Below is parts of a story in TheLeafChronicle.com. Yesterday just for the hell of it I decided to google him and after going thru a couple of pages of the results, this story came up."Steam swirled from a pot on the stove in the mobile home of Carl and Wanda Reddick, but an aroma of dinner cooking didn't follow.
It helps us breathe," Carl said.
His wife Wanda suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, which makes it difficult for her to breathe. She has to use an oxygen tube 24/7, but the supply is Carl's because her disability has been rejected by Social Security, which makes her ineligible for TennCare or any other insurance."
At 61, Wanda has another year before she can qualify for Medicare. "I can't wait that long," she says.
The reporter is an IDIOT. In a year she will be able to get on Social Security, but you have to be 65 to get on Medicare.
Wanda is among the 30 million uninsured Americans who could get coverage under the new health care legislation that would extend health insurance to those who have none and those with pre-existing conditions.
"It's a mess," said Carl, 71. "The whole system is a mess. ... It's just a shame. (Dealing with it) is like going to the end of a road and finding there's nothing but a drop off."
It's hard to know what to say. They worked hard and paid into the system all along and now when she needs help, all it takes is one person to deny her the help she needs. Even with help from SSI or some other program their life would not be a picnic, but maybe they would be able to live a little longer. The way is now their lives could be shortened because they are denied help. It says in the article that they hope the health care bill that just passed will do something to help them, but by the time anything good would kick in, she'd be on Medicare.
It's amazing just how many nasty comments there were for this article. It looks like nowadays the only place you can find sympathy is in the dictionary between shit and syphillis. Anyone who decides to say something equally crappy, like Wanda got what she deserves because she's now fat, is going to get deleted in a New York minute.
Good post! With you on the asshole comment cretins. Fuck 'em!
ReplyDeleteTrue, you do have to be 65. But why in the hell do so many that have never contributed much to society suddenly want to be saved at societies expense?
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, I have a cure for her, a cheap gun and a bullet in her brain.
Unless of course you want to help support her for many more years. In that case, keep working. :-)
Wow. "There but for fortune go you or I." It is really an odd feeling to see someone you know in such a horrible situation now. It just goes to show it can happen to anyone, no matter how hard they work most of their lives. It's been a few years since we saw Carla and Wanda, but Wanda was always a hard worker -- and she worked at some truly crap jobs, stuff most people can't or won't do, like diapering old people in nursing homes. The thing that hit me in reading the full article is that one of the reasons she's in such bad shape now is she couldn't bring herself to turn down more hours at the job she had -- and she worked herself into exhaustion, which aggravated underlying health problems.
ReplyDeleteCarl and Wanda are actually a classic example of the working poor in this country: they work hard for most of their lives at jobs that don't have much in the way of fringe benefits, like health insurance, so they end up neglecting preventive care. If you're working for not much above minimum wage, you're not going to see a doctor unless you're sick or in pain to the point where you can't work. End result: by the time an underlying chronic condition, like COPD, is diagnosed it's progressed to where there isn't much that can be done about it. COPD is another one of those conditions that tends to be a disease of the poor, not the middle class or wealthy. Going by the photo, it's pretty far progressed, too. It's obvious she has severe visceral edema. The poor woman probably has to sleep sitting up; I doubt if she can breathe much at all if she tries lying down.
The comments at the newspaper site were pretty nasty, too. I wonder what it is about some people that compels them to kick others when they're down and desperate? Are their own lives so wretched that the only way they can feel good about themselves is by saying nasty stuff or wishing ill to strangers who have already been handed the shitty end of the stick? I don't get it.
BBC, did you even READ this post or bother to link to the article????
ReplyDeleteShe worked and paid into the system, the same system your income is coming from. How would you feel if you had become disabled before you reached retirement age and then were denied diability after working most of your life. You would be pissed, RIGHT??? But because it is someone else then they don't deserve to get any of those benefits they paid for.
Your attitude and everyone else that feels that way is why this country is so fucked up.(I got mine, so FUCK YOU!!!) It's like you think everybody that needs help is a lazy no-good welfare bum that is trying to scam the system. The same cure you offer her while it may not straighten out your thinking would cure it. Hey, it's a two-way street you dumb old fart.
I didn't read it very well, but I've lost a lot of folks close to me over the years also. Some of them worked hard most of their lives, some of them didn't.
ReplyDeleteMy whole point is that we can't afford a system that tries to keep everyone alive, and that's a cold hard fact of life.
I worked hard all my working life and here I am old now. Do I expect a social system to try to keep me alive to 90 now if my health turns on me?
No way, this is a right to die state, meaning that I have the right to put a bullet in my head and save the public a lot of expense. :-)
I hope that you don’t limit a child to your own learning and thinking.
you really didn't expect BBC to obey the rules do you?...
ReplyDeletei was 60 when i got my widows benefits and it was $600..5 years before i had medicare..and in the mean time i was diagnosed with diabetes..had to pay for all my supplies cash for 5 years...dont' get me started.
First rule - don't feed the trolls. You guys should know by now that BBC only says 3/4s of the stuff he does to see what type of reaction he can provoke.
ReplyDeletewhich is why he dont come to my house no more.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you say, but one day you will be as dead as I will be. The only difference is that I'll be okay with it and you won't.
ReplyDeleteBBC only says 3/4s of the stuff he does to see what type of reaction he can provoke.
I don't try to see what type of reaction I can provoke, if you believe that you are just wrong.
I'm just trying to explain some things to you idiots but if you don't get it that isn't my problem.
Now get your ass back to work to support the health care system you seem to want.
After all, you also have to help Yellow Dog and millions of others alive also. :-)
I don't visit her blog anymore because she is an idiot that is afraid to die and wants you to help keep her alive while she spends all day long blabbering away on her computer because you are supporting her. :-)
This planet owes none of us anything.
ReplyDeleteThe planet, and the government, may owe none of us anything - but we do owe each other respect.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, it looks to me like a bunch of cranky old men need to negate and ridicule others because it's the only way they can get a hard on anymore. I wonder if their health insurance covers their Viagra?
Well said PE. What I don't understand is why people such as BBC are so bitter and callous...not to mention, arrogant.
ReplyDeleteEvery sick, injured, and disabled person who does not receive proper care is a victim of US Corporatism.
ReplyDeleteHealth care is part and parcel to the right of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
"promote the general Welfare" is in our Constitution for all to see.