I took 15 mins out of the start of my day to read the news and celebrate the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act.
1) Because if Kevin "Wash" Pratt-King had been able to get insurance through the State OR an affordable private source when he was unemployed due to his tumor in 2009, his brain cancer might have been caught before it was "terminal" staged.
2) Because Kevin "Wash" was only 25 when this happened, I was 23 and neither of us were able to be covered for insurance under our parents (which again, could have caught the tumor early)
3) Because (hopefully) after 2014 no one will have to have an Insurance Appeals Judge tell them to "move to Canada, we can't pay for your medical needs in this State."
4) Because (hopefully) after 2014 individuals and humans won't have to beg strangers for money to afford medication to live; which caused The Fundly website (for us)to even need to exist; http://fundly.com/thecommunecares
Want to argue with me AGAINST the ACA? Please donate to help our medical bills first; because without the ACA my life and my husband's are literally held by stranger's kindness.
EDIT;
Reasons that Wash and Tashi think The Doctor would also be excited about the ruling today;
1) He's a DOCTOR (of everything!) of course he supports greater access to preventable care
2) Greater chances for medical advancement with more access to patients to study (with informed consent)
3) More preventative care now means less chronic illnesses and death later- MORE COMPANIONS!
4) The Doctor was born with two hearts; he'd be pretty keen on getting rid of "pre-existing conditions" clauses.
5) It saves lives. The Doctor can get behind that.
Posts
:clap clap clap
ReplyDeleteI am so thrilled that the ACA was upheld--I almost got in a car wreck driving home this afternoon because I freaked out when I heard it on the radio! I'm an RN, and I have patients all the time who are terrified to come to the hospital even when they are seriously sick because they have no money and no insurance. I had a woman in her 30s nearly die on me one day because she stopped taking her blood pressure medicine because she needed to pay for her children's day care instead. And I'm thrilled because I have a daughter with a pre-existing condition, and a friend with lupus, and in-laws with cancer, and because everyone, everywhere deserves to get taken care of when they are sick. No one should have no go through what you guys are going through: It's just inhumane and wrong.
Co-sign!
ReplyDeleteAmen! The ACA is a HUGE step forward for the care of the people of this country.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to pick a fight, just take an example from the past.
ReplyDeleteI was alive when Medicare and The War On Poverty came into being. I remember the arguments, the dreams.
All I can say is, the promises were empty.
75% of the revenue collected for those in need goes right back to the government bureaucrats. The poor are poorer than they ever were. They were better off when private individuals and religious organizations were taking care of them.
I don't expect anything better with this healthcare law.
It's the government. It's the same people running the system you are in now.
And, just like in Europe, when they decide you are not worth treating, THEY get to decide. Not you. Everyone gets their choices reduced to the least common denominator.
I don't want to be on a downer, you have enough darkness in your life as it is, but that's just how it is and will be.
"And, just like in Europe, when they decide you are not worth treating, THEY get to decide. Not you. Everyone gets their choices reduced to the least common denominator."
DeleteWho are 'they'? The government? They don't treat me, here in the UK. The doctors do. The NHS takes care of me. Yes, it has it's problems, but the government does not get to say if someone dies or not. Yes, funding is different in each PCT. There have been cases of people getting one cancer drug in one area, and not allowed in another, but that has nothing to do with government. It is to do with funding.
The whole 'death panels' propaganda is a load of rubbish. A civil society looks after its own=, the rich and the poor. Money should not come into it.
Forgot to say...I'm not against a safety net, this is just not it!
ReplyDeleteNo one should have to die because they don't have money for a doctor. But the government should not be in charge of this much of our lives either.
Those that have the power to give us everything, also have the power to take it away, at their own will and pleasure.
Actually, the ACA as it stands now has no public "government" option in it whatsoever, beyond the Medicare/Medicaid that's always been available to people who qualify for it. Further, it also stipulates that insurers can't turn you down for preexisting conditions, cap your benefits, or charge you more based on gender--which is basically exactly the opposite of what you're saying. So beyond requiring that you have health insurance (or showing proof of financial hardship to qualify for an exemption from it), and saying that insurers can't screw you over by refusing to spend money on you, the government has... nothing to do with legislating your health care. For that matter, government is actually *protecting* people by saying that insurers can't deny people access to the treatment they need--which insurers have always been very happy to do in the past.
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I lost my boyfriend of 8 years at the beginning of May, in a stupid, needless, ridiculous and awful car accident.
DeleteAnd I just want to say to you, as someone who is part of a very awful club to be in - the under 30 widows... you're going to be ok.
Not when it happens. Oh no. And not for many weeks afterwards. But sometime soon, you're going to be in your garden, elbows deep, and you'll realize you're enjoying the sun on your back, and you'll be happy for a minute. And the next day, maybe a minute or two longer. It's like that. I still cry every single day, but the moments of "ok-ness" are longer (generally) every day.
And I wanted to share some stuff that I've learned in the past two months:
People are going to tell you they've lost "insert person here" in their lives, so they know how you feel. Unless they've lost a spouse, they have NO idea. So feel free to tell them to frill off.
You're going to have to relearn who you are. I've read that you're working on that, and you've had some moments to consider it, but, oh my goodness - start now, if you can. We define ourselves by our relationships in our lives, and a question that I have to answer every single minute of every day is "If I'm not a wife/girlfriend - who am I? What is my purpose?"
Stay busy. Get an action plan in place now. I'm not a social person (exact opposite - extreme introvert), and I put out a call for help a week after, on facebook. I just asked every single person I knew, but never hung out with, just to invite me to stuff, and not take no for an answer. And I did anything that anyone invited me to. I didn't want to. Most moments I was thinking "I don't want to be here - I don't want to be doing this", but the alternative was sitting by myself, in my house, wallowing in misery. I saw so many stupid movies. Went for so many long walks, trying to hold inane conversations. But it's what I credit for getting me through this. Did I stop thinking about him for one second? Oh, no. But it wasn't all-encompassing grief that made me hard to breathe.
I'm sure there are lots of books out there on the subject, and smarter, more eloquent people than I. But I've read your blog since last year, and I just wanted to offer my little piece, as a geeky, widowed girl out here in internet land.
I'm so very sorry about your loss. Although the relationships are different, the things you've so kindly shared about how you've "gone on"............ (i.e., after the h.e.a.r.t.b.r.e.a.k.i.n.g. loss of your boyfriend)............ will help-me-to-help my younger adult brothers and sisters, as we (very soon) face the deaths of our parents. Thank you so much for your *wise* and very practical/pragmatic words.
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DeleteTashi, your explanation in your comment is one of the most lucid, coherent, and concise formulations I have seen of this issue. And your restraint in the face of lazy, paranoid rambling, is admirable. Maybe "they" should hire you to write information pieces that can get across to the general public what the ACA is, and is not.
ReplyDeleteTashi, I totally agree with you that the decision is cause for celebration. Sadly, though, it is unlikely that an earlier diagnosis would have helped you. I am saying this only in hopes that you are not tormenting yourself by thinking this could have had a happier ending. Glioblastoma is evil. It is fast, it is incurable, I have never heard of one that was found in time. I had a low grade brain tumor several years ago & have read a lot since then. I have also lost a friend & co-worker to glioblastoma. We have wonderful medical coverage; he was at the ER at the first sign of symptoms thinking he was having as stroke; he lived less than 2 months. Sadly, his case was not terribly unusual.
ReplyDeleteYou do not need one more worry. You have been horribly unfortunate, but there is nothing you or anyone could have done with the knowledge available to us in 2012 to make the outcome much different.
No, that's not right. What I should say is that what you have done has made the circumstances far, far better than they might have been. Your love and care and devotion have given him everything a person could hope for after such a brutal diagnosis.
My thoughts are with you every day.
Winnie