Need some advice?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by jojo61397

I actually am of the opinion that it's unconstitutional for the government NOT to provide universal health care. HMOs are unconstitutional. Why should people have to go broke to pay for health insurance and then after purchasing a policy they go broke paying deductables. The HMO system is broken, it does not work, and it should be replaced with a universal health care system.

I agree, I hate HMO's and I am VERY glad we don't have one but I am NOT a fan of a government sponsored health plan either. I am not sure how HMO's are unconstitutional but they are not very good medical plans. Again, not everyone has an HMO. Do you have other choices with the military for plans or do they only have one plan you can choose? Most larger companies have a few different options for employees so they can select what type of plan they want.

[Slig]

I think we're all agreeing. Insurance companies are ruining the effectiveness of this nation's healthcare system, which is something that universal healthcare (if implemented correctly) would undoubtedly solve.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Slig

I think we're all agreeing. Insurance companies are ruining the effectiveness of this nation's healthcare system, which is something that universal healthcare (if implemented correctly) would undoubtedly solve.

No, we are not and that is the point I am trying to make. Insurance companies offer 100's of different policies but your COMPANY, the one you work for, decides which one they buy. It isn't the insurance companies that are ruining health care is it corporate America that decides how much they value their employees by what kind of benefits they offer. Again, we have had fantastic health plans and down right horrible ones--they have ALL been through Blue Cross/Blue Shield though.

[Slig]

Originally Posted by golfgal

No, we are not and that is the point I am trying to make. Insurance companies offer 100's of different policies but your COMPANY, the one you work for, decides which one they buy. It isn't the insurance companies that are ruining health care is it corporate America that decides how much they value their employees by what kind of benefits they offer. Again, we have had fantastic health plans and down right horrible ones--they have ALL been through Blue Cross/Blue Shield though.

Yes, but what about for the people who are self-employed or don't receive health benefits through their employment? Where are affordable policies with a high level of coverage?

[kuan]

Originally Posted by jojo61397

My son has autism

Don't you have a case worker assigned to you by the state? I know my friend's kid is autistic and he qualifies for everything, even a personal assistant to watch the kid so his family can at least have some family time together. He tells me that he still shelled out $18k last year in various expenses.

[BarbaraMN]

I'm sorry your family is going through this right now. I wanted to comment on therapy rates in Minneapolis. Yes, what you noted in your post are the going rates for therapy here but you certainly wouldn't pay those rates. My son receives twice-weekly speech therapy at no cost to us through the public school system. He started at 18 months old (he was deaf) and is now four. They are terrific.

A child with autism can receive excellent therapy through the schools at no cost. My nephew, while not autistic, is in an autism program that involves speech and occupational therapy. Even the busing to/from is included. As another poster mentioned, you may also qualify for disability assistance through the state that could even give you some time to take care of yourself.

You would still have out-of-pocket expenses like nutritional programs but your overall costs would be significantly reduced.

These programs are not unique to Minneapolis but I'm assuming you have already worked with your local school system.

[asitshouldbe]

Unity Hospital killed my grandmother and there was nothing we could do about it. Medical mistakes. What a joke. Remember Doctors only PRACTICE medicine. You must be your own advocate. You basically need to carry a laptop everywhere you go. You need to google every medication and procedure to see if you really are a good candidate for their (treatment plan)or should I say (guinea pig) plan. Do NOT always believe what the Dr. says.

[jojo61397]

Originally Posted by BarbaraMN

I'm sorry your family is going through this right now. I wanted to comment on therapy rates in Minneapolis. Yes, what you noted in your post are the going rates for therapy here but you certainly wouldn't pay those rates. My son receives twice-weekly speech therapy at no cost to us through the public school system. He started at 18 months old (he was deaf) and is now four. They are terrific.

A child with autism can receive excellent therapy through the schools at no cost. My nephew, while not autistic, is in an autism program that involves speech and occupational therapy. Even the busing to/from is included. As another poster mentioned, you may also qualify for disability assistance through the state that could even give you some time to take care of yourself.

You would still have out-of-pocket expenses like nutritional programs but your overall costs would be significantly reduced.

These programs are not unique to Minneapolis but I'm assuming you have already worked with your local school system.

I'm not in MN, so I don't qualify for any programs in MN, and each EI program is run by the states, but funded by the federal government. The state I am in right now, does the bare minimum for children with autism. We are moving to Hampton/Newport News, VA, which has much better services than even MN does.

Just as an example, when we moved here, we were military stationed in Germany. My son received over 7.5 hours a week of therapy from three different therapists for his "global developmental delays". Once we moved here those were cut to one hour a week. Then, they were cut to no hours of therapy, because they had no therapists. I got him into the public school system at 3 years old. Tried to get the state to fund some kind of behaviorial therapy training for parents, and could not get them to do it. So our only option was for my husband to request reassignment, and move to a state with better more sophisticated services. As it stood where we are, every specialist was at least a day's drive away, there is only one-deep therapist in any pediatric field, and services are not given by priority-- they are given by age. We were bumped from three private programs because my child could get equivilant services through the School District. Equivilant services meant-- 4 hours of individual speech therapy going down to one hour a week and 1 hour of OT cut to less than an hour a week with no sensory therapy. Where we are moving to my son qualifies for a special autism school that slowly integrates him into a regular classroom-- includes known methods of behavior modification (ABA therapy), a dedicated speech TEAM, and OT which is over 2 hours a week and includes sensory integration-- all paid for. And no mental retardation waiver for SSI benefits here. Autism in most states is considered by SSI mental retardation, which means you qualify for MEDICAID and SSI if your child is mentally retarded regardless of income.