Via Stephanie Kelton, Pavlina Tchernova and AOC, we learn that a Grand Rapids, MI clinic has advised its patient Hedda Elizabeth Martin:
The decision made by the Committee is that you are not a candidate at this time for heart transplant due to needing more secure financial plan for immunosuppresive mediation coverage. The Committee is recommending a fundraising effort of $10,000.
See Splinter News today, and full letter above.
Ms. Martin posted the letter on Facebook today, where she wrote:
In my September hospital stay, I did not get listed because I did not have Medicare part D prescription coverage. So, I went home and had coverage started November 1st.
So now, with my 20% copay for the pharmaceuticals under Part B (that’s right part B- medical not part D pharmaceutical) it will cost me about $700 a month for my part B copay for anti rejection drugs . Once I reach my $4500 annual my cost is $0. So they want me two show I can cover my $4500 deductible by saving $10,000...which I will do.
This is not because of the availability of a donor. This is cost, plain and simple.
This is where we are today in our country.
This is what Republicans are trying to make Worse, through legislation, executive order and sabotage.
Medical Bills account for 1 in 3 GoFundMe campaigns
42% of cancer patients spent entire life savings in 2 years after diagnosis, according to a study in the American Journal of Medicine. Sara Collins of the Commonwealth Fund
"We find that underinsured people are nearly as likely to report problems paying their medical bills as people who don't have any insurance and they also report not getting needed healthcare at rates that are nearly as high as those who are uninsured," she told MPR News. "So, it shouldn't be surprising that people are raising funds through crowdsourcing. But it really should be a deep concern for policy-makers and providers."
Voters in TX, GA and FL elected* Governors who have refused Medicaid Expansion- killing and sickening thousands and putting them in an even worse position than Ms. Martin, who has Medicare. This is not a fucking caravan, it’s real, present danger through willful acts of our representatives.
How can anyone vote for these creeps?
The salience of pre-existing conditions as a campaign issue shows voters are beginning to get it, But it’s not just pre-existing conditions. It’s heart transplant fees, it’s under-insurance, it’s Medicaid expansion refusal.
And this is under the ACA, which has greatly expanded coverage, but obviously not enough.
It’s not like models for this don’t exist in nearly every “First World” country, except ours.
It is grotesque and tragic and infuriating, and all Democrats — in Congress, the States and Presidential Candidates must make this a No. 1 priority moving toward 2020.
They need to fulfill what should be our campaign slogan:
Democrats Care if you Live or Die.
*through likely suppression.