Good morning! I was going to write about something completely different in my blog today than what I wrote instead. In a status update, one of my facebook friends complained about the possibility of universal health care, and hard working Americans being the one to foot the bill. I won’t repeat his exact words, but I felt I needed to respond. At first I thought of posting this on my friend’s wall, but I think there might be a limit on the number of characters you can use. I have included the text of the email between the asterisks below.
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I hope this email finds you and your family well. After reading one of your recent status updates, I felt compelled to write to you.
I have been a hardworking American as long as I can remember. It started in school, where I almost always had good grades, graduated 17th out of a class of 535, and even started working while I was in high school. As a college student, I took a full load of courses while working full-time at the bank as a teller. I lived on my own in an apartment. I didn’t make a lot of money, and had to pay for my education, but I was responsible. I was living on pot pies and the cheapest food I could find. I was never late with any bills.
When I moved out to California, I went back to school, and ended up working in the computer field, later on becoming a hard-working inside sales representative. In 2000, my husband and I were living the “American Dream.” We bought a big, beautiful, new house, had new cars, and I myself cleared over $ 80,000 in salary.
Unfortunately, the “American Dream” does not always go as planned. Shortly after in 2001, I was laid off due to restructuring. The company decided to have its inside sales group located in Texas. After being one of the top 3 inside sales reps for the company, and all of the effort I put into my work, all seemed to mean nothing.
I became ill a short time after with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Chronic fatigue, pain, muscle weakness, and brain fog are the short list of symptoms. In Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, chronic fatigue, pain, muscle weakness, dizziness, and brain fog are the short list of symptoms. My symptoms did not worsen until 2006, when I became unable to do most of the things I used to be able to.
I am very lucky to have a husband who works and receives decent health benefits. I did not apply for disability right away, because I could not believe I was really ill. “I’m not a disabled person!” is what I would think to myself. I just need to change my eating habits, add these supplements, and try acupuncture and a chiropractor. I really believed I would figure out how to get better myself, and then I would be able to work again.
Unfortunately, I did not know there was a time limit for applying for disability. I knew nothing about it. I thought if you worked your whole life, and became ill, that disability is there for you. What I didn’t know is that in order for me to be approved, I would’ve had to do it by December 2006. That is when I ran out of “credits.”
What would happen to me, if I decided to stay single my whole life, and this happened to me? How would I be able to afford medical benefits? I don’t know the answer to this question. After being a hard working American all of my life, I become ill, and then I can’t afford to take care of myself? Should I just be left to die if there is some medical emergency?
Being an eternal optimist, I still believe I will be completely well again someday. Over the past four years, I have improved a lot, and have a lot to be thankful for. I am aspiring to someday be able to work part time at a local bank or retail store. It may not seem like much of an aspiration. Someone asked me if I would be bored doing that kind of tedious labor. I know it’s hard for people to understand, but when you are unable to work for so long, if I were able to again, even at the simplest level, I would have so very much to be thankful for.
My hope for you is that you stay healthy, and able to continue being a hard-working American. I hope your family stays well, and that you continue to be fortunate and employed.
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Until tomorrow…
Linda
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Oops...not sure how I repeated myself there!
ReplyDeleteHi Linda, David here.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the department store or other retail location. Personally I can't handle the many chemical scents from perfumes to the formaldehyde used to treat 'wash and wear' fabrics (tires make me sick as a dog).
I have had CFS for nearly 30 years and been completely disabled for the past 6. I am very sorry to hear that you didn't qualify for Social Security because of the lack of quarter credits. (SSDI is insurance and such you have to have paid the premiums. But, did you have an attorney and did he appeal? Here is some info I copied from a source I have used in the past:
To be eligible for social security disability benefits, an individual must have worked and paid into the "system" sufficiently enough to have become insured for disability benefits. This is, in fact, why social security is referred to as social security disability insurance and also as DIB, or disability insurance benefits. And for an individual to actually draw social security disability benefits, they must either be covered (that is, have insured status) or, if their insured status has lapsed, it must be shown that their disability began prior to when their insured status lapsed (known as a DLI, or date last insured).
In other words, you can qualify if you can verify that your disability began before your insurance ended.)
Good luck with blogging regularly, I have tried but can do so only in spurts!
On the health care issue -- between the additional taxes on pharmaceutical companies (Section 9008 (b))) and the additional limits on physicians (Section 3003 (i)) I am very concerned about the future of treatments for illnesses like CFS.
The government will now direct more of the research funds, which I am sure means we will all have more medications directed at psychological treatment since the CDC and the government are convinced that is what this illness is about. They will also be making additional recommendations and reviewing treatments doctors prescribe to assure they are within cost and use requirements, limiting off brand usage for some treatments since there are no on brand CFS treatments.
Physicians with many high cost patients will run the risk of being penalized up to 10% of their normal fee as a means to force down the cost of health care, what????? The guy who helps the sickest can get paid the least? That is insane if you want to improve health care, but this is about improving the government.
Also, be very grateful your husband has good health coverage. I have Medicare and now will no longer have Medicare Advantage which is the only plan that covered my specialist because he is in a different region. To get the same coverage for him I will have to pay $310 each month from my meager Social Security for a Medsup plan, just because a specialist does not live in my area (and I am under 65). I will be forced to sell my home or change doctors as I cannot afford to pay the doctor out of pocket.
This bill really impacts those of us with chronic undefined illnesses that managed to do the right thing.
Anyway, hope this helps and if you can appeal good luck! Don't over do it blogging -- my spelling and grammar scare me sometimes and it has stopped me from blogging in the past because a post that can take hours to write can look like it was written by a ten year rather then a high scoring college grad (this reply took over an hour, bad day today!).
Again, good luck,
David
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading, your ideas, information and support. After an in depth conversation with an attorney's office, I was told I would not win an appeal. I'm hoping if someday I am well enough, I can get some kind of employment, and start paying into Social Security again. I did not know about the changes in health care and the bill you spoke about. It is hard enough for us to get through the day to day survival without having all of these concerns about whether or not we will be able to afford our coverage, and be able to keep seeing the same doctors. I am sorry to hear about the difficulty this causes you. I'm glad you are still online, even if you don't blog anymore. My blogs have been taking me a little over an hour to write and post. I figure if I make mistakes in it, I have a sympathetic audience!