We're spending an awful lot of time to scrutinize in appalling detail the sordid emails and titillating instant messages between Mark Foley and underage boys. Wouldn't it be amazing if the media focused with equal intensity on another shame: the healthcare nightmares of the American people?
Since the media, pundits, and the political class don't give a rat's ass about much of anything but sex scandals, maybe you'd like to take a few moments to read about the grief fellow Kossacks write to me about day in and day out.
I regularly receive emails from Kossacks in response to my healthcare diaries. They are unfailingly honest, bleak, and heartbreaking.
These voices are crying into the black void. They are a window into the world of hurt and suffering that is afflicting ordinary Americans across the country.
I don't think I'm violating the privacy of anyone by sharing these anonymous testimonials about our depraved and broken healthcare system, to keep them private would be a disservice to all Americans.
This Kossack started by acknowledging he was well insured. A sad and interesting distinction in and of itself.
His email was about a program called Husky for uninsured children in Connecticut.
Based on what this Kossack writes, the program though well intentioned I suppose, is deeply flawed and probably underfunded. You can read more about Husky here:
http://www.huskyhealth.com/...
Hi, Eve,
I've been reading your healthcare diaries with some
regularity and find them incredibly informative. I
have to admit that I was (am) quite ignorant to all
the problems out there--in large part, I guess,
because we are well-insured. Tonight, though, I heard
a story that I found incredibly distressing--two
stories, really.
The email continued with a story about low-income, uninsured families in Connecticut.
My XXX[identity removed by nyceve] is a nurse at a high
school here. She has a student who has been quite
ill. She lives in a single parent home, and her mom
works. She is part of the Husky program
(http://www.huskyhealth.com/). The hitch? Since her
mom now has a job, she (the mom) is expected by the
state to pay for the Husky program. But she can't.
She just doesn't have the money for it. So here she
is, working, doing everything she can, everything she
is "supposed" to do, and she can't take her sick
daughter to the doctor.
That got me riled enough. But then my SIL told me
that the head doctor of the Community Health Center
here called the Athletic Director at the school. The
doctor needed to vent. It seems that when kids come
to him with sports injuries, the Husky program does
not permit the doctor to refer them to the appropriate
specialists right in town. Instead the kids are
required to go to Yale-New Haven, a good 40 minutes
from here. Tell me, how are these kids supposed to
get there? What is the damn point of the program? I
just don't get it.
In the meantime, there was a story on the news--our
fine Governor Rell (R):
MIDDLETOWN - "A historic landmark" could be getting a
face-lift with a little help from the state of
Connecticut.
Governor M. Jodi Rell came to the Church of Holy
Trinity to tell its rector and some of its
parishioners that she supported a $50,000 grant that
would go towards restoring the bell tower.
link:
http://www.ctcentral.com/...
So I guess since the church is a historical landmark,
the government can pay for repairs, but we can't
properly fund an insurance program for uninsured,
lower class kids. WTF?
Another, from a young Kossack who'd had a heart attack.
Eve,
Nothing very remarkable about my story. I'll give you the short version.
About six years ago I had a blood pressure test in a health class I was taking at school and the teacher told me that I had borderline hypertension and that I probably needed to see a doctor. Being like the rest of my classmates I was living the role of a poor college student, the only difference between them and myself is that I didn't have my parents paying for my health coverage. Needless to say I didn't follow up with a doctor.
About 1 - 2 years after that I suffered a major heart attack, the result of an artery that was 100% blocked. The doctors saved my life but I ended up with a $35,000 hospital bill. I missed the boat by not filing for bankruptcy before they changed the laws. For the time being I have been avoiding a collection agency. Maybe I can hold them off until I graduate college and hopefully get a job that pays enough to pay the bill.
I filed for Medicaid after the heart attack but was denied. My doctor's office told the agency that the damage I had wasn't severe enough to consider me disabled. This was prior to the Republicans taking over the state government and virtually ending the program.
Currently I take three medications for my heart and I'm able to get them for a co-pay of $10.00 each through a patient assistance program at the doctor's office I go to. The doctor's office itself is geared towards low income people in my community. It fills a necessary gap but seems to me to be nothing more than get'em in and get'em out type of place.
The worst part of all this is knowing that I'll never function at 100% and all of this could have been prevented if I would have had access to decent health care. I have days where even minimal physical activity wears me out but I soldier on because I really don't have any choice.
Thanks for listening,
I cannot excerpt bits and pieces of these emails. If you want to read them, you should read everything. They are from the lips of American citizens struggling to survive with horrific illnesses, while the political class turns its collective back.
Hi Nyceve,
I've been an avid reader of your healthcare diaries and wanted to
alert you to a story that directly affects me and many others. I
have something called Common Variable Immune Deficiency. This is a
primary immune deficiency, meaning it's genetic. You can read about
it here: http://www.primaryimmune.org/...
The terrible state of our healthcare system impacts people with this
disease in hundreds of ways. First, there's the issue of diagnosis.
Many people were near death before diagnosis and, because doctors are
told it's very rare, even with the data in front of him/her often the
doc doesn't make the diagnosis. You get recurrent infections in your
sinuses, pneumonia, other weird infections, and they eventually stop
responding to antibiotics. It took me four years of being sicker and
sicker to get diagnosed. I even went to Mayo, where they completely
blew me off. Then, you finally get diagnosed and find out the
treatment is regular infusions of gamma globulin. Gamma Globulin is
a blood product - it's the extracted antibodies from the blood of
thousands of healthy donors. It's expensive to make and it's
expensive. As much as $2-$3000 a month. If you're lucky, you have
really good insurance and it'll pay (until that million dollar cap,
of course). Often you wind up spending huge amounts of your own
money to pay for your treatments. God forbid you change insurance
companies. I had to pay for an extra three months of my old insurance
when I recently took a new job. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't
have been able to receive my treatments, because it takes forever to
get your insurance to agree to pay. Then I found out my new insurance
was going to charge me almost $200 a month out of my own pocket, on
top of the $300 a month I was paying for the insurance, because I
chose the best possible plan (I thought). I also had to pay up to
$2000 deductible before they even started paying. Luckily, I was
able to switch to a different, better plan. I am lucky. People with
Medicaire are the really unlucky ones. Medicaire pays so little for
Gamma Globulin that it doesn't really cover the cost of the medicine.
Medicaire people often are made to skip treatment, told there is a
shortage and they are out of Gamma Globulin and must go far too long
between infusions. They become sick and risk death because Medicaire
won't pay enough. Since PIDs come with an increased risk of
autoimmune disease and lymphoma and other cancers, the chances that
anybody with this disorder will wind up on Medicaire at some point
are high. And, of course, we all know that insurance companies tend
to adjust down based on what Medicaire will pay. So, if you're
interested, check out the PID website. We've been trying to find some
ways to raise awareness about this disease, so I'm sure people will
talk to you if you ask. I'll just ask them if it's okay if you post
on the message board. There are two reasons we want to increase
awareness - one is the Medicaire reimbursement issue. The other is
that this disease is terribly underdiagnosed and there are probably
thousands of people out there who are dying because doctors aren't
diagnosing them. I know one person who was sick for 13 years before
she got diagnosed. Personally, I don't even think this disease is
all that rare. I think lots of people with things like Fibromyalgia
and CFS have it.
Thanks for addressing such important topics.
And finally this one from a Kossack in Canada. Makes you want to pound your head into the wall. What should I say? So near, yet so far away.
I would like to share something with you regarding the wonderful care my husband is receiving here in Canada...
I got a statement today showing the cost of some of the procedures he has undergone since his massive stroke on 9/11. He has had 5 CT scans... at a cost of about $45.00 CN each... Several X-Rays at about $10.00CN each. All together, the various treatments he has received so far cost less than $1000.00CN. I don't know the cost of the brain surgery he had to remove the blood clot...nor the cost of the one-on-one nursing care he received for a week and a half...but I do know I will not have to pay for any of it.
I pay nothing for this. The Ontario government pays for it. Actually, my 51 year-old husband has paid for it all of his working life in taxes...but now when he needs the care - it is there for him. We would be bankrupt by now if we were in the U.S. (I am a U.S. Citizen) and I would be on the street.
I have had one bill so far. $45.00 for the ambulance.
Just wanted to share...
This is the face of America. The suffering, pain and misery this country and this government refuse to confront.
Read this and ask yourself how in the year 2006 can the richest country on the planet allow its citizens to suffer like this?