bigsly
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2018
- Posts
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A lot is said about the American healthcare system on this Board. On April 1, my own foray into that system, and other areas of State and federal assistance, will be complete after about 10 months of deep-diving into it on behalf of someone else. I thought it might be enlightening to some to hear about one person's detailed journey.
I volunteer at my county's Senior Center. Toward the end of May 2019, I was asked to intake a new visitor. She was 64, a widower of an illegal immigrant who never worked a Social Security-taxed job, and had just started receiving medical bills from a health emergency that resulted in a 7 day hospital stay earlier in May. She had no health insurance. Her income fluctuated between approximately $300-$600 a month. She confided in me that she had around $700 cash stashed. She owned her very small, very modest old home and she was very worried about losing it because of what seemed to be significantly looming debt from her medical emergency.
She permitted me to legally advocate for her, which means with her authority I could discover all the information on her hospital experience as if I was her...
One day she was sent by a nurse at a local health clinic to the ER at the local hospital, where her condition was so serious they immediately admitted her into ICU. She was diagnosed with a deadly serious MRSP infection and Type 2 diabetes. They stabilized her in ICU and put her in a regular room the next day, where she healed over the next 6 days before she was released.
7 days of hospitalization, 5 different Doctors attending her over her entire ordeal, the initial ER visit and another one a couple of days after release, 4 followup visits after release, Xrays, scans, etc...
$29,022.
And she was just starting to get the first bills of that when I first met her, thus the cause of her increasing distress.
I've had knee surgery a couple of times, both back when dinosaurs walked the earth, and both of those times were totally covered to the point that I never even had to think about the financials about them. Since then, I've never had any kind of medical issue that required me to concern myself with the bureaucratic American health care system. So, this was all new to me.
The first thing we did was begin identifying and collecting all the charges/billing entailed in her hospital stay description above. After finding out about all the options her age and her far-below-poverty income qualified her for - charity programs from both the hospital and the two different agencies all 5 Doctors did their billing through - we managed to finally determine her full and complete financial liability for her medical emergency/hospital experience...
$1,259
Also because of her age and income, she was only required to pay $25 per month toward that balance. When she called me yesterday, it was with the gleeful news that she's paid-off that full amount, in 10 months - which was the happy inspiration for me relating this tale here today.
During her medical bill investigation, I also applied for Food Stamps for her, since her age and income seemed to qualify her. She was approved and began receiving $192 per month in food assistance which really brought a smile to her face. I also found out through Social Security that she had just enough credits to qualify for retirement benefits, even though she told me she hadn't worked for years and years and had no idea she qualified. She was approved for retirement benefits based on her work history and now gets around $1,000 a month. She laughingly told me it makes her feel like a Kardashian (although, just so you're aware dear reader, it's still below the US's federal poverty line). And because she was obviously nearing 65-years old, I began learning myself the particulars of Medicare on her behalf.
Which brings me to the April 1st end of this story, for that's the day her Medicare benefits kick in. She'll be fully covered medically starting then with all her Plan B costs payed for by her State's QMB Medical Savings Program and only having to pay $3 for whatever generic prescription she needs from here on out, and just $8 for any brand name prescription through Extra Help Plan D.
Less than a year ago, I first met a very scared lady worried about losing her home because she had suddenly fell deathly ill and had virtually no money to pay for it. Today, she's set for the rest of her life never having to worry about any of that at all. Think about her real story the next time you read about America's health care system.
I volunteer at my county's Senior Center. Toward the end of May 2019, I was asked to intake a new visitor. She was 64, a widower of an illegal immigrant who never worked a Social Security-taxed job, and had just started receiving medical bills from a health emergency that resulted in a 7 day hospital stay earlier in May. She had no health insurance. Her income fluctuated between approximately $300-$600 a month. She confided in me that she had around $700 cash stashed. She owned her very small, very modest old home and she was very worried about losing it because of what seemed to be significantly looming debt from her medical emergency.
She permitted me to legally advocate for her, which means with her authority I could discover all the information on her hospital experience as if I was her...
One day she was sent by a nurse at a local health clinic to the ER at the local hospital, where her condition was so serious they immediately admitted her into ICU. She was diagnosed with a deadly serious MRSP infection and Type 2 diabetes. They stabilized her in ICU and put her in a regular room the next day, where she healed over the next 6 days before she was released.
7 days of hospitalization, 5 different Doctors attending her over her entire ordeal, the initial ER visit and another one a couple of days after release, 4 followup visits after release, Xrays, scans, etc...
$29,022.
And she was just starting to get the first bills of that when I first met her, thus the cause of her increasing distress.
I've had knee surgery a couple of times, both back when dinosaurs walked the earth, and both of those times were totally covered to the point that I never even had to think about the financials about them. Since then, I've never had any kind of medical issue that required me to concern myself with the bureaucratic American health care system. So, this was all new to me.
The first thing we did was begin identifying and collecting all the charges/billing entailed in her hospital stay description above. After finding out about all the options her age and her far-below-poverty income qualified her for - charity programs from both the hospital and the two different agencies all 5 Doctors did their billing through - we managed to finally determine her full and complete financial liability for her medical emergency/hospital experience...
$1,259
Also because of her age and income, she was only required to pay $25 per month toward that balance. When she called me yesterday, it was with the gleeful news that she's paid-off that full amount, in 10 months - which was the happy inspiration for me relating this tale here today.
During her medical bill investigation, I also applied for Food Stamps for her, since her age and income seemed to qualify her. She was approved and began receiving $192 per month in food assistance which really brought a smile to her face. I also found out through Social Security that she had just enough credits to qualify for retirement benefits, even though she told me she hadn't worked for years and years and had no idea she qualified. She was approved for retirement benefits based on her work history and now gets around $1,000 a month. She laughingly told me it makes her feel like a Kardashian (although, just so you're aware dear reader, it's still below the US's federal poverty line). And because she was obviously nearing 65-years old, I began learning myself the particulars of Medicare on her behalf.
Which brings me to the April 1st end of this story, for that's the day her Medicare benefits kick in. She'll be fully covered medically starting then with all her Plan B costs payed for by her State's QMB Medical Savings Program and only having to pay $3 for whatever generic prescription she needs from here on out, and just $8 for any brand name prescription through Extra Help Plan D.
Less than a year ago, I first met a very scared lady worried about losing her home because she had suddenly fell deathly ill and had virtually no money to pay for it. Today, she's set for the rest of her life never having to worry about any of that at all. Think about her real story the next time you read about America's health care system.
