Medicare has been steadily raising their deductibles for years making medical care more and more inaccessable for those on it. Meanwhile Medipass which does not have a deductable to deal with has instead been having more and more services and perscriptions cut from what they cover. As a result those with those insurances are more and more often forced to resort to the same measures as those with no coverage at all. The emergency room. That is a hugely wasteful way of caring for the insured. When it gets to that point I try to ride things out. But a couple of times I have had to resort to the emergency room myself. I cringe at wasting people,s hard earned money that way. It’s just not right.

Yes, they are different; but, they both come out of the same pot. This is just one more ineffeciency of Medicaid. They have three different medical programs depending on whether the person is on Social Security, SSI, SSD or straight Welfare.

Hope this helps you.

I have  title 19, a form of Medicaid. My take on it from personal experience is that Medicaid will pay for what’s necessary to keep you alive; but, your quality of life will be such that you will pray to God everyday for the sweet release of death. Trying to get anything diagnosed is nearly impossible. Doctors do not like to run tests unless they are nearly 100% sure they will come out positive. To have the tests come out negative is to risk Medicaid’s refusal to pay for it. Medicaid also would rather pay for pain killers for the rest of a person’s life rather than  investigate how to get them well and then do just that.

I have had a migraine for nearly 3 months now. The doctor will not run tests to find the cause. He has found a medicine that helps. Medicaid refused to pay for it. But if I were willing to fill the perscription (which I won’t because it is a waste of the public’s money) there are several other ineffective medicines they will approve. My levels of pain and fatique are so bad that I have all but begged the doctor to kill me. Why anyone would be jealous of my health care coverage is beyond me. I desperately need to see a chiropractor; but, can not, because I have to pay the upfront costs of either x-rays or the initial exam (it varies depending upon the chiropractor). That initial cost is not doable on a disabled income. Therefore the following $3.00 per office visit co-pay is moot point. This is just another one of their Yes we do, public face-No we don’t medicaid receiptant face. Of course finding a chiropractor willing to risk taking on a Medicaid patient is another problem. Medicaid likes to put limits on many types of care; but, they do not tell the Medicaid receiptants this. And since the doctor is not the one doing the billing he too is not aware of this. So te patient and doctor find this out when Medicaid refuses to pay the bills which by then are huge since Medicaid usually pays three months or more retroactive. Which means the patient ends up owing hundreds to thousands which of course they can not hope to pay. Bottom line the doctor never gets his money. He then drops the patient and Medicaid can honestly say they pay for a service that the person in need can not find a doctor to provide. So now Medicaid is saving money on my "care" and I struggle with my spine so out of place that several ribs, my right arm and left leg are dislocated. That has caued my feet to be so twisted that the only closed toed shoes I can tolerate are square toed cowboy shoes because of the extra room in their tops. Too bad I walked them down to the hollowness of the heels last wnter. Gonna be a cold wnter. By the time I might someday be able to avail myself of a chiropractor it will probably cost me many thousands to get my body back in line. Meanwhile I suffer from numerous difficulties as a result of the center of my being from which all nerves run and everything else is affected by being…impossible to describe. Just put it this way. I am use to such pain that the only time the dislocated parts hurt is when they try (unsuccessfully) to go back into place. No Medicaid is a farce of untold proportions. I can only imagine how many people are permantly out of the work force because of inadequate care. All those people could have been treated properly and returned to the work force. Myself included. Twenty plus years of this farce have conspired to ruin my children’s lives and I’ve lost twenty years of productivity. Who knows what dreams I might have acheived if things had been different. 

Yes.  Bra1nstorm1ng 1s exactly what 1s needed.  1 am out of 1deas and th1s has been go1ng on far too long already.  The  g1rl 1s 10 or 11.  One brother 1s 7 or 8, another 4-6 and the baby boy 1s 13 months.  (1 know h1s exact age because he 1s 3 weeks younger than my grandson.  The ch1ldren are not homeschooled.  But th1s very fact 1s not necessar1ly a beacon of hope.  1t worr1es me that the man 1s conf1dent enough to let them go to school, even though he dr1ves them to and from.  1 talked to the pr1nc1ple last year.  He was w1ll1ng to do what ever he could.  Unfortunately the g1rl’s teacher would not even l1sten to me.  1 was worr1ed that the g1rl would be w1thheld from school th1s year.  For some reason she started two days later than everyone else.  1 have seen the behav1or of these ch1ldren and the man and woman (1f only bre1fly)     th1s past year enough to know that the ch1ldren have been well dr1lled and that someth1ng 1s ser1ously not normal.  1 also know that the1r are better ways of controll1ng ch1ldren than beat1ng them.  CPS s1ted see1ng the g1rl d1splay 1napprop1ate behav1or, espec1ally w1th dolls and other toys.  1 noone has the opportun1ty to wtness any of these ch1ldren play1ng.  2. She 1s beyond the age of 1nadvertantly publ1cally play1ng 1n an 1napprop1ate manner.  1 really th1nk the CPS people here 1n C B 1owa just do not care about ch1ldren.  But, 1 do know that 1t 1s heart break1ng to have th1s go1ng on r1ght above my nose and be1ng powerless to help them.  1 also know that every m1nute w1th those adults 1s one too many for those ch1ldren.  T1me 1s of the essence and CPS has already p1ttled away nearly half a year s1nce 1 f1rst called them ask1ng for help for those ch1ldren. 1 almost for got to add that near the end of the school year last term he must have been feel1ng the heat or someth1ng.  He pulled the ch1ldren out two weeks before school was out.  A week after 1 not1ced them no longer go1ng to school 1 called the school (1 called CPS f1rst but they sa1d 1t was the school’s problem not the1rs.).  The school told me that he had told them that they were mov1ng.  of course they never d1d. 1f 1 were r1ch 1 would h1re a        pr1vate 1nvest1gator and get all the proof 1 need.  Unfortunately 1 am beyond the standard def1n1t1on of poor.  1 am sure that h1s knowledge of the 1nv1s1b1l1ty of the poorest of the poor 1s another reason why he feels he can do what he 1s    do1ng. 

Surely there has to be a way to help these ch1ldren.

1t 1s a proven fact that a h1gh percentage of those on Welfare suffer from depress1on.  What they do not say 1s that the major1ty of those people are not poor because of depress1on, rather, they suffer from depress1on because of the1r poverty.  1 once had a psych1atr1st tell me that all 1 needed to end my depress1on was a good ‘sugar daddy’.  1 do not do sugar dadd1es; but, he had a very val1d po1nt, one that others 1n h1s profess1on would not adm1t to.  And because 1 would not put my 1ntegr1ty as1de to accept a ‘sugar daddy’ 1nto my    l1fe 1 have had twenty very excruc1at1ngly d1ff1cult years.  Large scale personal help 1s rarely done from the goodness of people’s hearts.  Another fact that’s cons1stently om1tted. 

1t 1s heart break1ng to th1nk that 1f the same amount of money had ever been spent 1n help1ng me get my art and photography, and poetry out on the market as has been expended on pump1ng me full of ant1depressants 1 would probably be a thr1v1ng, successful, healthy, contented, tax pay1ng, woman r1ght now.  As for the ant1depressants?  They have done noth1ng to conv1nce me that l1fe 1s worth the cont1nuat1on.  Ant1deprssants do not allev1ate hunger, phys1cal pa1n or cold from 1nadequate cloth1ng or shoes.  Nor do they allev1ate the t1ght ball of 1nsan1ty 1n one’s heart’s gut that can only be ell1m1nated by a very, very long over due change of pace, a vacat1on.  

Ant1depressants do not help depress1on caused by poverty (or any k1nd of f1nanc1al stra1n).  They only waste one’s t1me and money, mak1ng the s1tuat1on even worse.  What does work 1s people w1th the resources to help do1ng just that.  Help1ng.

Sounds to me more l1ke you are descr1b1ng stereotyp1ng.  Once someone throws a ‘spec1f1c’ stereotype over a person’s head then from that po1nt on they no longer see the real person.  1nstead they see the def1n1t1on of that part1cular stereotype.  Stereotypes are almost always cast 1n a negat1ve l1ght.   So once a person has been stereotyped then they cease to be a human be1ng.  Human be1ngs are fal1ble, prone to error and therefore forg1vable.  Stereotypes are seen 1n a very small box.  They are not allowed the human attr1bute of fal1b1l1ty.  Therefore each t1me they fall short 1t 1s conf1rmat1on of the "correctness" of the stereotype label they have had attr1buted to them.

That be1ng sa1d 1 know noth1ng of Senator Kennedy; therefore, 1 choose to take the w1sest course of act1on and profess my 1gnorance rather than jump on the yea or nay bandwagons just to appear knowledgable.  Adm1tt1ng 1gnorance of a subject carr1es no blame nor shame.  Pretend1ng to be knowledgable however 1s the cho1ce of fools who bl1ndly str1ve to keep up w1th "the Joneses".

L1ke "all" human be1ngs 1 am sure he had both good and bad po1nts.

Heroes never vote for themselves.

we mostly only eat l1v1ng foods. Fresh produce 1s to major1ty of our d1ets. Occass1onally 1 make organ1c oatmeal w1th honey. 1 love eat1ng th1s way. 1t 1s so much s1mpl1er and health1er.

Thanks for wr1tng th1s Bella. 1 wrote someth1ng s1m1l1ar earl1er; however, you wrote from a sc1ent1f1c, fact based perspect1ve wh1le 1 wrote from personal exper1enced. A h1gh 1Q and surv1val have led to a more all over use of my bra1n; yet, 1 am predom1nately r1ght bra1ned. Some people just do not get that. They bele1ve that 1 and others l1ke me are just be1ng lazy (though some probably are). Bes1des 1f everyone had full use of the1r bra1ns then would there really be any such th1ng as talent? Probably not. Nor would there be much use for team work e1ther other than sheer brute labor. We could just about go through l1fe one person at a tme. Where’s the fun 1n that? 1 rather l1ke helpng out others when 1 can. And 1 love (someday) to bless people w1th my art, photography and poetry.

1 too am A-D. Thankfully so 1s my youngest daughter and my son. 1 do not see them much; but, we talk on the phone somet1mes. They are my only A-D frends (then aga1n 1 have no fr1ends outs1de my fam1ly, wh1ch does not go past me.) 1 th1nk th1s "th1nk1ng preference" may expla1n why many now famous art1sts were so poor 1n the1r t1me and why some l1ke me 1n th1s age are unable to get the1r careers go1ng at all. Though 1 go not th1nk we have a cho1ce 1n th1s "preference". Because 1f 1 d1d 1 would not be s1tt1ng here r1ght now hungry and unable to eat. My granddaughter would not be startng the school year wth only one par of shoes (not gym shoes) and no school clothes at all. And th1s would NOT be my 32nd year 1n a row w1thout a vacat1on! And my laptop (do not have room for a desk top) would be able to pr1nt the 9th lalphabet letter, LOL. Blessngs to you, my dear. Enjoy that A-D bra1n!