Cold Day in Hell Arrives for Patients

[Donnachaidh]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/donna-smith/34413/cold-day-in-hell-arrives-for-patients

When I saw the cut to the low income energy assistance programs proposed by President Obama in his budget, I knew that meant more energy/utility shut-off notices for people already struggling all over the United States. The cold day in hell has arrived for many patients and many caregivers who already find their budgets bursting from the costs of healthcare insurance, co-pays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket medical expenses, and their bank accounts strained from the loss of income and unemployment that has marked recent months for millions and millions of people.

"The president's office says it needs to cut funding from programs like LEAP to control the federal budget," read the news reports.

All I can see is the bright orange water shut-off notice hanging on the front door or the more subtle but large manila envelope that holds the gas shut-off on a door hanger. I kept my last shut-off notices and they now hang in my computer room at home as a reminder - as if the pain and humiliation ever really fades away. The notices are like an advertisement to your neighbors that you cannot pay your bills - big, bright reminders of your failure to buck up.

It was 2006. My husband was very sick and struggling in his post-open heart surgery months. I worked full time and then some to try to make up for his inability to work in my post cancer-treatment days, but the bills just kept pouring in. Arriving home from a 10-hour workday to find the shut-offs was followed by collection calls to our home from doctors' offices and hospitals and providers (and the nasty collection agencies they hired) to whom our insurance had paid some -- but not all -- of our healthcare costs. Evenings were terrible. I danced between trying to stay cheerful for my husband and for his health's sake and trying to handle the financial upheaval. And I stressed out about how to keep the power on, how to keep the gas on, and how to keep the water flowing.

More at the link --

[xchrom]

1. don't know why this got an unrec. nt

[Lasher]

3. There, moving in the right direction now.

I've been getting beat up by copays since a September injury, and I've got what we Americans consider to be good insurance with only a 10% copay.

[MadHound]

2. I keep thinking that we need to start teaching people how to turn on their own utilities

I did that when I was desperate and broke decades ago, it really isn't that hard to get your utilities on again. Perhaps we ought to set up "underground" demonstration clinics across the country.

[Lasher]

4. I know of a guy who got killed that way.

I don't think that's a good idea.

[MadHound]

5. Well, if you're stupid about it, yeah.

But if done in the proper manner, it is safe. I've turned on electric, gas, and water a number of times back in the day. That's why I'm proposing clinics on this, so people can do so safely, without killing themselves.

[Lasher]

6. Well you're right about this case, the guy was stupid.

I don't want to help stupid people kill themselves. Sorry to rain on your parade, but I think this is an important aspect - apparently one you have already considered.