I find it very difficult to place much blame on Ms. Smith. She’s broke, struggling to raise her son, and in the middle of difficult medical treatments. Yeah, you can say “well, she should have done her homework”, but, realistically, given her situation, it’s easy to see why she didn’t.
What’s appalling is that she is expected to *choose *between receiving money that, by law, her son is entitled to, and receiving medical treatment for her cancer. And Starving Artist is annoyed because the government didn’t *cancel *her son’s SS payments promptly enough! He’s not bothered by the fact that our crazy unfair system forces this poor woman to make such an insane choice. No. Rather this “compassionate conservative” is annoyed because the government didn’t act quickly enough to restore her to her sanctioned level of poverty.
The reason the child received benefits so fast is due to SSA not having to go through the whole process of certifying him disabled - his benefits are based solely on what his mom receives. I’m surprised they didn’t have her apply for derivative benefits when she applied.
I routinely inform my clients when I find they may be able to receive derivative benefits, but I don’t check to see what their public assistance status is, nor do I ask “BTW, are you pending life saving surgery and receiving a few extra hundred dollars a month would cause you to do?” I proffer the information, they decide whether to act upon it.
So now that she’s ineligible for public assistance medical care, I wonder what private insurance company would be willing to take her on, what with that pre-existing condition.
Worse he’s using her awful situation to make an argument against NHC!
:eek:
On what planet would this poor young woman be better off with a market based system of health care? What corporate executive is going to make sure she’ll get access to health care once she survives this awful disease?
I’m confused. I’ve always been told that my SSI specifically doesn’t count as income and I am not required to declare it. The only exception was for FAFSA.
While I agree that Starving Artist is being an idiot here, he does have an oblique point. There’s no reason why money given to you because you are poor should count the same as money you actually earned. According to my own experience, she was likely told this would not count against her getting Medicaid. So the stupidity was not all on her.
Still, this is not an argument against the new law, nor for actual government run health care, as, in those situations, BY DEFINITION, this could not happen. His thesis therefore just the stupid “look at the government: They screwed up here. That means they’ll always screw up.”
I bet he’d love it if the same standard were applied to him.
If you have a pre existing condition. you can no longer be denied coverage
You can not be dropped and you get sick. Can you imagine such a thing. If you get sick insurance companies can not drop you for having the nerve of using the insurance you paid for
New health care plans to include preventative coverage. No copays or deducts. How un American is that
women allowed to visit ob-gyn without getting permission from insurance company
Patients guaranteed emergency room care
no lifetime limits of coverage
seniors get free wellness checkup -no copay or deductible
Seniors hurt by doughnut hole get a 250 buck rebate
Small businesses get a tax cut to help pay for coverage-(10 employees or less)
Increase in community health care facilities. (11 billion0
Insurance companies have to spend 80-85 percent of revenue on medical care-not salaries, bonuses or lobbying
The idea that health care does not go into effect for years is badly mistaken
I move that the thread title be changed as it is blatantly dishonest.
I don’t understand the OP’s complaint at all. He’s upset because he thinks Medicaid has too low of an income cut off? Where does he think it should be cut off?
SA, you have a problem in your understanding, and its a very common one. You keep saying the "GOVERNMENT! THE GOVERNMENT! THE GOVERNMENT GAVE HER THE MONEY THEN CANCELED HER HEALTH CARE!"
The “government” isn’t a single monolithic entity. In this situation, there is a major disconnect between the federal government and the state government. One didn’t know what the other was doing, and this women got caught in the middle.
Sad. And something that the new health care regulations will help with.
Done. Or, at least I’ve linked to the OP over there.
I also want to say that, once the snafu was set in motion (by mis- or lack of communication between her, and the state and federal agencies), I support all efforts to get it straightened out post haste so that she can have the surgery she needs, pretty or not.
It took Starving Artist three whole posts before resorting to his usual “I know some people…” mode of evidence. Broad, national social and historical trends can, for this dunce, be reduced to a few anecdotal cases that (shock, horror) he can never actually provide any evidence for. Blacks were happy in pre-Civil Rights era; everyone felt safer before the 1960s; and anyone on social security had to fight the government tooth and nail to get it.
If all this weren’t stupid enough (and, Og knows, when SA is involved, “stupid” barely begins to cover it), he uses this case as proof that Palin was right about a program that hasn’t even started yet, and that has nothing to do with the particular case under discussion.
I’ll give you this, SA: what you lack in intelligence, you make up for in stupidity. You’re a living, breathing caricature.
Insurance companies may be slimy bastards but they are not incompetent. The bureaucracy that they put up are roadblocks to avoid paying off valid claims. Should that be outlawed and fined? Yes! Should they be allowed to drop someone who has been paying in because they get sick. Of course not! Should they be allowed to refuse someone for a pre-existing condition? As far as I’m concerned, when you can give me a way that someone doesn’t refuse to have health insurance then get it when they get really sick, I may agree but that is another thread.
But when this idiocy and bureaucracy and “I can’t do anything about it.” is our own government that has pissed their pants for a year everytime a private insurer did it, then why the fuck should I trust Washington DC more than BCBS?
Two different agencies. They’re working on it now.
The majority of the features of the HCR bill don’t roll in until 2014. Also, she wouldn’t have some magic UHC, she’d either have Medicade (as I recall if she was 133% of poverty level [which for a single woman with a child would be 20k or so]). Otherwise she’d have to get insurance. From this calculator, and assuming she has a family of 2 and makes 21k it would cost no more than $840, possibly as little as $680. So around $70 a month.
Could be related to the fact that you’re in Arkansas, and the young lady in the story is in Florida.
Different states, different eligiblilty rules. Here in California, One of kaylasmom’s classmates from guide dog school was an SSI recipient, and receiving Medicaid (CalOptima), until her husband got a job, that allowed him to buy health insurance for the family. Even after that, the state still had her on the list as eligible to receive benefits.
They offered to pay for all medical expenses each month that were incurred AFTER he had spent $1850 (IIRC). Yes, that’s right. They spend $1850 per month out of pocket on her medical care, and then CalOptima picks up the balance. Point is, in some states, the eligibility tapers off, and in others, it apparently cuts off at a certain income level.
I dislike my country more and more every day due to the shallow minded, preschool politics so well displayed in this thread. We have people aghast and slaying mud because a black guy is now President. He got there by the will of the majority. Hell, MA elected a Republican to Kennedy’s seat because of the will of the people.
This is OUR Country! We do have a say. I feel like I’m wading through a sea of morons when I try to talk to people.
As to health care… our model does not work! No one should ever benefit financially from the health of another. Ever! As such, capitalism does not and never will work for health care.