that their kids move somewhere else. We've been neglected for a very long time. "The city" outnumbers upstate, and thus has complete control of the state legislature. So "upstate" concerns don't usually get much traction. Kinda like how rural CA or northern FL get ignored by their legislatures. The result of that neglect has turned a lot of upstate into an extension of the "rust belt". Why work hard educating the kids when there aren't going to be any good jobs for them? Just keep them from shooting each other and call it a day.

[w8liftinglady]

17. Man,that sounds like Texas

you have my condolences.
My partner has said the same thing about Texas public schools...all the funding goes to affluent areas,while the impoverished school districts see their funding cut.
We ,as a nation, have lost our humanity.

[hedgehog]

19. To be fair - you can buy a good sized house on a nice lot in Syracuse

for less than a walk-in closet (AKA Studio apartment) in Manhattan.

Our local school district gets a lot of state aid. I can't say enough good things about the high school (or enough bad things about the junior high!)

[jeff47]

26. Sure, but

Sure, but "the rent is too high" party isn't exactly something that would come from upstate. We'd have "the buildings are too abandoned" party. That would be one example of upstate's issues ignored by the state as a whole.

[hedgehog]

27. I am engaged in watchful waiting with Gov Cuomo. He may be able to

break the Upstate/Downstate, Democratic/Republican impasse. Then again, he may be neo-con/neo-lib. 1 Upstate and 3 downstate senators have pulled out of the Democratic caucus to form their own group. That may have some interesting results as well.

[Earth_First]

6. :hugs:

:grouphug:

[dkf]

8. Isn't she eligible for Medicaid?

[w8liftinglady]

9. she works. It is a tough one in Texas if you hae a salary at or above the poverty level

Texas leads the nation in uninsured.To qualify for Medicaid,you must have no savings and make less than 1740/month. The nearest hospital to my town that cares for the poor and uninsured is Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Parkland has been overwhelmed by the increase in patients, as hospitals in surrounding cities/counties ship their uninsured critically ill or chronic illness patients there. I was the assistant head nurse of the MICU in the late 80's/early 90's...and was shocked at the number of uninsured we saw who were in their 20's and 30's...all employed.
Many of them could have avoided a trip to one of the most intense ICUs in the nation if they had had access to preventative care...and this was 20 years ago.Since then,we have seen our uninsured population in Texas grow to 6.8 million adults and 1.8 million kids.
Something to be proud of.
When the Rs take over,plan to see that grow.

[muffin1]

14. This country is NUTS.

I called for some information awhile back, and I don't qualify for Medicaid, either. The person I spoke to actually suggested that I could get pregnant to qualify. Now, I know the woman I spoke with is not at fault for this, and I merely 'laughed' when she made the suggestion (I was 48 at the time!), but WTF?

How the fuck is it that the American people can be talked into starting WARS that are not even paid for, and can just as easily be talked OUT of decent health care reform (not what we got, but what we should have gotten) that IS paid for?

[mstinamotorcity]

10. People who forgot

they are connected to each other despite financial,ethnic backgrounds,education,or health. It is easier to see one's self as an individual so we don't have to bear personal responsibility for others. You know what I mean. Like the statement that was made on the floor of the exchange by that asshole who questioned his co-workers about Who wants to be responsible for their neighbor's losing their home or something to that effect.

Can't remember that guy's name, but he must did not understand if the person next door to him loses their home, his property value goes down.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

22. I'll take that one step further..........

Maybe I'm naive, but I believe there was a time in this country, not too long ago, where folks were actually more concerned about the lives of their neighbors and co-workers. That, for the most part is gone in the small-scale day-to-day America. Sure, we can get motivated to help some folks in Haiti or where there has been some other catastrophe, but we could give two shits for our neighbor who is cold or is losing their home: pointing out the mote while ignoring the beam, for those Biblically inclined. I believe we have become selfish and callous to the plights of our fellow citizens, and I have little hope of it changing anytime soon. Yup, its cynical and it sucks, but that's what I see going on in my little corner of the world.

[mstinamotorcity]

24. Well when ever

you are in my little corner of the world give me a shout out. Promise you will find a neighbor here!!!! And yes I have been my brother's keeper all my life. It was what I was born to do!!!!

[CrownPrinceBandar]

25. You got it, mstinamotorcity......

I'm looking for a good neighbor!

:hug:

[mstinamotorcity]

29. I know

they are hard to find.

[dembotoz]

11. bound to get worse--frankly my dear, we don't give a damn

phrase worked better in the movie

[mmonk]

12. Soulless.

[mmonk]

13. Soulless.

[southernyankeebelle]

15. Sorry ass bunch of republicans. I was watching a clip on the new governor of

MN who signed a new medical bill to help the poor. He had a couple of people stand up telling everyone how it has helped their families. Then he asked if the other side that was against this bill wanted to speak and this old vet gets up. He said he had govt insurance from the military after he retired. Everyone laughed. He didn't seem to get the irony of it. He had government insurance yet he didn't want anyoneelse to have it. Then a young man stood up and he said it isn't the governments responsibity. It is the church's responsibility. Gee they can't even take care of their own.

[Catherina]

18. Thank you for being there. Rec'd n/t

[marmar]

20. Reminds me of this line from 'SiCKO':

"Who are we?
Is this what we've become?
A nation that dumps its own citizens like
so much garbage on the side of the curb.
Because they can't pay
their hospital bill?"

[dana_b]

32. oh my

I remember that too and it made me cry. That woman in the movie, the woman that w8liftinglady took care of and millions more like them don't deserve any of the crap that they are enduring. Our nation is bleeding/dying and those who have the cure are deliberately hiding them.

[Horse with no Name]

21. I'm waiting for the old hospital wards to come back

and they will.
That is where the poor and under/uninsured will be housed while the rich get to stay on the 13th floor at Baylor.
The "tort reform" to protect the hospitals from lawsuits is already in place.

[hedgehog]

28. We already have a situation in which family members stay by the patient to ensure s/he gets proper

care.

[Javaman]

23. We have become what the corporations wanted us to be.

pawns.

[ceile]

30. I hear ya.

The state agency I normally refer people to has cut their budget effective immediately, so people are being dropped from the waiting list. Anyone new will have to wait until 2012 to even be considered for services.

[lunatica]

31. (((((((((((( w8liftinglady )))))))))))))

I think you have one of the biggest hearts in the world!