From: batman@mb5000.anes.upmc.edu (William E Madden Jr.)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: National Health Care
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:53:28 GMT
Followup-To: alt.politics.clinton
Organization: UPMC

In article 5255, Gary Coffman writes:

>Yes, I don't have much sympathy for the poor. In 
>most cases it's their own damn fault. I've been there, I've seen it,
>I've lived it. I got out of there. They can too if they've got any
>grit.

>Gary

What an utterly pompous statement!  I'm not poor, and never have been, but
I can see a real good example of what it's like to be poor in America, just
by looking at my girlfriend.  

She's 35, well educated (degree in Nursing) and very hard working - for example, the last pay period (about 2 weeks) she put in 194 hours of on-call
and shift time as an EMT.  Why is she an EMT, you ask?  Because right now,
it's incredibly difficult to get a job as a nurse with an LPN.

Before taxes, over the last month, she made $743.  Because the place she
was working at 2 years ago didn't have any kind of medical insurance or long-term disability package, she got
about $3000 in the hole on her gas bill, and $1000 on the electric bill when
one of her patients beat the shit out of her, and she was off work for 6
months because of reconstructive knee surgury.  (I'm not even gonna talk about
the cost of the operation.)  The day after she was injured,
the nursing home she was working for terminated her so they wouldn't have to 
pay the workmans comp, and they won the case she filed against them (which is another whole reason why I don't like Bush, but I'm not getting into that one
now...)

Out of that $743, she owes the gas and electric company about $250 a month to
get caught up, $250 a month in rent (from her ex, so she ain't paying as 
much as she could be) and at least $140 a month for food.  Anyone that has
a 6 year old will tell you that $140 a month will feed the kid but not you.
Car and fire insurance run her about another $100 a month, and gas for her
car (which she needs to get to work) is about another $50 a month.  So we have a total of $790 a month in outlays, and $740 a month income.  So before taxes,
she goes deeper and deeper in the hole.....

Now, we haven't talked about the cost of child care, her daughter's medical
insurance, let alone hers, and a car that will run, because the one she's in
now is a death trap.  You tell me, Gary, where that $300 a year or whatever 
is gonna come from for her!  I don't know of a place in PA where you can 
get medical insurance for under $300 a MONTH, let alone a year.  

Somehow, I can't see this situation as being her fault - She can't afford to go back to school to get her Paramedic or RN certification, which will get her
the job that she needs just to survive, makes too much money (believe it, or
not) to qualify for medical assistance for herself or her daughter, and 
doesn't have a credit rating left to even qualify for a student load.

To me, this case is the classic example of someone who wants to get out of
the muck and can't, and a classic example of how our system, particularly the health care system has failed.  Before the injury, she was doing great.

	Bats
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	Bill Madden			|       any of my ex-girlfriends, or
	Software Engineering		|	even myself, so why should 
	Computational Diagnostics, Inc. |	anyone think I speak for CDI?
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"Do not meddle in the afairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and taste good in ketchup"	
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