Comments on: Sick and Desperate in the USA http://sashasaid.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/sick-and-desperate-in-the-usa/ A hearty blend of feminist insights, cultural commentary, political rants, and social justice advocacy. Fri, 03 May 2013 00:15:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Mojave_Wolf http://sashasaid.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/sick-and-desperate-in-the-usa/#comment-892 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:31:46 +0000 http://sashasaid.wordpress.com/?p=282#comment-892 Just last year, my dad’s wife developed a form of cancer that was expected to be terminal. She ::fingers crossed, knocking on wood:: is at least temporarily in remission and the prognosis suddenly looks good. But they, even with supposedly decent insurance, almost went under paying for less than a year of treatment. The hospital where they offered the treatment she needed insisted on being paid upfront instead of waiting for the insurance company, and on top of that the insurance didn’t cover anywhere near enough. And, despite having a better than average income, some savings when it all started,etc, the only reason they finished paying for her treatments were because her somewhat wealthy brother in law stepped after they were totally out of funds and could not borrow any more. They are still digging their way out from under a mountain of debt.

And, while I suppose it’s only tangentially relevant to the post, it’s close enough that I have to bring up the poor woman I was behind in line at the store a couple of weeks ago, who was using her government issued child care vouchers for the first time, and was told she couldn’t use the vouchers to buy the baby food she had selected. She asked the clerk if it was because the food was organic, and was told “no, organic is fine, but you can’t buy the kind with the DHA.” Apparently it’s a waste of government funds to support healthy brain development in infants, or something.

LIfe is kind of sucky all over right now, and the country sure isn’t moving in the right direction.

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