[Note by Steven D: This started as comment to cskendrick's diary Regarding Wickedness but he felt I should expand upon it in a diary so I have].
It's become very clear since Reagan and Newt Gingrich first acquired power within the GOP during the 80's that the path of "wickedness" (i.e., screw the poor, the middle class, minorities, women's rights, the Bill of Rights, etc. in order to benefit the wealthiest 1% of Americans and the corporations they control) was one the the Republicans had chosen to pursue. 9/11 ramped up that wickedness by a factor of 10. I believe Obama's election in 2008 ramped it up by another factor of at least 10.
And I believe things will get much worse, and may more people will suffer, and a not insignificant portion of them die before a large segment of the population that supports the Republican party right now realizes they have been duped and their own prejudices and bigotry used as a means to brainwash them into accepting an agenda that restricts liberty, fosters injustice, legal and economic, and destroys what was once called the American Dream.
I count myself as one of those who may die within the next ten years because of the current economic and political situation of our country. Let me explain why I came to that conclusion. First a little background on our health and finacial situation:
My wife had pancreatic cancer in 2006. Her surgery, radiation and chemotherapy treatments caused her brain damage and Type 1 Diabetes. She was able to retain her health care insurance from her company's self funded health insurance plan (at full cost without any contribution by the company) and receives Long-term disability from her employer's disability insurance --- er I mean her company's ERISA Benefit Plan Trustee The fact that her pancreatic cancer destroyed her pancreas, made her a Type 1 diabetic overnight and the chemotherapy treatments she received caused documented brain damage (loss of short term memory, confusion, panic attacks, inability to concentrate, etc.) was just too much evidence for them to deny her claim under ERISA''s arbitrary and capricious standard. She was also accepted for full SSDI benefits, one of the lucky 3 out of 10 disabled duckies whose claims for disability are accepted.
I am also disabled due to a rare and hard to diagnose autoimmune disorder known as Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Cell Periodic Fever Syndrome (or TRAPS). Unfortunately, at the time I was applying for disability in 1999, I was not so fortunate. I had received multiple and often conflicting diagnoses from various specialists in my home city, the Mayo Clinic, and the University of North Carolina.
The lack of a definitive diagnosis and the confusing array of auto-immune inflammation and severe gastrointestinal symptoms, allowed my company's disability insurer/trustee of our ERISA Benefits Plan to send my medical records to another doctor employed by the Insurance company. That person, a doctor I never met (and one who never discussed my case with my doctors or with me) declared that I was not disabled. We sued and lost in Federal Court, because the Judge said that though it appeared to him I was disabled he could not say that insurance company (Liberty Mutual), which was the trustee for my firm's disability benefit plan, acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" (that's the legal standard the law mandates to determine if an insurance company acted in bad faith under ERISA in denying medical and disability claims). The reason? Liberty Mutual's decision as "Trustee" was based on the review of my medical records by that doctor they hired who never examined me, never talked to my doctors, and never even had a conversation with me.
Based on my lack of a definitive diagnosis at the time, I was advised not to apply for SSDI since it was unlikely I would be approved. I attempted to return to work after I lost my case in the Federal District Court. Unfortunately, returning to work even under a limited work schedule resulted in severe aggravation of my symptoms to the point I could not continue. Even today, any physical or emotional stress triggers my immune system to kick in. A list of my symptoms includes the following:
Diarrhea, abdominal distention to the point of being unable to breathe, joint inflammation and pain that is the same as rheumatoid arthritis (all of my joints, connective tissue and ligaments have been affected at one time or another, including the blistering of the pericardium around my heart and the blistering of my lings which resulted in air leaking into my thoracic cavity (extremely painful and similar to the chest pain heart attacks cause), high fever, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration. I've been hospitalized several times. My gall bladder was removed due to inflammation that had essentially destroyed 3/4 of its tissue. My auto-immune disorder puts me at greater risk for infections and cancer, as well as stroke.
Our family is thus totally dependent on my wife's disability income and her former employer's group health insurance plan.
However, the company that provides us our health care coverage (it self insures), the one my wife worked for until she became disabled may very go bankrupt in the near future. It's an open secret that they are in financial trouble. Bankruptcy, the compnay;s cash flow issues and potential mergers have all been discussed in the local and business press over the last several months.
If bankruptcy or a merger happens we will in all likelihood lose our health insurance and prescription coverage except for my wife who receives Medicare Part A for doctor visits and hospitalizations due to her status as a disabled individual. Its lousy medical coverage (in 2009 and 2010 we paid on average about $20,000 in premiums, co-pays and other medical expenses not covered by insurance, or about 20-25% of our gross income) but it's better than nothing.
My wife may also lose disability payments that are paid to her through her company's disability insurer, leaving us to pay our mortgage, our daughter's college, food, and all our other medical expenses solely from her Social Security Disability payments (about $2500 a month) and some money from a private disability policy she took out years ago which pays roughly $1500 per month.
Perhaps we will find private, non-group health care coverage including prescription coverage, but at what cost? And if the Republicans gain power enough to repeal the Affordable Care Act, my son will lose his health insurance, and all of us will be excluded from coverage for our pre-existing conditions. Besides my own issues, my daughter has ADHD and had asthma as a child. As noted We already pay 20,000 per year on health care costs with group health insurance. What the costs might be for the four of us without that coverage I cannot imagine.
In that event, there is a good chance I may have to divorce my wife and forego health care insurance and the support her meager disability income provides so that our children can remain covered. My meds are cheap fortunately (all the high priced ones that might actually help my auto-immune disorder have been denied by our current health care coverage), but that's because I only have to pay 20% of the cost. Without coverage my meds will increase by 80% as will the cost of medication for my daughter and sons. I'm not sure what prescription coverage would be available to my wife, but her drugs are the most expensive and the most necessary. In particular her insulin drugs are critical, but she would be unable to function at all without several other drugs as well for her cognitive disorders, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
So my children and wife can afford to live and have some hope of a future, I may have to go without. Without any income, health care coverage, etc. Perhaps other relatives will allow me to live with them, but most of my siblings (except for one) are in as bad a shape as me or worse. I suspect I may very well end up bankrupt, indigent and dead within the next ten years (I'm not eligible for Medicare for another 10 years--or 12, who knows?--assuming Medicare still exists in ten years time).
I doubt I will be the only one in such straits if worst comes to worst.
And with the GOP voter suppression machine in full force next year, with literally unlimited amounts amounts of cash that corporations and Billionaires like the Kochs will dump into the next election cycle, I don't believe we can say now that Obama is a shoe-in for re-election or that the Dems will retain control of the Senate, much less regain control of the House. If the republicans gain power enough to repeal the health care law, my son will lose his health insurance (he;s 22), and all of us will be excluded from coverage for our pre-existing conditions. Which means that except for my wife, any coverage we get would be worthless, especially for my daughter and I.
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see any improvement for vast numbers of Americans, like my family, is in the cards. I accept that my life (and likely my wife's) may be shortened (indeed, I no longer believe that I will outlive my parents who are two decades older than I). What I do hope is that this country comes to its senses so my children and others their age will have a future that doesn't resemble an oligarchy, a military junta or a one party state (with or without a right wing dictator).
That's why I support Occupy Wall Street and why I will continue to vote for Democrats.
Because, the current breed of Republicans would just as soon see us all die, or suffer horribly so greedy Billionaires and Millionaires can keep acquiring and hoarding more and more wealth while the rest of sink into an ever lower standard of living, with fewer rights, more injustice, and a much higher mortality rate.
I hope I'm wrong. I doubt I am.
So, you people who can participate in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, in whatever way you can, I am all in with you. Because my life, but more especially the lives of the people I love, my wife, my daughter, my son, and my nieces and nephews, are depending upon you.
God (or whomever) bless you all.