Today is a venting situation. I have a dear friend named Rachel whom lives in Kansas City. In December 2007, she gave birth to a adorable little boy named Caden. Within hours of Caden born, he begin having seizures. After months in the NICU, a coma induced sediation and thousands of tests, the doctors have diagosed him with Migrating Epilepsy in Infancy. There have only been 50 reported cases in the WORLD...yes, world and most cases have not proven in their favor. Caden is now 3 and has the mental and physcial capacity of a 3 month old. As you can see, his quality of life is not of that of any normal 3 year old but family and friends have never given up hope.
Now, what Rachel and her husband Jim have given up is a greater deed than hope. Rachel had to quit her job to stay at home with Caden. He has constant seizures, is on and off oxygen, is feed through a mickey tube and is totally blind in his left eye. The medical bills totalled over $872,000 and that's not an including his growing bills. Three times a week, Caden has physical and occupational theropy along with a weekly check up from a hospice nurse. Rachel and Jim had to file Bankruptcy due to the medical debt and her lose of job. They have applied for Medicare and Social Security and have been denied.
This is my vent. How can a family who clearly has worked hard their entire life and have had to deal with such a precious child who actually needs the care and assistance from the government, not qualify. It makes no sense to me.
Now, working in the financial industry, I have a pretty good grasp of our membership whom are receiving these benefits. I have two examples to share from whose names have been changed to protect there ignorance, oops, I mean identity. Jane Doe worked for a government office here in Oklahoma. She filed for benefits due to the increasing migrains she had at work due to the computer screen and stress level. Jane Doe receives full medical benefits and a social security check for over $2700 per month. In Jane Doe's checking account, you will see a reflection of debit card withdrawals from the Lucky Star Casino in the amounts from $400 to $600 per weekend. Apparently the video gambling screens do not affect her migrains, but work does.
Second case is Mary Jones. Mary Jones enlisted in the Army for 4 years. After two years in, Mary Jones had a seizure due to alcohol poisoning (which I don't believe they know about the alcohol involved). Mary Jones is now 24 and receives a monthly check for $2972 plus beneifts. Mary Jones now doesn't have to work and is using non-prescriptive measures as her "hobby".
It makes me sick that people like this abuse our government assistance and people who could actually benefit do not qualify. I don't understand how these people are not followed up with and how it can be taken so far. The money they are receiving is MY OWN hard working taxes which is paying for Jane's gambling addiction and Mary's pot. It's sickening and trust me, it has been reported. But if the government does not step up and follow thru with people receiving benefits, you will have a lot more corruption and less money to the deserving.
I could go off on a lot more issues but feel that is best to refrain and fight one issue at a time.
Believe it or not Kelly, a coworker and I were talking about this very same issue today at work. The issue being about those who abuse and misuse gov't assistance and those that need it not being able to receive it. And I agree with you; it is enough to make you sick. Working at a state park, I see it all. The very same people who are probably fraudulantly receiving assistance, go and buy drugs and beer, then get so wasted or drunk that they fight and end up in jail. Then they threaten to initiate a law suit for mistreatment from an officer or some other nonsense. Meanwhile, the people who really need it can't get it.
ReplyDeleteI know an older couple which are raising their grandchild who has some serious illness and is mentally retarded due to something going wrong at birth. They have applied for assistance and were turned down also. The mother of the child is a drug addict but has legal custody of the child and they are in the process of trying to gain custody. They were turned down because the mother has legal custody and she is receiving benefits for both herself and the child but none of it goes on the child. The grandparents have reported the mother for negligence, drug abuse, etc. but she still gets all the assistance and is not even being investigated.
It is enough to make you lose confidence in our government's ability to manage our tax dollars at work as well as make decisions on what is right or wrong. It's so sad because things like this happen every day.
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteYour story is disheartening. I agree that it is truly sickening to stand by and watch how the system works. The part that gets me all worked up is that it seems like there are more loopholes and clauses that make things easier for people to misuse the system like that, rather than creating apertures for those who really require assistance.
I guess the real question is, will we see any changes in the new health care platform? Will these changes address issues like this?
-R