posted
In another thread, Belle brought up a valid point:
quote:My husband delivers babies on a regular basis - the latest was just last week. The population he serves (he's a firefighter/paramedic working in inner-city Birmingham) tends to be urban poor. Many if not most of the babies he delivers are to mothers who report receiving zero prenatal care. Zero.
Prenatal care is available to these mothers, free of charge at local health department clinics located on bus routes so public transportation is available. He tells them this, and hands out informational brochures about the programs to anyone he sees on an ob-related call, but he cannot force them to go to the department to get the prenatal care.
From paying for school to buying a house and obtaining healthcare medication, there are programs. Some of the programs are private, some are government sponsored, and the reason why I don't partake in more of these programs is that they all seemed organized to benefit someone else.
I'm not the most financially stable person. I'm healthier than most, which is good, because the last time I partook in a medical service I thought was free, the hospital sent me a bill for 600 dollars. That's a lot of money. I'm sure there is a program to get that 600 dollars paid, but I don't have that kind of energy, and I'm not going to let it cause stress because stress kills.
While I'm sure that there are many programs in existence to help me, or anyone without a strong family financial base, improve their lot, they all seem one missed signature away from me owing more money than I could ever pay.
Is this a matter of me being overly cynical, or is it a matter of an erosion of the public trust? Is it private industry competitive ethics? Or have too many of our good services become run by callous double agents or usurers with their own agendas. You know that feeling you get when you apply for a job, but you really think that the job was posted out of some legal mandate, and the employer already has someone in mind. I get that not just about jobs, but about everything. I guess it's that kind of sense in which, if I were a young expectinh mother, I'd be slow to avail myself of these programs.
I fully admit that it's petty. The worst people in society live in fear of hidden machinations, but I don't know if the correct answer, my answer, to remove yourself from society rather than live in fear, is appropriate.
posted
Wow, Irami. I don't know either. I know that coming in from the cold, having a good job, and insurance, and stable finances, is really great. For one thing I have the resources to help others when I want.
I definitely agree about the programs. When I was out of work a few years ago because of illness, I tried for unemployment compensation. I have contributed to that fund for decades and this was exactly what it was for, right? But the hoops were impossible to jump through. They made it difficult and overall not worth it to get.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
AFAIK, there is no public program for people who can't work because of illness, unless the illness makes them completely unable to work for more than a year or is deemed terminal, which should qualify one for Social Security Disability Income. Unemployment Compensation is only for people who are able to work, but unemployed due to no fault of their own, as in laid off. Worker's Compensation is only for people injured on the job, not for most illnesses.
As for SSDI, the hoops are crazy. I think they figure if they procrastinate helping someone long enough (years), that someone will give up and get a job, or perish from the face of the earth. It seems like a person able to do all that is required to get SSDI would also be able to handle full-time work, as similar tasks are required.
Getting a lawyer helps, but still requires travel, appointments and meetings, and paperwork.
In the later stages of SSDI application, people are likely to be dead broke and have lost their homes, thus qualifying (in this county, anyway) for Medicaid, food stamps, public housing and a whopping $115 a month cash assistance.
It is quite humiliating.
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I disagree. The reason it is so hard to get SSDI is because it is suppose to be a last stop, not a fail safe to be used every time you feel ill....or just like not working.
People abuse it all the time, so barriers were put up to prevent the most blatant abuse.
If you don't put those barriers in place, people abuse it and the system gets the blame. If you do, people complain because they don't qualify.
They don't need to delay so people will give up... they can (and a lot of the time should) just say no. The system is there to be used, but because of long-term abuse it isn't very user-friendly.
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