What do sick people who can't afford health insurance and can't afford to go to the doctor and don't qualify for government aid do? How do they have tests run? How do they get prescription drugs? Seriously, what do they do? Anybody?
it seems like - from what I've been learning online, anyway - they let things go until they either get better or bad enough that they have no choice but to do something.
They go without check ups, they go without care until they are to sick. Then they go into emergency rooms where they can't be denied. The bill is then double or triple what they might have been able to afford. Most are given some samples and that is how they get their meds. Others give up food or transportation costs to get meds. They are left with a huge bill they can't pay which marks their credit and the circle continues when they are not better or the illness or infection comes back.
Seen this story so many times and it's sad. Healthcare is a need, not a want.
What do you do when you can't even afford a doctor visit? Let alone the tests you know that they are going to have to run? I mean... There has got to be something, right?
Some states have what are called free clinics. If you are in this situation you sould try and find out where one is if you have one. If there isn't one you should go to a hospital, and try to explain your situation to find out what options are open to you. Good luck.
In my town there is a "free clinic", where you can pay small amounts to get tests done etc. The city has also held back to school health fairs, where all kids on Medicaid or uninsured could go to get their shots and health checks, which are required to attend school in Flordia. You should see the turn out. I would say at 10 a.m. when the doors opened there was about 150 parents and children in line (in the Florida sun), three hours later there was at least 500 people there, and this is not the only fair that has been held in our county.
This is a discussion that all Canadians should pay attention to. We are letting our health care system be something we take for granted. We need to be reminded that without it, many people suffer. Even now in Canada, some things I would consider essential are not necessarily covered by our universal health care, although personally I am happy with how my family has been treated. I'm just glad (touch wood) that nobody has a serious chronic disease.
We do nothing is what we do. We try natural medicines, and try to stay healthy. I fell down back in march and probably put a hair line fracture in my leg, but couldn't afford to see a doctor. My boyfriend has diabetes, and he cannot get his testing supplies nor medicine. It is really tough for me every day at work seeing these skanky, dirty, low life, welfare recipients getting all their medicine and doctors visits paid for, while working people and seniors get crapped on by the system. I'm a tad bit bitter. Not that I think all people on welfare don't need it, i just have an immense loathing for those that could work, but would rather stay on welfare and get a hand out and sell their pills to get high
Honestly Heather, I don't know...they pray and they hope....
The reality is (as was obvious at the health fair) that a lot of people in South Florida do not have health insurance, and for that there are many reasons. I know my husband's aunt, who work for Walmart full time, has a very difficult time affording health insurance for herself and her youngest daughter.
I seriously hope that they will change the way that health insurance works in the very near future, but I know that it is going to take a lot more than intelligence and hard work. There are so many powers behind the current health care/health insurance, so many lobbiest etc..... and so much money going down the wrong pockets.
I have no bills I can cut... I can't figure out how to make more money (I have been trying to get a waitressing job at night without luck)
The prescriptions I am supposed to take now but can't afford to are about $250 a month and now I have a symptom that is causing me pain and seriously worrying me.
My medications alone cost over 900.00 monthly. The local specialist visit is 200 every 60 days, and every 6 months Lahey clinic is in excess of 5,000.00.
I went to the Walmart web site and copied out a list of all of their $4.00 generic medicines and I took it to my sister's doctor. I told the doctor that my sister doesn't have insurance and could she please write her prescriptions from the meds on this list. And she did it! I pay for my sister's medications and it really saved me a lot of money.
Your doctor might be able to change over some of your medicine. It's worth a try. And K-mart pharmacies will match most generics on the Walamrt list.
One of my friend went to acupuncturist, he said it's not cheap but still lower than going to the doctor.
I also read that you can call the health provider and the medicine manufacture, tell them your story, and hopefully they will understand and lower the cost.
Some people managed to get the medication from Canada (lower prices).
Lera, I haven't been to the doctor in a while and can't afford to. Thanks for the help but only one of my medications can be filled out from that list. I have tried switching one of my meds to a cheaper similar one with less than spectacular results.
I hope someone who reads this will get help with it though!
My mom had no insurance and had to go to one of those free clinics. The doctor there didn't prescribe the tests she needed to get diagnosed. In fact he accused her of just wanting a vacation when she was in the hospital the second time from fainting spells.
She got on Medicare when she turned 65 and could pay her medical bills. Then and only then did they find her advanced stage of colon cancer. She died 14 months later.
I think Sara summed it up. Since my divorce 3 years ago, I no longer have my ex's great health insurance and had to get a crappy individual policy for which I pay WAY too much for inadequate coverage. So, what do I do? I forego the doctor until/unless I am unbearaby sick...at which point it takes me 3x as long to get well again so I end up out of work longer than planned (and longer than affordable). It's a terrible vicious downwars spiral. Decent health insurance is too expensive to afford, but without it we're screwed...so it's a lose-lose until our government gets their head out of their hoo-haa and provides some decent healthcare options!
I'm so grateful we have health insurance plus Medicare....If we didn't my husband and I both,would be dead.He's a cancer patient and I am a heart patient. He's taking chemo treatments,and I'm due for another defribulator( $28,000.00 for the device alone)
If you are truly sick and not just running to the doctor over every silly little thing, then you NEED to see a doctor. Somehow. Some way. Don't put it off too long!
You know... If these things weren't so expensive we wouldn't need health insurance! Isn't there a way to sell an MRI machine for less than a millions dollars? It's just a machine and some computers, gosh.
Boy did you open up a can of worms! I'll tell you what they do. THEY LEARN THE HARD WAY NOT TO TRUST ANYONE. Sign on the door says "WE TURN NO ONE AWAY" No of course not because when they are done treating you for what you couldn't afford to get they send you the bill and when you try to make arrangements for what you can't afford and have NO money to pay they threaten to take you to court. If you have property such as a home they can get a judgement and put a lean on your house and harass you till the day you die or pay up. You remortgage your home to pay them off and stop the harassment and then you give your family "NEXT TIME I GET SICK WAIT TILL I'M DEAD AND CALL THE CORINOR OR BETTER YET JUST GO OUT BACK AND DIG A HOLE AND THROW ME IN".
The drug companies do have programs and you can find them online very easily. If you qualify you can get the drugs for free or nearly free. BUT most physicians want you to do blood work every 3 or 6 months and these test can add up to hundreds you don't have and I have yet to find a FREE source for them unless you live in a county that has a FREE CLINIC (mine doesn't). I do understand the need for these test but let's face it, you're going to die one way or the other and I sure don't intend to become homeless after 40 yrs of hard work to hang on to the roof over my head because SOMEONE want to charge me to take my blood.
As for state programs, UNLESS YOU HAVE CHILDREN UNDER 18 you are SOL till you turn 65 and there are some that would like to raise the bar on that age. Government supported programs SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE to those that need them. I have several English friends that say their system is better than none and those that can afford to pay for private care still do if they don't like what is available to them in the government system.
May sound insane but it is the best reason for joining the military as affordable medical care is a lifetime benefit for ALL HONORABLY discharded Veterans. My husband did and goes to the VA hospital and gets great care. I wanted to but was prohibited by my parents at the time so I get nothing, STBM till I turn 65.
Heather, I know you say you have contacted many doctor's offices, but what about hospitals. It is just a thought. When I was in college, I became pregnant and the college health insurance only covered about 500$ (The whole pregnancy/birth ended up costing about $21000), and I went to a clinic at one of the Catholic hospitals. I told them how it was, I showed them my policy and they ended up giving me something called charity aid (or something in that category). It really saved me, and my now husband, and I got the best treatment throughout the pregnancy. I know that I was pregnant, but it is worth a shot. Go, talk to them, maybe you can make some kind of arrangement, I have heard about this elsewhere.
We are currently in a no-health insurance spot, as my husband's job don't pay insurance. I have gotten a private emergency insurance (it cost about 200$ a month), and I don't know how long we can afford this....but we will have to, until my husband finds a job with health insurance.
I really wish you the best..... and I wish I could be of better help.
Carolyn, my county doesn't have a free clinic either. If I lived two miles west, I would be in a county that would. I don't own a house or anything, I can't afford to (see prior comment... I am what I consider poor, but not according to the state). EVERY SINGLE TIME I have had blood drawn, the test was over $100 dollars. I am not well, the military would never let me in!
I don't know what to say. But I do want you to know I heard every word. It is not right. There should be some help some how. I hope your circumstances change. I am sorry.
You wait until free services comes along and you hope when the free test come around, you pass with flying colors. You hope you never get sick. My son needs to have his regular heart checkup done and he dont have five thousand dollars up front to go and see his regular doctor he has been seeing for three years, but now that his over eighteen, he has to pay cash.
Heather, this discussion has certainly been moving. I hope your personal situation has a solution that works for you. I wrote a short article just now giving a brief look at how Canadian health care works (too long to highjack your thread for it). Prescription medicines are still a burden for a lot of people, as they are not always fully covered by our universal health care. Good luck to you & all who are in the same boat as you.
♪☺isn'tit interesting? supposedly only 40 million people don't have health insurance, but in reality I would guess there are another 100 million more that are under insured.
Those 100 million are not the people making $100,000+ a year (i.e. those who could afford it). It's the people choosing between beans & rice and checking on the lump in their breast.
I have mediocre health insurance (hate to complain after hearing about those that have none), but it doesn't include dental. I can afford general things, but I worry about the big ticket item.
I know what a lot of people do, when then need medical attention, they go to the Emergency room. They have to take you there, regardless if you can pay. Unfortunately they don't provide you with meds.
Have you called social services to see if there are nay programs to help you in your state?
If you have a little bit of money but not enough to afford health insurance things can get pretty ugly.
You hope you don't get sick, and if you do start feeling a little under the weather you or have some scary symptoms you hope it/they will go away and you won't start feeling worse. If you do start feeling worse you try to treat the symptoms with over the counter meds. The next step if you are fortunate enough to have a doctor you can call and can afford the price of an office visit, you call the doctor and try to make an appointment. Of course, if you are already a patient you may not be able to get an appointment, so you go through the yellow pages to find the nearest doctor that will see you and hope that doctor will forget the expensive test and just give you sample meds to treat the most likely cause of your symptoms or at least try the least expensive meds for treating your probable illness.
If you finally are getting to the age where you will be eligible for Medicare and can afford the Medicare premiums you start looking forward to your 65th birthday and hope you can find a doctor who treats Medicare patients who don't have supplemental insurance, and you still keep hoping you don't get to the point of needing hospitalization before your health deteriorates to point that you are going die anyway.
I live in Michigan, in the Flint area. There is a system here of free clinics for treatment of illness or injuries. You have to go and wait in line hours for your turn to see the volunteer doctor and they usually give you samples for your medicine. There are very low cost and free government shot clinics for kids to get their shots at a low cost or free. No one is turned away for lack of ability to pay. Several chain stores here give 200 generic drugs for $4 per monthly prescription. The Meijer store gives the most common antibiotics (generic form if available) free. It doesn't matter how high or low your income is, the antibiotics are free. My 39 year old daughter is disabled but works in a sheltered workshop. Her disability income and wages together come to a little over $1000 a month usually, and she gets Medicare and Medicaid. When she has co-pays, they are usually about $1. She is allowed to have $4000 in the bank without losing her Medicaid, which covers what Medicare doesn't. A young adult man who lived with us for awhile didn't have an income and he needed all 4 of his wisdom teeth pulled because they were causing him a lot of pain. I took him to the clinic where you pay according to your income. They covered the entire cost of having his wisdom teeth pulled. He only had to wait a few days to get the oral surgery done. If you are seriously ill or injured, the city hospital has to give you care whether you can pay or not. Of course, they do try to collect the money later and will ask you to sign up for Medicaid if you qualify for it. If you can't pay, it will effect your credit but if it saves your life, that's the most important thing.
How truly sad and pathetic is it that we live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and we can't even provide free, basic medical care for our poor! We truly are a nation of sick, and sadistic self centered folks! As Janet just pointed out, oral surgery could be a life saving medical procedure required by a person with no money! We truly have become a third world country here, and it grows every day with our sick leadership we have in Washington! The trillions we are spending in Iraq for nothing would sure have cured many ills for our suffering at home, and even injected needed monies into struggling businesses here! The Federal Government cares about nothing at home...they are on a globalization project that will make most Americans ultra poor in the coming decades...We have become a sick project in how big business destroys a country through complete control of it's government, and they have suceeded in destroying the USA! Better start learning our new language..Como Esta?
We live in a nation of hypocrits! The religous right supports neocons because they claim to be right to lifers, but in reality, they don't really care. They use it for election only. True neocons know we have too many folks on the planet already, and are the first to agree to wars or toxins, or anything that will reduce world population. Why do you think we have never made one step towards industrializing Africa in any way, and rarely intervene in any mass killings there? It is because our leaders already know that the planet can not sustain more than maybe 600 million in the long run.
It would not surprise me if we found out that we actually created AIDS. There have been several credible stories about this. I'm not a doctor, but to have a mutated virus that has no known cure simply pop up out of nowhere seems to be quite bizarre. Nothing like this has happened in recorded history until we had the ability to create it in the lab!
Sure, we had small pox, and plague, but we knew their background. Sure, we have mutated viruses that are becoming harder to treat with known antibiotics, but none like AIDS. I don't accept that it came from monkeys! I think AIDs is an engineered virus produced in an American lab...with the idea of global population reduction...No virus has ever lept so far forward of what conventional treatment can fix!
What people without insurance coverage do is what I do...go without. You get sick and go without a doctor, medication or treatment...and you keep getting worse until you start to die. When worse comes to worse, you go to an emergency room and get substandard treatment...just enough to stabalize you so you can go back home and try to exist without help and you keep getting worse and continue to die. Thanx America! Such a great country that cares about the health of their people so well.
Sorry I am a bit late to the conversation...does your state have a program for those with low income that don't qualify for medicaid? Our state has a Health Access program through certain hospitals for free care. If not, talk to your hospitals patient care advocate or billing manager and see if there are any other aid programs you qualify for. If not, you may want to try to find a larger teaching hospital as those are generally more helpful when it comes to care. Good luck, and I hope all of us are planning on voting, we need universal coverage for everyone!
Heather, try this link. http://www.sitemason.com/files/jk5f2M/Free%20medicine71505.pdf
I talked to a friend that went through something similar, she said they paid her prescriptions. Takes about a week to be approved if you call them.
There is a site that will pay medical bills one time to get you caught up. Let me know if you need that link. I'll get it from her.
Another thing, call the doctor that gave you the prescription and tell him, you can't afford this and need another option. Ask for samples. Most doctors get samples from drug companies they are to give to patients but don't because then they don't fill their prescriptions. So ask for those.
They do without!They suffer!They go to the doctor and get sent home without test.They do without food and other needs to buy medicines.They save up enough for a doctor visit only to be shunned quickly out the door.They have to demand to be treated at the emergency rooms when they are trying to send them home from there with 2 or 3 pills and a doctors appointment.And who wants to have to go through all of that especially when you are so sick and can barely make it there to begin with?I have seen it happen alot.
Janet, the way that the free clinics usually work is that you hve to live in the county, I'm trying to figure out how your friend was able to get Medicaid making about as much as I do...
Gree, no they don't... They assume that people who make above the poverty level are able to do just fine!
Thanx Sara, will look into it and give it a try! Great advice!
Heather, i will only say that I paid for health insurance when I could, and made sure it was good insuracne, I was willing to pay the extra 30.-- a month. i saved as much money as i could through life, and now, without insurance, no income from any source, well if you count gather, then there is my income, and i still pay a housing bill, utlities, and medical expenses. i do it, i am responsible for me, and my expenses. i do not look to get help.
We used to have the Charity healthcare system here, but it was destroyed by Katrina. The private hospitals are having quite a time absorbing the expense the state was paying for!
I have been lucky so far as to not have ever been w/o medical coverage. But now my oldest son is 21 and has no job or medical coverage. I wory about him becming ill or having an injury and what we'd do. I guess the payment plans would have to go into effect.
Knowing you and your situation Heather breaks my heart. Not having any answers for you is frustrating, to say the least. I hope and pray you will find some kind of answer here.
Well... I was a single mom with a young teen. Had a work injury (knee) and had not yet been diagnosed with fibro. My doc would charge me less when I made an appointment with his physicians assistant and he gave me sample meds. When the worker's comp folks decided I had reached "maximum medical improvement", they cut off the worker's comp pay. I couldn't work. Only income was my son's Social Security (his dad was was 23 years older than me and on SS, so when my income disappeared, at least there was that). At that point, I had to go to the county for medical assistance. For routine visits, the only thing available was an online doc. Seriously, you had to stand in front of a web cam and show the doc your problem. "Say ahhhhhhhh." For more serious things, our county had a contract with another county 45 miles away. That's where you were supposed to go in an emegency. There were churches who would help with gas money to help people get to that county's clinic. First time I went there, I was turned away even though I had proof of coverage. The receptionist said that because my clothes were ironed I didn't look poor enough to be there.
My health insurance disappeared a few months after my DH died since it had been from his job. I have done without prescriptions and can feel the effects on my health. I have resorted to home remedies to my harm. I have refused transport to the ER when my leg was literally spurting blood because I couldn't face the unaffordable expense of the ambulance followed by ER "care". I simply tied off my leg with an old rag until the bleeding stopped.
I once thought my health insurance, including visual, dental and Rx, was peranent since I never expected my DH to die so young. Even then, though, I knew it was criminal of our country not to have health care for all. Now I am experiencing the crime first hand. It is likely that the government's lack of concern for my well-being will kill me, and those who have fought national health care will never be indicted for murder.
I once lived in Spain and enjoyed the health care system there. It is wonderful. I had British friends there who believed the UK system was better still. And I have heard even better things about the Scandinavian systems.
We *MUST* follow suit here and join the civilized nations that have national health care for all citizens. Not illegals. Citizens.
Our country has the best medical system money can buy, for those who have money. It's survival of the financial fittest. Everyone else, sorry, get in line for the scraps. There are some good people out there serving those in need, just few and far between. Oh, and our legislators have voted themselves complete health care coverage and they get great pensions. It's a great racket. We need to make more of a fuss. Look for ways online to e-mail your legislators about your experience and needs.
That said, my family has independent coverage through Premera Blue Cross. A policy with catastrophic coverage and no prescription benefits. Our costs just went up $80 a month. Looks like we'll be paying a bundle for my Teenage Testosterone Twin's two visits to the emergency room in July.
If you sneak in across the border from another country, you can get your health care for free! Sorry but if you belong in the country, you have to pay.
I have to pay almost 500 a month for medical insurance--just for me because I have health issues. I would suggest finding a job that offers medical benfits so that you only have to pay a fraction of the premium. You can also negotiate prices with doctors you know, their prices aren't set in stone. Insurance companies pay less for the same procedures that you would pay personally.
Dorine, you should be coverd under Cobra for a certain length of time! You have to pay the premiums but you should still have access to the plan your DH had through his work.
People who are still working take note. Open a medical savings account even if you have to give up some things, like beer, cigarettes, junk food, candy etc. You don't need a new car if you can fix the one you have, you don't have to keep up with the Joneses, If the small TV you have works don't replace it, you don't need vidio games, you don't need a cell phone. You do need a medical savings account and/or health insurance.
I have insurance, but can't afford to use it. My mom is nice enough to pay the monthly bill, but I still can't afford to go to the doctor or get the happy pills that I need.
There is no cutting down on anything. I don't smoke, drink or anything, I just don't have enough coming in. And without the happy pills, it makes it hard to get out and make any money.
We were without insurance for a while several years back. My husband suffered symptoms of a heart attack. Luckily, he didn't have one but was kept overnight in the hospital. It took us five years to pay it off. The worst part was that the cardiologist refused to make a follow-up appointment, even when I promised to pay in advance on my credit card.
My family doctor was great. When he learned of our problem, he gave us samples for months. Gwen, you really should look into some of the pharmaceutical prescription programs.
I know that the federal government has to take control. At the moment it is a state thing and in MI under 65 with no children there is nothing. I was told that the free clinics in Flint will take you from out of county but you have to get on a list and wait, maybe for ever. In Macomb county Mt. Clemens General has a traveling medical "bus". According to my brother you have to be in the parking lot where ever it is scheduled that week at 5AM. You get a number then full out some forms and show your id and if you bring proof of income and if you qualify EVERYTHING will be FREE. If they refer you to the hospital for treatment it is FREE. They give you scripts and if you take them to the hospital pharmacy it is FREE. The key is to find out from someone who knows where the "bus" wil be next.
As for Lapeer county where I live McClaren has PUBLICALLY stated that they WILL NO LONGER TREAT THOSE WHO CANNOT PAY!
We had a friend who lives in Canada and is diabetic. I remember him saying that when he turned 65 his health care would not be as good but can't remember why. But he did say that "anything is better than NOTHING".
there are some insurance companies that offer just health insurance,i have never checked into them, but that's an option. Or if you go to college, some schools have free Dr's available to students.
Thank all of you for your comments, rants, suggestions, and stories.
Randy, it's not like I have been wasteful all my life and didn't bother to save any money... I am only 27 and have never really had any money.
I have tried to get myself some insurance before, when I was making a little more money, but with my preexisting conditions the premium for really crappy, crazy high deductible, insane copay insurance, no dental, no vision, no prescription coverage was $400 dollars for just me. How crazy is that? It's almost half of my gross wages a month!
There are several answers to this question. First, there are the willfully uninsured because it costs too much and they take the risk of health. They usually get by, if they get sick, they apply for medicaid or pay off the loan or get bankrupted by the illness.Second are the chronically ill, who become uninsured and cannot afford their meds, they make tough choices and usually die younger than they need to. Third are the children, who suffer the most, as they are denied preventive care and routine healthcare maintenance. I believe our current occupant of the white house recently cut their aid as part of his compassion. Finally, the illegal aliens. We all pay for them, as they have no address and no insurance, so there is nowhere to go to collect. Sadly, the canadian model would be a disaster for these folks, as they use resources and do not pay for them, thereby taking them away from our own citizens. Likely the answer to everything is mandatory insurance for children, mandatory insurance if you want to drive (ever seen how many people can afford car insurance but don't want to pay for health insurance?), a tight immigration policy, along the lines of what has been proposed- no green card, no job and a fine for any employer who employs them- maybe make the employer pay for the hospital visits. We are used to unfettered access, rationing by availability of insurance. Canadians are rationed, and our legal system would have a field day with anything that denied care, unless tort reform for medicine is included. BTW, I am a Dr who works in underserved areas.
One addendum to my comment, this is a complex problem, it will not be solved by simple fixes, simple fixes are for simple problem. Single payer is not a panacea, we will likely need a hybrid of mandated base coverage (major med) with a large deductible- say 25000, tie that to cars, kids, other essential things we can track and monitor. Then mandate no insurance company can deny coverage and allow people to buy secondary coverage that they want and can afford. You need to regulate the insurers by taking away their ability to have a noncompetitive market (a monopoly) and make them really accept risk. The major med insurance would insure the insurers against catastrophic loss, the secondary insurance would insure the individual to the level of risk they are will to accept.
we don't have health insurance. even when we're sick, we don't go. if it is a MUST, then we pay cash. it is awful. this system in our country is ridiculous. we keep getting turned down for insurance, bc my husband and i are too sick. we were offered to pay $2k a month and that covered $15 of office visits. that's IT! please.
Not everybody who is uninsured is willfully so. They refuse to insure people with certain chronic ailments. Some people would be unabe to pay rent and plain, basic groceries if they paid health insurance--and they do not own a car; they depend on public transportation. The US system is **horrible**. We *must* get national health care. Tis is ***not*** the best system in the world. Sure, people come here for certain treatments. But our citizens also go to South Africa and India for certan treatments.
Heather, It is hard, I agree. But there are options. For instance, our local CVS pharmacy now has a walk-in clinic where they offer low-cost shots and other services for FAR LESS than the emergency room or the other clinics which used to be the only other option. They can prescirbe meds or low-cost over the counter drugs and often stop a problem from getting worse or more costly. This isn't going to be the solution for SERIOUS problems but it has sure helped us in a pinch, even though we do have insurance. It saves GAS money if nothing else, since it is a short distance away and is open at convenient hours.
Other options? Find a doctor who IS willing to work with you, try less expensive treatments and is sympathetic. They DO exist. In one instance, I did a doc's newsletter for free medical care. It didn't take that much time. Other people I know have sent out bills for small practices or done their books. Some have even babysat for their docs! Think outside the box, can't hurt. And, of course, if you have a serious problem, you could do what one person we know did - asked friends to donate blood and give the money to her. At $60 a donation, those bucks added up.
I grew up with no health insurance. We had no checkups and only went to the doctor when it was vital. My parents didn't get insurance through my dad's job and we didn't make enough to get it on our own. It's a very scary existance.
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It seems to me to be a very scary way to live :(
Seen this story so many times and it's sad. Healthcare is a need, not a want.
It is really tough for me every day at work seeing these skanky, dirty, low life, welfare recipients getting all their medicine and doctors visits paid for, while working people and seniors get crapped on by the system.
I'm a tad bit bitter.
Not that I think all people on welfare don't need it, i just have an immense loathing for those that could work, but would rather stay on welfare and get a hand out and sell their pills to get high
The reality is (as was obvious at the health fair) that a lot of people in South Florida do not have health insurance, and for that there are many reasons. I know my husband's aunt, who work for Walmart full time, has a very difficult time affording health insurance for herself and her youngest daughter.
Have you tried claiming hardship? Some clinics will take on no pay hardship cases. You need to ask for the billing department and go from there.
The prescriptions I am supposed to take now but can't afford to are about $250 a month and now I have a symptom that is causing me pain and seriously worrying me.
Do you belong to a church that would help you?
What I am making right now is too much for state help. In Michigan, you have to gross less than $790 a month for medicaid.
I feel your pain Heather.
Your doctor might be able to change over some of your medicine. It's worth a try. And K-mart pharmacies will match most generics on the Walamrt list.
I also read that you can call the health provider and the medicine manufacture, tell them your story, and hopefully they will understand and lower the cost.
Some people managed to get the medication from Canada (lower prices).
I hope someone who reads this will get help with it though!
She got on Medicare when she turned 65 and could pay her medical bills. Then and only then did they find her advanced stage of colon cancer. She died 14 months later.
Since my divorce 3 years ago, I no longer have my ex's great health insurance and had to get a crappy individual policy for which I pay WAY too much for inadequate coverage. So, what do I do? I forego the doctor until/unless I am unbearaby sick...at which point it takes me 3x as long to get well again so I end up out of work longer than planned (and longer than affordable). It's a terrible vicious downwars spiral. Decent health insurance is too expensive to afford, but without it we're screwed...so it's a lose-lose until our government gets their head out of their hoo-haa and provides some decent healthcare options!
He's taking chemo treatments,and I'm due for another defribulator( $28,000.00 for the device alone)
The drug companies do have programs and you can find them online very easily. If you qualify you can get the drugs for free or nearly free. BUT most physicians want you to do blood work every 3 or 6 months and these test can add up to hundreds you don't have and I have yet to find a FREE source for them unless you live in a county that has a FREE CLINIC (mine doesn't). I do understand the need for these test but let's face it, you're going to die one way or the other and I sure don't intend to become homeless after 40 yrs of hard work to hang on to the roof over my head because SOMEONE want to charge me to take my blood.
As for state programs, UNLESS YOU HAVE CHILDREN UNDER 18 you are SOL till you turn 65 and there are some that would like to raise the bar on that age. Government supported programs SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE to those that need them. I have several English friends that say their system is better than none and those that can afford to pay for private care still do if they don't like what is available to them in the government system.
May sound insane but it is the best reason for joining the military as affordable medical care is a lifetime benefit for ALL HONORABLY discharded Veterans. My husband did and goes to the VA hospital and gets great care. I wanted to but was prohibited by my parents at the time so I get nothing, STBM till I turn 65.
We are currently in a no-health insurance spot, as my husband's job don't pay insurance. I have gotten a private emergency insurance (it cost about 200$ a month), and I don't know how long we can afford this....but we will have to, until my husband finds a job with health insurance.
I really wish you the best..... and I wish I could be of better help.
I am so sick of being sick
Those 100 million are not the people making $100,000+ a year (i.e. those who could afford it). It's the people choosing between beans & rice and checking on the lump in their breast.
I have mediocre health insurance (hate to complain after hearing about those that have none), but it doesn't include dental. I can afford general things, but I worry about the big ticket item.
I know what a lot of people do, when then need medical attention, they go to the Emergency room. They have to take you there, regardless if you can pay. Unfortunately they don't provide you with meds.
Have you called social services to see if there are nay programs to help you in your state?
You hope you don't get sick, and if you do start feeling a little under the weather you or have some scary symptoms you hope it/they will go away and you won't start feeling worse. If you do start feeling worse you try to treat the symptoms with over the counter meds. The next step if you are fortunate enough to have a doctor you can call and can afford the price of an office visit, you call the doctor and try to make an appointment. Of course, if you are already a patient you may not be able to get an appointment, so you go through the yellow pages to find the nearest doctor that will see you and hope that doctor will forget the expensive test and just give you sample meds to treat the most likely cause of your symptoms or at least try the least expensive meds for treating your probable illness.
If you finally are getting to the age where you will be eligible for Medicare and can afford the Medicare premiums you start looking forward to your 65th birthday and hope you can find a doctor who treats Medicare patients who don't have supplemental insurance, and you still keep hoping you don't get to the point of needing hospitalization before your health deteriorates to point that you are going die anyway.
It would not surprise me if we found out that we actually created AIDS. There have been several credible stories about this. I'm not a doctor, but to have a mutated virus that has no known cure simply pop up out of nowhere seems to be quite bizarre. Nothing like this has happened in recorded history until we had the ability to create it in the lab!
Sure, we had small pox, and plague, but we knew their background. Sure, we have mutated viruses that are becoming harder to treat with known antibiotics, but none like AIDS. I don't accept that it came from monkeys! I think AIDs is an engineered virus produced in an American lab...with the idea of global population reduction...No virus has ever lept so far forward of what conventional treatment can fix!
http://www.sitemason.com/files/jk5f2M/Free%20medicine71505.pdf
I talked to a friend that went through something similar, she said they paid her prescriptions. Takes about a week to be approved if you call them.
There is a site that will pay medical bills one time to get you caught up. Let me know if you need that link. I'll get it from her.
Another thing, call the doctor that gave you the prescription and tell him, you can't afford this and need another option. Ask for samples. Most doctors get samples from drug companies they are to give to patients but don't because then they don't fill their prescriptions. So ask for those.
Gree, no they don't... They assume that people who make above the poverty level are able to do just fine!
Thanx Sara, will look into it and give it a try! Great advice!
GOOD IDEAS
Nice to rant and rave with others who understand
Thank you all for your wonderful advice!
But I've been so miserable for so long...
And now I have something else wrong for the past two months that could be something really really bad...
I once thought my health insurance, including visual, dental and Rx, was peranent since I never expected my DH to die so young. Even then, though, I knew it was criminal of our country not to have health care for all. Now I am experiencing the crime first hand. It is likely that the government's lack of concern for my well-being will kill me, and those who have fought national health care will never be indicted for murder.
I once lived in Spain and enjoyed the health care system there. It is wonderful. I had British friends there who believed the UK system was better still. And I have heard even better things about the Scandinavian systems.
We *MUST* follow suit here and join the civilized nations that have national health care for all citizens. Not illegals. Citizens.
That said, my family has independent coverage through Premera Blue Cross. A policy with catastrophic coverage and no prescription benefits. Our costs just went up $80 a month. Looks like we'll be paying a bundle for my Teenage Testosterone Twin's two visits to the emergency room in July.
Right on!!! Health care shouldn't be limited to the rich. I am fortunate to be Canadian!!
I have to pay almost 500 a month for medical insurance--just for me because I have health issues. I would suggest finding a job that offers medical benfits so that you only have to pay a fraction of the premium. You can also negotiate prices with doctors you know, their prices aren't set in stone. Insurance companies pay less for the same procedures that you would pay personally.
There is no cutting down on anything. I don't smoke, drink or anything, I just don't have enough coming in. And without the happy pills, it makes it hard to get out and make any money.
We were without insurance for a while several years back. My husband suffered symptoms of a heart attack. Luckily, he didn't have one but was kept overnight in the hospital. It took us five years to pay it off. The worst part was that the cardiologist refused to make a follow-up appointment, even when I promised to pay in advance on my credit card.
My family doctor was great. When he learned of our problem, he gave us samples for months. Gwen, you really should look into some of the pharmaceutical prescription programs.
As for Lapeer county where I live McClaren has PUBLICALLY stated that they WILL NO LONGER TREAT THOSE WHO CANNOT PAY!
We had a friend who lives in Canada and is diabetic. I remember him saying that when he turned 65 his health care would not be as good but can't remember why. But he did say that "anything is better than NOTHING".
Randy, it's not like I have been wasteful all my life and didn't bother to save any money... I am only 27 and have never really had any money.
I have tried to get myself some insurance before, when I was making a little more money, but with my preexisting conditions the premium for really crappy, crazy high deductible, insane copay insurance, no dental, no vision, no prescription coverage was $400 dollars for just me. How crazy is that? It's almost half of my gross wages a month!
It is hard, I agree. But there are options. For instance, our local CVS pharmacy now has a walk-in clinic where they offer low-cost shots and other services for FAR LESS than the emergency room or the other clinics which used to be the only other option. They can prescirbe meds or low-cost over the counter drugs and often stop a problem from getting worse or more costly.
This isn't going to be the solution for SERIOUS problems but it has sure helped us in a pinch, even though we do have insurance. It saves GAS money if nothing else, since it is a short distance away and is open at convenient hours.
And, of course, if you have a serious problem, you could do what one person we know did - asked friends to donate blood and give the money to her. At $60 a donation, those bucks added up.