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| Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 1 | 
Sep 19, 2009, 12:43 AM
 Re: Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance
I want to respond to this article, but, frankly, I do not know what to say. I am presently in this situation. Unemployed, uninsured and facing bankrupcy. Yet, the fear of dieing from my cancer is not as great as dieing from not being able to get treatment. There are two free clinics in this area, both have turned me away because the one does not deal with oncology patients and the other requires a sliding scale payment of some sort-which I cannot do. The hospitals have said to wait to the first of the year when they have money for the indigent available. I know that I am just one of thousands across the country without health insurance, but I did have hope of getting treatment. My PCP did the intravaginal ultrasound and biopsy, for which I was greatful, but he is not an oncologist and his referral physician stated he would not treat me without guarantee of payment. Medicaid has turned me down, yet, I was hoping there was somewhere else. Well, I guess I should be more depressed that I am, and a couple of days ago I probably would be blathering on and on. All I can say is: To all of you who are out there and working with benefits--DO NOT MAKE WAVES OR QUIT YOUR JOB! You just never know what is going to happen to you around the next corner. Think I will go look under the couch cushions for enough to buy a lottery ticket!
 | | No. 2 |
Sep 19, 2009, 08:49 AM
Re: Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance
SCorder,
I have read some of your other posts and I am very sorry for your situation. Yours is an example of how so many working class citizens fall thru the cracks. A person can be perfectly healthy, have a great health insurance policy thru their employer, but then get sick and if they can't work and lose their job, they lose their health insurance at the time they need it the most.
I hope things change.
| | No. 3 |
Sep 19, 2009, 06:39 PM
 Re: Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance Originally Posted by S.Corder, RN  I want to respond to this article, but, frankly, I do not know what to say. I am presently in this situation. Unemployed, uninsured and facing bankrupcy. Yet, the fear of dieing from my cancer is not as great as dieing from not being able to get treatment. There are two free clinics in this area, both have turned me away because the one does not deal with oncology patients and the other requires a sliding scale payment of some sort-which I cannot do. The hospitals have said to wait to the first of the year when they have money for the indigent available. I know that I am just one of thousands across the country without health insurance, but I did have hope of getting treatment. My PCP did the intravaginal ultrasound and biopsy, for which I was greatful, but he is not an oncologist and his referral physician stated he would not treat me without guarantee of payment. Medicaid has turned me down, yet, I was hoping there was somewhere else. Well, I guess I should be more depressed that I am, and a couple of days ago I probably would be blathering on and on. All I can say is: To all of you who are out there and working with benefits--DO NOT MAKE WAVES OR QUIT YOUR JOB! You just never know what is going to happen to you around the next corner. Think I will go look under the couch cushions for enough to buy a lottery ticket!
Honey, I just want to give you big hugs! In this, the supposed best country in the world, your situation is an outrage and makes my blood boil!!! I am in much the same situation as you... I don't have cancer or a life-threatening illness, thank the Lord, but I was in an automobile accident earlier in the year and lost my job because I'm still in the process of recovering from it. I am now forced to pay outrageous premiums for Cobra, just so I can continue to get care for my injuries... that if I didn't receive care for I'd most certainly be permanently disabled. And let's just say that if I didn't have long term disability coverage through my ex-employer, there would be absolutely no way I'd be able to pay my cobra premiums. I don't understand people who say health care is a privelege for those that can afford it... God willing they'll never have to be in our shoes.
| | No. 4 |
Sep 19, 2009, 06:54 PM
Re: Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance Originally Posted by S.Corder, RN I want to respond to this article, but, frankly, I do not know what to say. I am presently in this situation. Unemployed, uninsured and facing bankrupcy. Yet, the fear of dieing from my cancer is not as great as dieing from not being able to get treatment. There are two free clinics in this area, both have turned me away because the one does not deal with oncology patients and the other requires a sliding scale payment of some sort-which I cannot do. The hospitals have said to wait to the first of the year when they have money for the indigent available. I know that I am just one of thousands across the country without health insurance, but I did have hope of getting treatment. My PCP did the intravaginal ultrasound and biopsy, for which I was greatful, but he is not an oncologist and his referral physician stated he would not treat me without guarantee of payment. Medicaid has turned me down, yet, I was hoping there was somewhere else. Well, I guess I should be more depressed that I am, and a couple of days ago I probably would be blathering on and on. All I can say is: To all of you who are out there and working with benefits--DO NOT MAKE WAVES OR QUIT YOUR JOB! You just never know what is going to happen to you around the next corner. Think I will go look under the couch cushions for enough to buy a lottery ticket!
Thank you for sharing your story with us and I really wish you the best. Stories like yours is unfortuneatly not rare in our country and is why we need comprehensive healthcare reform.
| | No. 8 |
Sep 22, 2009, 02:11 PM
Re: Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance Originally Posted by Agrippa True. But what good is healthcare when people who need it can't afford it.
I agree completely with the point you make. But having said that, the problem here needs to be properly identified and addressed. It isn't our healthcare that stinks, it's how it's paid for. The way this is all being publicized by the media, it is being made to sound otherwise IMO. Sometimes I wonder if the big private insurance companies have their tentacles in this as well. They have a lot of money, power, and political influence. They like things just as they are, and don't want any change. Even the relatively modest and conciliatory changes that are being proposed are too much in their viewpoint.
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