Today's problems all wrapped up in one sick woman.

[Cleita]

I work for a doctor, so I got to talking to one of the patients, a forty+ woman who has been in frail health most of her life but who can't work anymore or even drive. She told me that she had collection agencies after her for late payments on her credit cards. Since they are a single income family, they max'ed out all their credit cards paying for her medical bills. So now they are just paying interest and can't even come up with that much of the time. Some of the cards are starting to charge up to 30% in interest and penalties because of late payment. They are being harrassed by the collection agencies.

She doesn't have health insurance because of her pre-existing conditions. She tried to get Medicaid but her husband earns too much, yet not enough to pay the bills. So here we have woman, who could use a government plan like Medicare and Credit cards that shouldn't charge more than a maximum of 18% interest, yet our millionaire and billionaire law makers can't seem to make this happen. So she is falling further down this spiral and taking her family with her. She wept as she told me her problems and how she was too sick to deal with it even on a good day.

[tabatha]

1. Heartbreaking.

This would not happen in Canada.

[Oregone]

3. Ah yes, you mean a civilized, sane country

Ive yet to meet a soul in Canada with medical debt.

[tabatha]

8. And no-one in Canada lost a house to foreclosure

Not one.

[Oregone]

11. There are a few in my town actually

Not like the US though. Bubbles are abound, and very dangerous in Canada right now

[tabatha]

14. Hmmm I heard otherwise.

[Oregone]

17. You heard wrong

$340 K for a home now! 20% gain in a year (and quite a few years like that)

5% down 2-3% interest BALLOON loans will crush the market here, once they are renewed in the next few years at higher rates. You never buy as much as you can afford with the lowest interest rate on a balloon loan, because your payments will always go up once the loan is reset.

[tabatha]

19. Yep, seems like I did.

Never trust what you hear; always verify from a good source.

I heard that a prominent politician from Canada stated on TV in the US that Canada had not had the problems that the US had, and no-one had lost their homes like here.

[Oregone]

20. Naive optimism

They don't lose homes for healthcare, but theyll be losing them because of the bubble, created by low interest balloons. Homes are simply unaffordable by any measure, and last month may finally be the tipping point (first drop in a year). Their bubble didn't pop when the US's did. It got worse and more dangerous

[BolivarianHero]

25. Canada has its share of problems...

They're certainly not as serious as America's, but they'll get a lot worse as long as the goddamn crooks we have in power keep writing welfare cheques to the military and prison-industrial complexes.

Our banking sector is among the most stable in the world, but has nothing to do with Stephen Harper, as much as he may want credit for it, and everything to do with policy decisions made by decades of preceding governments.

[Donnachaidh]

23. that's not true

they do have foreclosure in Canada.

[midnight]

2. K&R.

[SoCalDem]

4. In America you can get help, but first

you must have your face ground into the dirt, after having lost everything you own,and then you must grovel sufficiently and of course apologize for being trouble....only then will someone take pity on you and toss you a few coins,,but you had better never again in your lifetime, ever have a luxury item or you will be called a greedy welfare cheat.. that's the way the US does charity & human kindness...

[Mimosa]

5. This is so true of many people

Sounds like me, to a certain extent, a few years ago when I had surgery. High deductibles will kill people almost as bad as having no health insurance, because one has to put the deductibles on credit.

Real healthcare reform could have been sold to the public as expanded Medicare. Almost every 'ordinary' conservative was for that and believed Congress would deliver it. We know which lobbies stopped it, and we know who caved.

BTW, since this woma is totally anonymous, can you give us an idea of what her condition is?

[Cleita]

6. No I can't really. We are a small community so others

could figure out who she is and we have that patient confidentiality thing to honor. Suffice it to say that she has several ailments and a general health breakdown all around. Her medical chart is like a dictionary. Her conditions are chronic and can only be managed with lots of drugs, which is one of the reasons she's in so much financial hot water. The drugs are very expensive.

[Mimosa]

9. I understand.

Knowing what's wrong wouldn't help her. Just dumb curiosity on my part.

[sandnsea]

7. Medicare would cost the same

Medicare, at cost, is around $600 a month. California's premium for a woman in her 40s is around $500.

The Medicare buy-in proposal was never going to cost what people over 65 pay.

[Cleita]

10. The money is there. Canada has it figured out and they

pay an average of $60 a month. Let the Canucks tell you in their own words. And what about the usury interest and penalty gouging by the credit card companies? What the banksters do is criminal. Even the mafia doesn't charge interest rates like that on their loan sharking operations.

[SoCalDem]

12. They do it by sharing..

LOTS of people paying $60 means that everyone can get care..and probably every little clinic in Canada does not have multi millions of dollars' worth of equipment of their own.

[Cleita]

13. Of course they do it that way, a concept that our

people don't seem to get.

[Oregone]

18. And they have a far lower per capita health cost

Sharing doesn't just spread the burden, but it lowers it

[sandnsea]

15. Get the votes for single payer

The votes aren't there. I don't know why you keep bringing up Canadian health care. It's not going to pass here. Go to the south and get the votes.

And no there isn't a cap on interest, but there is a 60 day period where interest rates cannot be raised for late payments and they must go back to the normal rate within 6 months of ontime payments.

There is improvement whether you want to admit it or not.

[Cleita]

21. No they aren't there because we are living in a society

where the industry buys our politicians. Welcome to American Somalia because that is what they are turning us into and as long as Americans keep apologizing for them we aren't going to move forward and break this corruption.

[eridani]

22. Bullshit. It passed in Califronia three times n/t

[Cleita]

24. That's right it did and our Governor, whose legitimacy

I question, vetoed it. Remember Arnold met with Bush administration lackeys before Grey Davis was recalled to insure he would be the next Governor.

[Ilsa]

16. It is shameful that the working poor are treated this badly in "The Greatest Nation".

What a bunch of crap. The people who really make this nation hum are being hosed. It is shameful that we don't provide basic healthcare for our citizens.

[elehhhhna]

26. She needs to file bankruptcy asap. Removes stress immediately and

she will feel much better as soon as they talk to an attorney.

[w8liftinglady]

27. you are talking about a large portion of my patients.

Many of the Under 65 year-old patients are uninsured.Unbelievably,this county still goes 80% Republican.The medical condition of these folks is diminishing by the day-no medication,no follow-up,no preventative care,no dental care.It is worse than a 3rd world country-imho...at least here.

[branders seine]

28. It is her fault.

She is lazy and probably a drug addict.

She should pull herself up by her bootstraps and get a job.

Why should I pay for her failure to take care of her own health?

This is just survival of the fittest (that is, those who have plenty of money).

It is not our fault that she is a loser.

Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation? The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?


The above responses are brought to you by your local rapublican governmental representatives.

[area51]

29. And yet this govt. has a never-ending spigot of our tax dollars to pay for 2 wars of choice.

Disgusting, where our tax dollars are going.

Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.