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Old 06-11-2015, 08:58 PM
 
Location: Washington State
228 posts, read 260,661 times
Reputation: 293

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Returning to the original concept for this thread, I wanted to comment on how some of my neighbors handle their health insurance needs.

I live in a Blue collar, mostly recent immigrant community. It's mostly working class, with a minority of parasite class people. I rent one room from a middle aged woman with a daughter and a grandson on the premises.

Daughter: long time alcohol and drug abuser who has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia: on Medicaid - all medical bills paid for life.

Daughter's boyfriend: by his own acknowledgement, damaged himself by taking crack as a teenager and got, you guessed it, Schizophrenia. He gets SSDI, Medicare, and Medicaid (likely to take care of any copays for Medicare). He is now 34, and has been on these programs since he was 25. In his case, all of his bills, medical and otherwise, are paid for life. He will never have to work, or pay a medical bill. Spends his days drinking, smoking, gambling, and chasing his girlfriends. He can scarcely speak a comprehensible sentence in English and seems to know little of the world other than what's on his block. (I'll call him TJ). By the way, though daughter looks quite loopy and seems to really have a mental illness, TJ seems completely normal to me. He is morally depraved, but does not seem mentally ill to my untrained eye.

Grandson: a teenager, and the only solid citizen in the crowd. He's considered a foster child, not a dependent, and is on Medicaid.

So, our nation has the resources to give TJ a pension and health care plan for life at age 25, but lacks the resources (or so we hear from some) to insure people at 55 or 58 who've paid into the system all their lives but suffer a layoff before their Medicare eligibility age! Ironically, if the 55 year old spends their way into penury paying health insurance premiums and co-insurance costs, this person will actually be poorer than TJ, since TJ will still have his SSDI. And, if he's an unusually industrious mood, he is in fact able to work 20 hours a week.

The tie-in to the thread title is that we are all paying for the benefits these parasites rake in. I don't doubt that the OP is paying even more for the care of others. But, it's striking to me how generous our govt is to complete criminals an degenerates, and how cheap it can be to people who have, the most part, been self sufficient in life.

I must return to figuring out how to pay for my future health care. I just hope I don't have to take crack to do it.
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Old 06-12-2015, 07:22 AM
 
3,613 posts, read 4,118,212 times
Reputation: 5008
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voyager39 View Post
Returning to the original concept for this thread, I wanted to comment on how some of my neighbors handle their health insurance needs.

I live in a Blue collar, mostly recent immigrant community. It's mostly working class, with a minority of parasite class people. I rent one room from a middle aged woman with a daughter and a grandson on the premises.

Daughter: long time alcohol and drug abuser who has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia: on Medicaid - all medical bills paid for life.

Daughter's boyfriend: by his own acknowledgement, damaged himself by taking crack as a teenager and got, you guessed it, Schizophrenia. He gets SSDI, Medicare, and Medicaid (likely to take care of any copays for Medicare). He is now 34, and has been on these programs since he was 25. In his case, all of his bills, medical and otherwise, are paid for life. He will never have to work, or pay a medical bill. Spends his days drinking, smoking, gambling, and chasing his girlfriends. He can scarcely speak a comprehensible sentence in English and seems to know little of the world other than what's on his block. (I'll call him TJ). By the way, though daughter looks quite loopy and seems to really have a mental illness, TJ seems completely normal to me. He is morally depraved, but does not seem mentally ill to my untrained eye.

Grandson: a teenager, and the only solid citizen in the crowd. He's considered a foster child, not a dependent, and is on Medicaid.

So, our nation has the resources to give TJ a pension and health care plan for life at age 25, but lacks the resources (or so we hear from some) to insure people at 55 or 58 who've paid into the system all their lives but suffer a layoff before their Medicare eligibility age! Ironically, if the 55 year old spends their way into penury paying health insurance premiums and co-insurance costs, this person will actually be poorer than TJ, since TJ will still have his SSDI. And, if he's an unusually industrious mood, he is in fact able to work 20 hours a week.

The tie-in to the thread title is that we are all paying for the benefits these parasites rake in. I don't doubt that the OP is paying even more for the care of others. But, it's striking to me how generous our govt is to complete criminals an degenerates, and how cheap it can be to people who have, the most part, been self sufficient in life.

I must return to figuring out how to pay for my future health care. I just hope I don't have to take crack to do it.
How do you know this? Also, I think you are exaggerating some of this because some of what you say is not legally possible.

Last edited by Qwerty; 06-12-2015 at 07:30 AM..
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Old 06-12-2015, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Washington State
228 posts, read 260,661 times
Reputation: 293
Quote:
Originally Posted by Qwerty View Post
How do you know this? Also, I think you are exaggerating some of this because some of what you say is not legally possible.
What is it that you think is being exaggerated? And, what isn't legally possible?

I reported what the parties told me, word for word. If there's any exaggeration it comes from them. It seems to me that one either has Medicaid or doesn't. They're either lying or not; but I don't see what they could have exaggerated.

My understanding is that if you get SSDI, you get Medicare a couple of years later. The addition of Medicaid was a surprise to me. However, I recall from a law school class that there are people in an overlap category, who get both Medicare and Medicaid. I don't know this person's status or paperwork, and so can't verify what he (TJ) told me.

I ask again, what's not legally possible? What am I exaggerating?
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Old 06-12-2015, 09:42 AM
 
Location: So Ca
26,731 posts, read 26,812,827 times
Reputation: 24795
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voyager39 View Post
Daughter's boyfriend: by his own acknowledgement, damaged himself by taking crack as a teenager and got, you guessed it, Schizophrenia. He gets SSDI, Medicare, and Medicaid (likely to take care of any copays for Medicare). He is now 34, and has been on these programs since he was 25. In his case, all of his bills, medical and otherwise, are paid for life. He will never have to work, or pay a medical bill. TJ seems completely normal to me. He is morally depraved, but does not seem mentally ill to my untrained eye.
One of our kids' friends is a disability lawyer, and I know it is not easy to qualify for SSDI, so it's probably likely that this young man does indeed have a mental illness (and schizophrenia is the most severe mental disorder that exists). However, I agree that more needs to be done by our government to check in on those receiving such funds so that there is not a continual payout for them without their complying with specific qualifications.
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Old 06-12-2015, 10:00 AM
 
Location: Washington State
228 posts, read 260,661 times
Reputation: 293
Quote:
Originally Posted by CA4Now View Post
One of our kids' friends is a disability lawyer, and I know it is not easy to qualify for SSDI, so it's probably likely that this young man does indeed have a mental illness (and schizophrenia is the most severe mental disorder that exists). However, I agree that more needs to be done by our government to check in on those receiving such funds so that there is not a continual payout for them without their complying with specific qualifications.
I agree that it's not easy to qualify for SSDI. I believe I mentioned that the daughter has outwardly apparent symptoms of mental illness. I have seen her talk to imaginary people and the like. Ironically, she was turned down for SSDI, though I believe she is now appealing.

I've heard that a letter from a doctor saying one has Schizophrenia is the most powerful documentation possible for getting SSDI. I'm in no position to question the opinion that was rendered in his case. I can only say that everyone who meets him gets the impression that he's healthy. He moreover seems more than capable of working for a living, though he's been exempted from doing so.

I add that I was a little bit bothered that, by his own admission, he got his mental condition through his own illegal conduct. Again, I don't know that it's legally improper to get SSDI for that reason. But, it is a little irksome to see 50+ year old people who've worked their whole lives going broke paying for health care, while he is on a permanent vacation.
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Old 06-12-2015, 01:14 PM
 
Location: Wisconsin
25,580 posts, read 56,482,264 times
Reputation: 23386
Voyager, I know a family whose mother was in disability in her mid-50's, who did indeed have Medicaid and then Medicare two years later. At age 65, SSDI ended, SS picked up, and she continued on with Medicare/Medicaid. For those over 65, Medicaid pays the Medicare Part B premium of $105 - and other things.

Her epileptic son began collecting SSDI a couple of decades ago, has always been on Medicaid/Medicare. Their situation is exactly as the one you describe. Son has been in and out of alcohol rehab - all on Medicaid/Medicare. Has broken an arm, and then later a leg which required insertion and removal of a rod - all paid for by Medicaid/Medicare.

They have nary a worry when it comes to paying for medical care and medication and never have, and, btw, get all their care at the best hospital - affiliated with the Medical College - in the county.

Last edited by Ariadne22; 06-12-2015 at 01:24 PM..
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Old 06-14-2015, 09:19 PM
 
Location: Living rent free in your head
42,850 posts, read 26,275,432 times
Reputation: 34058
Quote:
Originally Posted by reed067 View Post
When someone is forced by their own country to have something that they do not want it is no longer a free country. While I agree we need health insurance this isn't the way to do it. These elected officials have no idea what is it to struggle the idea was to have AFFORDABLE health care for everyone. Yet is has failed those me like Kathryn & myself. It fact is has made things worse we can't afford our other bills because we have to HAVE health care. Do Pay my electric bill or my health care bill? Let's see, which is more important? What about food? which is more important? We can't get food stamps we make to much. I've had a rough life growing up I've been homeless before so I know things can always get worse.
This health care bill is more of a cancer for us. $2,100 a month doesn't go very far, unless my wife find a job with benefits or I'm able to then we are screwed. Plain & simple.

As far as Obama & his cronies go they don't have to pay their share. Sort of like why you don't see their sons & daughters going to war. Because they do not understand OR care about the rest of us.
At $2100 a month why aren't you eligible for a subsidy? If it's just the two of you and your gross is 25k a year, your premium in NC with a subsidy should be around $94 a month for a silver plan or 0 for a bronze plan

Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
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Old 06-14-2015, 09:22 PM
 
Location: Living rent free in your head
42,850 posts, read 26,275,432 times
Reputation: 34058
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voyager39 View Post
What is it that you think is being exaggerated? And, what isn't legally possible?

I reported what the parties told me, word for word. If there's any exaggeration it comes from them. It seems to me that one either has Medicaid or doesn't. They're either lying or not; but I don't see what they could have exaggerated.

My understanding is that if you get SSDI, you get Medicare a couple of years later. The addition of Medicaid was a surprise to me. However, I recall from a law school class that there are people in an overlap category, who get both Medicare and Medicaid. I don't know this person's status or paperwork, and so can't verify what he (TJ) told me.

I ask again, what's not legally possible? What am I exaggerating?
You get medicare after being on SSDI for 2 years. Medicaid is available if you don't get much from SS. In states without expanded medicaid it is less likely that a person would qualify
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Old 06-14-2015, 09:27 PM
 
Location: Living rent free in your head
42,850 posts, read 26,275,432 times
Reputation: 34058
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voyager39 View Post
What is it that you think is being exaggerated? And, what isn't legally possible?

I reported what the parties told me, word for word. If there's any exaggeration it comes from them. It seems to me that one either has Medicaid or doesn't. They're either lying or not; but I don't see what they could have exaggerated.

My understanding is that if you get SSDI, you get Medicare a couple of years later. The addition of Medicaid was a surprise to me. However, I recall from a law school class that there are people in an overlap category, who get both Medicare and Medicaid. I don't know this person's status or paperwork, and so can't verify what he (TJ) told me.

I ask again, what's not legally possible? What am I exaggerating?
My only question would be how long did the 34 year old work before he went on SSDI? SSDI is based on your social security earnings and it takes several quarters to qualify. Is it possible that rather than being on SSDI he is on SSI which is a 'needs based program' and not based on earnings? People on SSI get medicaid not medicare.
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Old 06-14-2015, 09:48 PM
 
Location: Living rent free in your head
42,850 posts, read 26,275,432 times
Reputation: 34058
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnonChick View Post
So basically, the OP's issue doesn't have all that much to do with the ACA. It has to do with the fact that she lives in Texas, which is pushing hard to sever its ties with the national health program completely and as a result, has two insurance companies holding its citizenry in a choke-hold and at their mercy. And, because it happens to also be a huge state with a massive population (compared to other states) and an incredibly high uninsured rate, the citizens who DO have insurance, have to pay significantly more for those who do not.

In that case, I say to the OP:

So sorry. Your local and state tax dollars and your vote at work. My suggestion: Vote for Texas to comply and to enforce more evenly, or move to a state that does. In the meantime, buck up and shell out the coinage. It's a Texas problem - big state, big problems.
yeah..I think you pretty much nailed it
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