Amanda Palmer, a musician from the band The Dresden Dolls, was riding the train last night when she tweeted a story about not having insurance.
“most small-to-mid-level musicians i know don’t have health insurance,” she wrote. “some musicians find tricky ways, some pay, most take the risk & pray. when i was in my early twenties, buying my own insurance would have been equal half my rent. it just didn’t seem like an option. my parents had just watched the death of my step-brother (uninsured when stricken with a disease) almost destroy the family bank, and so they DEMANDED i get insurance.”
Her followers responded in droves with tweets about their own stories of not having insurance...
Location: hotel in Las Vegas Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Oct 15, 2012 - 10:14am
Death by Ideology by Paul Krugman The New York Times October 14, 2012
Mitt Romney doesn’t see dead people. But that’s only because he doesn’t want to see them; if he did, he’d have to acknowledge the ugly reality of what will happen if he and Paul Ryan get their way on health care...
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A team of UC Davis researchers found that people who are the most satisfied with their doctors are more likely to be hospitalized, accumulate more health-care and drug expenditures, and have higher death rates than patients who are less satisfied with their care.
Published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the national study is believed to be the first to suggest that an overemphasis on patient satisfaction could have unanticipated adverse effects.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A team of UC Davis researchers found that people who are the most satisfied with their doctors are more likely to be hospitalized, accumulate more health-care and drug expenditures, and have higher death rates than patients who are less satisfied with their care.
Published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the national study is believed to be the first to suggest that an overemphasis on patient satisfaction could have unanticipated adverse effects.
Woman Upset With Obama Apologizes After Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Today in a L.A. Timesop-ed, a woman who was so upset with President Obama for having "let down the struggling middle class" that she switched her registration from Democrat to Independent and altered her Obama bumpers sticker to read "Got Nope" is apologizing to the President. She says that while she was angered by Obama's plan, she's suddenly come to appreciate it, now that she's benefitting from it.
Two years ago, Spike Dolomite Ward and her husband had to choose between paying their mortgage or keeping their health insurance. They kept the house, and now at 49 Ward has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She didn't know how she'd afford months of expensive treatment, until he discovered the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, which is part of Obama's healthcare plan. Now she's publicly "outed" herself in the hopes that she can teach Obamacare opponents that the uninsured aren't just lazy freeloaders. She writes:
What I want people to understand is that, if this could happen to us, it could happen to anybody. If you are fortunate enough to still be employed and have insurance through your employers, you may feel insulated from the sufferings of people like me right now. But things can change abruptly. If you still have a good job with insurance, that doesn't mean that you're better than me, more deserving than me or smarter than me. It just means that you are luckier. And access to healthcare shouldn't depend on luck.
Ward's right, and she deserves credit for admitting she was wrong. (Edit: To clarify, Ward felt Obamacare didn't do enough, but she's speaking to people who "are still lucky enough to have health insurance and view people like my family as irresponsible.") It's just a shame that most people who are rabidly against enabling all Americans to have healthcare coverage won't have a change of heart unless they're put in a similarly horrible situation.
Location: Perched on the precipice of the cauldron of truth
Posted:
Dec 7, 2011 - 8:47am
MrsHobieJoe wrote:
It's in your hands guys, however it seems to me that it isn't so much the blockers in the corporate world that are influencing your systems, it's more a big divide in the American people and how you see yourselves.
I have just made the mistake of googling my antibiotics and see that it is quite a kick arse one! Levofloxacin.
Astute observation.
And the debate about health care delivery is really not just about health care, either.
hippiechick
Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?
Location: topsy turvy land Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 7, 2011 - 6:29am
MrsHobieJoe wrote:
It's in your hands guys, however it seems to me that it isn't so much the blockers in the corporate world that are influencing your systems, it's more a big divide in the American people and how you see yourselves. I have just made the mistake of googling my antibiotics and see that it is quite a kick arse one! Levofloxacin.
Isn't it ridiculous that people would actually fall for the b.s. that the corporations feed them. Why wouldn't someone want health care like this?
winter
see clearly, act boldly, love fiercely, live richly
Location: in exile, as always Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 7, 2011 - 6:15am
BlueHeronDruid wrote:
Yah. A little. Riiight.
I was once told by my employer (I was part-time, lobbying for a full-time position), "We probably can't afford to insure you."
I didn't need the insurance. I wanted the work. And I think what he said to me was way out of line, legally.
When I hear stories of people FIGHTING with every sliver of energy, to BEG the insurance company to cover their loved one's treatment... it breaks my heart. Insurance companies are usually quite brutal about denying coverage. There's more grey area than you'd think there'd be. I can't imagine having to do that while someone I care for is very sick.
It's in your hands guys, however it seems to me that it isn't so much the blockers in the corporate world that are influencing your systems, it's more a big divide in the American people and how you see yourselves.
I have just made the mistake of googling my antibiotics and see that it is quite a kick arse one! Levofloxacin.
Location: close to the edge Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 7, 2011 - 6:10am
MrsHobieJoe wrote:
It seems bizarre that at a time of great strain in your life you are then put under greater strain by having to fund the treatment.
When I hear stories of people FIGHTING with every sliver of energy, to BEG the insurance company to cover their loved one's treatment... it breaks my heart. Insurance companies are usually quite brutal about denying coverage. There's more grey area than you'd think there'd be. I can't imagine having to do that while someone I care for is very sick.
my employer had lots of patience for which I am most grateful for. They almost kept me around till Medicare kicked in. We parted ways with about a 6 month window to Medicare. Fortunately nothing happened in between.
My previous employer might not of had the same patience. Plus they had Kaiser. I would've ended up at the Cleveland Clinic with them eventually, but prolly not in time and the annual maximum certainly would've kicked in, leaving me a little bit short.
Yah. A little. Riiight.
I was once told by my employer (I was part-time, lobbying for a full-time position), "We probably can't afford to insure you."
I didn't need the insurance. I wanted the work. And I think what he said to me was way out of line, legally.
Location: Back in Ohiya, for now ... Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 6, 2011 - 6:43pm
DaveInVA wrote:
The company I worked for was self insured. When 2 years was up of me being on their disability they made sure I got on SSD so they could drop me right at the end of the 2 year period.
my employer had lots of patience for which I am most grateful for. They almost kept me around till Medicare kicked in. We parted ways with about a 6 month window to Medicare. Fortunately nothing happened in between.
My previous employer might not of had the same patience. Plus they had Kaiser. I would've ended up at the Cleveland Clinic with them eventually, but prolly not in time and the annual maximum certainly would've kicked in, leaving me a little bit short.
DaveInVA
Single, unwanted, unloved eccentric, crusty ol' fart with cat
Location: In a hovel in effluent Damnville, VA Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 6, 2011 - 6:32pm
kurtster wrote:
I was more worried about losing my insurance than my diagnosis when I got sick.
Once my employers assured me they would keep everything going, and I really believed it, then and only then, did I start to relax and begin fighting the sh*t in earnest. In my mind, that is.
The company I worked for was self insured. When 2 years was up of me being on their disability they made sure I got on SSD so they could drop me right at the end of the 2 year period.
Location: Back in Ohiya, for now ... Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 6, 2011 - 6:24pm
rosedraws wrote:
Excellent. When you're sick is a good time not to have to worry about these things.
I was more worried about losing my insurance than my diagnosis when I got sick.
Once my employers assured me they would keep everything going, and I really believed it, then and only then, did I start to relax and begin fighting the sh*t in earnest. In my mind, that is.
My philosophical issues with health care are just a part of my philosophical issues with our entire society. I lack the ability to express myself on this as well as others hereabouts. I generally wind up getting accused of being an uncaring beast when I say that health care is a service just like any other and should therefore be treated as a service, just like any other. I don't know all the reasons behind why it's so obscenely expensive, or what needs to change to make it more affordable.
