Read this horror story. Read it, and think about it. The parts in bold are emphasized by me, things that should absolutely be illegal and criminal. Health insurance is the biggest scam being perpetrated by corporations on the American people, right up there with wage theft.
Write your representatives in Congress. Better, call them. Demand #MedicareForAll. It’s the only morally-justifiable system. It would save citizens and businesses and doctors and hospitals immense amounts of money, result in better healthcare and greater productivity for all of us, and would free employees from staying in a crappy, abusive job out of fear of losing their insurance. People would no longer go bankrupt because of a single medical emergency, which happens to nearly 650,000 people each year, accounting for more than 60 percent of all personal bankruptcies. Our current system is a crime, and insurance companies are the criminals.
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Michelle DuBarry
@DuBarryPie
A Thread
In 2010, I had good union health insurance. Obamacare was the law of the land. In November that yr my 1yo son was struck by a careless driver in a crosswalk. After two surgeries and a night in intensive care, he died.
Before we knew the outcome, I sat at his bedside, his tiny stitched- together body hooked to a million incessantly beeping machines, straining to recall what our deductibles were. I worried I wouldn’t be able to keep working during what could be a long hospital stay.
I googled FMLA and learned I wouldn’t qualify b/c I hadn’t been at my job for a year. If I lost my job we would both be without insurance. Without my income, there was no way we could afford $1K/month COBRA.
๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต, ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ๐ป’๐ ๐๐ธ๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐๐๐จ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น.
My husband who was also injured in the crash, was refused treatment by his primary care doc b/c she didn’t accept payment from auto insurance and his health insurer wouldn’t pay til we exhausted our auto insurance.
Have you ever had to call around to find a doctor that can handle your specific insurance situation? Have you done it in the days after your toddler has died, when you haven’t even figured out a way to talk about it, when your husband is injured and urgently needs a Rx refill?
We ended up with around $5K in out-of-pocket expenses and our health insurer paid $175K. Eventually, we’d receive a settlement from the at-fault driver. For a minute, we thought we might be OK financially.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐ถ๐ป๐. ๐ฐ๐ผ. ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐บ๐ฏ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ $๐ญ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐. ๐ง๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐. ๐๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐, ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ – ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ $๐ฌ.
(Side Note: It took me 8 yrs but in 2019 I initiated and passed a bill making this practice illegal in OR. It remains legal in many states.)
Through all this, my husband and I both were suffering from PTSD. We had jobs, a mortgage. All of it hung in the balance. In a humane system, we could grieve without having to navigate an insurance juggernaut, without worrying about being thrust into debt and poverty.
Despite Obamacare and “good” union insurance, we were nearly bankrupted by a 27-hour hospital stay.
Every one of us lives in a body that is going to fail. Sometimes it happens suddenly, catastrophically. Do you want to fight with insurers when this happens? Do you want to sort through a mountain of bills when you lose someone you love, when your grief is raw?
There is no compromise on healthcare that doesn’t leave millions of people unacceptably vulnerable to corporations trying to profit from sick and injured people.
End of Thread
America’s economy is broken, designed to keep people in perpetual poverty to the benefit of the ultra-wealthy. Things must absolutely change. The only way that’s going to happen is if progressives are voted into office in numbers too great to swindle.
For the sake of your posterity’s future, vote Blue in every election at every level, from now until the heat death of the universe. Vote for progressive candidates who will work to build a world for everyone, with no one left out.
The Old Wolf has spoken.