In a word YES. It seems to me that there are many individuals in this country who feel that a person should only have health care if they deserve it. The idea of this is ridiculous and selfish. It seems to me yet again I have run into another human being that has been fortunate enough in their lives to have worked hard and prospered well and has now decided that only the people that live like they do and make similar decisions about their lives should have health care.
This attitude that only the better few should have health care in this country is quite frightening to me. Who is anyone to tell me that because I chose a profession that I would have to supply my own retirement and my own health care I am not entitled to expect health care because it was not employer provided? The fact that I work hard every day does not matter at all? Here is my beef with this attitude.
The first problem with this is that people in my generation were raised to work hard and you will be rewarded for it. If you went to work for a company as simple as McDonald's you were told urban legends of people who climbed the way up the ranks of order taker to store manager to corporate management because they just applied themselves. This was at the time relatively believable. To this day Walmart still feeds this crap to their employees at the same time they prevent these poor souls from unionizing. This theory was doomed from the get go. These companies supply access to health care. It costs so much to the average worker that they could never aquire coverage. This allows the company to look like they care for their employees but really it is just smoke and mirrors.
The second problem I have with this attitude is that there are more careers today that don't provide health care. With the current recession turning into a depression faster than anyone can blink plus the cost of health care spiraling out of control, most companies are choosing to not provide quality health care to their employees, if not at all. Back in the day you could go into a profession that did not provide health care because you could afford to pay for it your self. This is nearly impossible for the majority of individuals in the position I find myself in. I am forced out of my industry and back to school to get a degree in hopes that there will be a company generous enough to provide some kind of coverage for me when I work for them.
WAKE UP! The cost of health care is killing our country. It is completely ignorant that we have people in this country who have to file for bankruptcy because of medical bills. It is completely ignorant to have children wandering around without health care coverage. It is completely ignorant to expect people to cut your hair, clean your house, do your dry cleaning, serve you at a restaurant, work in the back offices of doctors, mow your lawn, build your house, fix your car, install your cable and pick up your trash without health coverage. Further more if this was not an expense for companies they could use this money to invest in their company to produce more jobs.
Everyone is in a stink about whether the Big 3 should get bailed out of this mess they are in. While I don't think that they should and firmly believe that the reason they are in this mess is a combination of the unions pushing to hard and the management caving into something they knew that the company could not afford I do think that we may not be having this conversation if there was national health care in this country. This is an extensive expense that no one will be able to sustain for much longer. If health care is not reformed in this country there will be many more companies that will fail. They may not make the news that the Big 3 has created but the jobs will be lost just the same. Do you really think people will build a car for you without some kind of health care coverage? Really? Come on people get a clue. You don't really think that this will be the next profession to get added to the ranks of pay without health coverage do you?
All the while I am told that I should own the business and that way I would have health coverage. This is only the next excuse used by people who are too selfish to look past their nose and their blessed profits to understand that most business owners are uninsured along with their workers. Get real. Yes you will have to pay more taxes. Get over it. Deal with it and move on. Thanks to two wars the Bush administration took on without knowing how to pull their head out of their ass we have a deficit in this country. You voted him in. You pay for consequences. If people had not been so selfish to begin with we would not be having this conversation.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
A Democrat Living in a Republican State
During this time in history when we are on the verge of political history it is easy to get swept away in what can be. That is, until as a mom I had to deal with today. The idea that you can beat down a population into submission has become an art form in the republican state of mind. I knew that this was possible by watching the stock market crash, reading news papers that have stories of just the regular Joe trying to make it in this economy and getting pimped out by John McCain and the Republican party.
It seems to me that the state of Arizona is a beautiful place to live. Let's face it, the sun shines every day. There is everything you need within a 3 mile radius. There are opportunities every where to apply yourself and make a great career for yourself. These are just some of the reasons for moving here with my husband and my son from Michigan where the job market has all but disappeared. I thought to myself, we can have our American dream of working hard and live in a good neighborhood with great schools.
When we lived in Michigan, (a democratic state), my son was on medicaid for health insurance. This was not something I was proud of but it gave me peace of mind to know that if something went wrong with him he would be taken care of. Like all first time moms the ability to just pick up the phone and call the nurse at his doctors office to ask simple questions was irreplaceable. When we moved to Arizona we hit a road block with coverage for my son. He was diagnosed in Michigan with an ear infection in both ears the day before getting on an airplane to finally move to Arizona. I took him to the doctor and they prescribed the proper anti-biotic. After we had been in Arizona for a week or so my husband arrived and he continued to look for employment. In the midst of all of this my son's ear infections have not gotten better and we are forced to go to the emergency room to treat him. This was not bad. They were very kind. They explained that if we did not have medical coverage for him we can speak with a social worker and they will set up an application for ACCCHS. This is not my idea of a good time. I always felt like I was doing something wrong by using the medicaid while in Michigan and I always felt uncomfortable revealing our dire financial situation. I also felt that there were people much worse off than my family so I felt guilty using these services. The truth is when you really look at our situation we more than qualify for help. I tell myself that I have worked and paid taxes my whole life and have never asked for help from anyone. So, if I have to do it now for my son then I will. I speak with the social worker and she starts the application process. This leads to the bureaucratic nightmare that I have encountered so far with the state of Arizona while fighting to get my son covered under some medical coverage.
It started with a letter from the Department of Economic Security or DES office stating that they would need to set up an interview date and that they needed information to verify our citizenship, and income, living expenses etc. When I tried to call the DES office and just wait for someone to answer the phone instead of trying to find your way around the maze of automated options that don't answer a single question I have yet to have during this whole experience there is no answer. Just the empty ringing of a badly run government office.
After giving them all the information needed I waited to here that my son would be approved. After all, when both parents are unemployed and have the bare minimum savings to get by until my husband finds employment seems to be the staple of who the state of Arizona covers according to their website. I wait for 3 weeks and make 6 phone calls to a social worker who makes it her personal mantra to never pick up her phone or return a phone call. If I called the number for the office in our city and used a different extension number I always managed to get a person. Not the one I need but at least they were human.
So, with no interview and no word from my social worker I finally spent an hour attempting to get her on the phone. When I succeed I am so grateful to speak with her I ask if she is in need of any other information. I give her my case number and she supposedly looks up any information relating to my case. So why is it the next week I get a denial letter because I failed to provide proof of income? I am still trying to figure that one out.
This is when I realized that I lived in a Republican state. I had to go back down to the DES office and fill out yet again another application. I was told by my case worker that I did not complete my original application so it was my fault that I was denied. I find this way of thinking to be ridiculous. How is it that the individual that is applying for help is the one who is supposed to know how the process works. Where is the accountability of the case worker? Why is it when I go to that office the ability to get anyone to give you any information is almost impossible? Why is it that the people who work the front window of this office are allowed to give false advice and information?
This whole process disturbs me greatly for two reasons. The first is that it should be federally mandated the all states cover pregnant women and children who qualify should be covered under medicaid. There should be a streamlined process for this. There should be NO QUESTION about whether to cover children in this country. The second is that for the state of Arizona there needs to be a re-organization of the entire DES. It like, FEMA, is a total disaster. I believe that the general theory for this part of the government in the state of Arizona is to confuse the poor, uneducated, beat down, hard working and honest people in need in this state to the point that they just give up. Like me, if they can't make it through the maze of red tape they just get denied. It's just one less case someone might actually have to look at. How sad.
It seems to me that the state of Arizona is a beautiful place to live. Let's face it, the sun shines every day. There is everything you need within a 3 mile radius. There are opportunities every where to apply yourself and make a great career for yourself. These are just some of the reasons for moving here with my husband and my son from Michigan where the job market has all but disappeared. I thought to myself, we can have our American dream of working hard and live in a good neighborhood with great schools.
When we lived in Michigan, (a democratic state), my son was on medicaid for health insurance. This was not something I was proud of but it gave me peace of mind to know that if something went wrong with him he would be taken care of. Like all first time moms the ability to just pick up the phone and call the nurse at his doctors office to ask simple questions was irreplaceable. When we moved to Arizona we hit a road block with coverage for my son. He was diagnosed in Michigan with an ear infection in both ears the day before getting on an airplane to finally move to Arizona. I took him to the doctor and they prescribed the proper anti-biotic. After we had been in Arizona for a week or so my husband arrived and he continued to look for employment. In the midst of all of this my son's ear infections have not gotten better and we are forced to go to the emergency room to treat him. This was not bad. They were very kind. They explained that if we did not have medical coverage for him we can speak with a social worker and they will set up an application for ACCCHS. This is not my idea of a good time. I always felt like I was doing something wrong by using the medicaid while in Michigan and I always felt uncomfortable revealing our dire financial situation. I also felt that there were people much worse off than my family so I felt guilty using these services. The truth is when you really look at our situation we more than qualify for help. I tell myself that I have worked and paid taxes my whole life and have never asked for help from anyone. So, if I have to do it now for my son then I will. I speak with the social worker and she starts the application process. This leads to the bureaucratic nightmare that I have encountered so far with the state of Arizona while fighting to get my son covered under some medical coverage.
It started with a letter from the Department of Economic Security or DES office stating that they would need to set up an interview date and that they needed information to verify our citizenship, and income, living expenses etc. When I tried to call the DES office and just wait for someone to answer the phone instead of trying to find your way around the maze of automated options that don't answer a single question I have yet to have during this whole experience there is no answer. Just the empty ringing of a badly run government office.
After giving them all the information needed I waited to here that my son would be approved. After all, when both parents are unemployed and have the bare minimum savings to get by until my husband finds employment seems to be the staple of who the state of Arizona covers according to their website. I wait for 3 weeks and make 6 phone calls to a social worker who makes it her personal mantra to never pick up her phone or return a phone call. If I called the number for the office in our city and used a different extension number I always managed to get a person. Not the one I need but at least they were human.
So, with no interview and no word from my social worker I finally spent an hour attempting to get her on the phone. When I succeed I am so grateful to speak with her I ask if she is in need of any other information. I give her my case number and she supposedly looks up any information relating to my case. So why is it the next week I get a denial letter because I failed to provide proof of income? I am still trying to figure that one out.
This is when I realized that I lived in a Republican state. I had to go back down to the DES office and fill out yet again another application. I was told by my case worker that I did not complete my original application so it was my fault that I was denied. I find this way of thinking to be ridiculous. How is it that the individual that is applying for help is the one who is supposed to know how the process works. Where is the accountability of the case worker? Why is it when I go to that office the ability to get anyone to give you any information is almost impossible? Why is it that the people who work the front window of this office are allowed to give false advice and information?
This whole process disturbs me greatly for two reasons. The first is that it should be federally mandated the all states cover pregnant women and children who qualify should be covered under medicaid. There should be a streamlined process for this. There should be NO QUESTION about whether to cover children in this country. The second is that for the state of Arizona there needs to be a re-organization of the entire DES. It like, FEMA, is a total disaster. I believe that the general theory for this part of the government in the state of Arizona is to confuse the poor, uneducated, beat down, hard working and honest people in need in this state to the point that they just give up. Like me, if they can't make it through the maze of red tape they just get denied. It's just one less case someone might actually have to look at. How sad.
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