American Workers Falling Through the Cracks

[McCamy Taylor]

Our country’s safety net----the one the right wing likes to label the “welfare state”---is full of holes. Not loopholes, though some unscrupulous businessmen make a killing from fraud. There are cracks so wide that people slip through all the time and are lost to hunger, disease, despair.

Tony used to be a skilled office worker. That was before sleep apnea sent him into depression. Now, he has a hard time concentrating and an even harder time remembering. The pain medications he takes for his slipped disc and bum knee don’t help. He is on so many different drugs, it is a wonder he can see straight----and on top of that, he is chronically sleep deprived. Tony really needs Medicare, so he can get his sleep disorder treated. But Tony has fallen through one of the mile wide cracks in the social safety net. He has kids and needs his unemployment insurance. But as long as he collects unemployment, he can not qualify for disability. He applies for jobs, but no one will hire him since he can not concentrate well enough to pass any of the screening tests. Eventually the unemployment will run out, and only then will he be able to begin the long, arduous task of applying for Social Security, being turned down and then hiring an attorney. He shudders to think what he and his kids will do in the two years he is without any income at all.

Toni has finally gotten her disability. A whole $900 a month. Steak and Cadillac time! Unfortunately, her disability is based upon heart disease. Her medical bills (she pays out of pocket) are over a $1000 a month, and she absolutely can not cut back on any of her meds or tests or doctors’ visits, otherwise she will have another heart attack, and her doctor has told her that the next one will kill her. Medicare would help her so much---hell, it would probably save her life! But before she can qualify for insurance, Toni has to swim through the crocodile pit called the two year waiting period that stands between her and Medicare----and with her heart in the state it is, she isn’t such a good swimmer any more.

Toney is one of the lucky ones. She made it through the two year waiting period. During that time she racked up some hefty medical bills---she will be paying off the two hospitalizations for diabetic coma (she could not afford her medication) for the rest of her life. But now there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She can finally see her doctor regularly and get the tests she recommends and start repairing her ravaged body and maybe even getting back to work part time. It would be great to get out of the house. It might even help her lose some of the weight that keeps her sugars high. Toney does not realize it yet, but there is still one more crack---another big one---waiting for her up ahead. While Medicare is pretty good about paying for doctor’s bills and tests, it sucks when it comes to medications. Within a couple of months, Toney is going to find herself stuck in a great big “donut hole”. Unless she can come up with the cash to pay for her three name brand medications, she will have to do without---and she knows from experience what happens if she does not take her drugs.

The sky is not falling, but a whole bunch of our fellow Americans are---they are falling through the cracks in the safety net.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Overseas]

2. K&R.

[lavenderdiva]

3. Excellent!

Thank you for posting-

[dkf]

4. It all comes down to being healthy.

The more I see of this the more I realize our food policy of subsidizing corn so heavily is killing us. We are pushing the wrong types of food and it is making our population unhealthy, broke, and dependent on drugs.

[PonyJon]

5. Be very wary of "physicians" and their prescription pads.

The average person has no idea about how little doctors can actually do for them. They need to do "something" to justify their existence and exorbitant fees so they dole out "psychotropics" and other dangerous drugs. They are little more than "pushers". People need to get off the corporate doctors prescription pads by quitting smoking, quitting corporate processed and "fast" foods, eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, a little fish, a little chicken, very little red meat, and doing moderate exercise (I like swimming easy laps at our local pool). I'm very sad for Toni's story, but she would have probably overcome the sleep disorder by doing what I say and avoiding american "quacks".

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Agree we need public health disease prevention. Not all OSA can be "overcome" with weight loss.

I developed it while underweight. Mine was based upon allergies and family history (floppy uvula, small airway). The stereotype of the six hundred pound man who chokes when he sleeps is the poster child for OSA, but the disease is much more common than that. It is associated with anything that squeezes the throat (goiter, head and neck radiation), narrows the airways (nasal fractures, enlarged tonsils), weakens the muscles (MS, muscle relaxers), increases abdominal girth (pregnancy, liver disease) and a whole lot more. About 8% of men over 40 will have it if you give them sleep studies. 4% of women. 80% do not know they have it. On the road, an untreated sleep apnea patient drives like a drunk driver (it has been studied) putting themselves and you at risk for motor vehicle accidents. Just the road safety aspect of the disease is enough to warrant better diagnosis and treatment. And no, CPAP is not the be all and end all of OSA treatment. Treatment needs to be individualized.

[slipslidingaway]

7. knr nt