Welfare in Maine (day care, bankruptcy, vouchers)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by mainer2

Mainers are better off using the welfare system as they get the equivilent of 60K per year. ...

Being on welfare in Maine earns you the equivalent of $60k/year?

[Elcarim]

Wow! I need to get my ass to Maine and apply for welfare!!!

[msina]

LOL El!!! Where's my check?
deerisle has an excellant post on page 1 of this thread.

[treeluvr]

Originally Posted by msina

I'd like to see the facts that show welfare recipients are getting 60k a year in benefits. We don't even qualify for food stamps (I applied for LIHEAP they automatically sent in a form to the Food stamp program). I can't get Mainecare either as our income from Soc Sec is "too high". All of our prescriptions, glasses, dental etc. must be paid out of pocket. I broke a tooth recently, $62 to exray and look at it, tomorrow I go to have it removed (I can't afford to cap it), that's $182. Just trying to find a dentist that will see you without insurance is difficult, if they will take you, they want full payment at the time of the appointment. That's a lot of money for some of us. I know there are people in far worse situations as well that aren't eligable for help. It's hard to ask for help when you need it, harder still to be told there's no help available.

I'm sorry about your tooth Msina--as I grow older, my teeth are chipping and I have had to have two caps. Fortunately, I have great dental insurance through my work (if you can recognize (research) when they are getting experimental and refuse it). However, the health insurance is a completely other story. We are required to pay into an insurance plan, but the Dr. is so inexperienced, unknowledgeble (yes that's the right word),rude and overly busy that I don't go anymore. I am old enough that I should have regular checkups--but I just can't deal with the 6 months wait for a ten minute visit that ends in a prescription I don't want or need. I guess Dr's think most of their patients are stupid, but you can learn an awful lot online these days and if you have had a condition since you are young you may know something about it that a young Dr doesn't.

[msina]

Originally Posted by treeluvr

I'm sorry about your tooth Msina--as I grow older, my teeth are chipping and I have had to have two caps. Fortunately, I have great dental insurance through my work (if you can recognize (research) when they are getting experimental and refuse it). However, the health insurance is a completely other story. We are required to pay into an insurance plan, but the Dr. is so inexperienced, unknowledgeble (yes that's the right word),rude and overly busy that I don't go anymore. I am old enough that I should have regular checkups--but I just can't deal with the 6 months wait for a ten minute visit that ends in a prescription I don't want or need. I guess Dr's think most of their patients are stupid, but you can learn an awful lot online these days and if you have had a condition since you are young you may know something about it that a young Dr doesn't.

Hmmm... It's kinda like "fast food medicine" with many Dr.'s it seems. The last time I went in to the Neurologist he tried to give me Oxycontin. I wasn't there for pain management but for a regular evaluation. I'm more frustrated by spasms then by pain. It seems like they tune you out, read the chart and send you on your way with a new prescription to hurry you out the door.

Well, I wasn't meaning to go on a rant about a tooth, it was more trying to get a point across that it's not easy to get public benefits, and people aren't getting rich off of it. If it were so easy and lucretive, why is it when you need it you find out it's not there? (rhetorical question) Thanks So much for your reply

[truthhurts]

Wow, this is the most amazing discussion I have ever seen involving welfare. Since i have joined this web-site I have never seen this topic debated fairly and honestly without the use of racial stereotypes.

I know Maine has extreme pockets of poverty, but the way you guys civilly discussed this was great! I actually learned something about the program. Most of the boards where this is discussed turn into highly heated racial debates where people are trying to push some sort of smear agenda on another race. Good to see that at least in some places people do care about their fellow man/women even if they're not doing so well financially. Kudos!

Side note i'm not a big fan of welfare or many social programs, because i believe they hurt the people they're designed help more often than help. HOwever, it was good to get a lot of the background information that i never heard before regarding fraud and how states deal with it.

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by truthhurts

Wow, this is the most amazing discussion I have ever seen involving welfare. Since i have joined this web-site I have never seen this topic debated fairly and honestly without the use of racial stereotypes.

I know Maine has extreme pockets of poverty, but the way you guys civilly discussed this was great! I actually learned something about the program. Most of the boards where this is discussed turn into highly heated racial debates where people are trying to push some sort of smear agenda on another race. Good to see that at least in some places people do care about their fellow man/women even if they're not doing so well financially. Kudos!

Side note i'm not a big fan of welfare or many social programs, because i believe they hurt the people they're designed help more often than help. HOwever, it was good to get a lot of the background information that i never heard before regarding fraud and how states deal with it.

truth,,thanx for the kind words,,
most of us on here are respectful towards one another,,,we get the occassional troll and nose-picker,,that will try to stir us up,,but i do think this forum, for the most part, reflects mainers,,courteous,,,independent, with a sense of humor when possible.
and yes, i agree,,thats why i dont go to the national political forums,,or chatrooms,,like a big sandbox,,just throwing mud and labels around,,

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by msina

Hmmm... It's kinda like "fast food medicine" with many Dr.'s it seems. The last time I went in to the Neurologist he tried to give me Oxycontin. I wasn't there for pain management but for a regular evaluation. I'm more frustrated by spasms then by pain. It seems like they tune you out, read the chart and send you on your way with a new prescription to hurry you out the door.

well you are right and that is exactly the reason that I don't much go see a doc. Don't have insurance of any sort or any assistance either.. but even when I did my usual process was to go in and tell the doc what the matter was and what I expected him to do about it! LOL If a doc can't cope, well he never sees me again.. but so far when I have need them they seem to mostly deal ok. Our family doc when the kids were little once asked me (after confirming my diagnosis) why I was there and I told him "'cause they won't let me sign the prescription!" He got a chuckle out of it, signed me one and we were on our way. Most everything we just deal with, one way or another... daughter #1 even learned out to reduce her own dislocated joints (as a pre-teen) as she inherited my loose joints and got a sis who was inclined to be physical. Said it hurt less when she did it to herself, too! LOL

Gods help me that I stay healthy... I DO NOT want to go down the track of having to take tons of meds each day, even if I can afford them (unlikely).

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by msina

...trying to get a point across that it's not easy to get public benefits, and people aren't getting rich off of it. If it were so easy and lucretive, why is it when you need it you find out it's not there? (rhetorical question) Thanks So much for your reply

It isn't that it is particularly "lucrative", no one really gets rich from it (except maybe the one example of the person who was scamming a number of different systems), and I don't think that the term "welfare queen" that someone used is meant to imply a high standard of living.

In most cases, the "living" on welfare is decidedly not the "high life". I think most of the "abuse" I perceive is in the guise of people who are capable of working but choose not to, and who will accept a low standard of living if it means that they can get by without having to work (and some actually live a little...or a lot...better by supplementing welfare with illicit activities such as dealing drugs).

[Aerobars]

Originally Posted by msina

Hmmm... It's kinda like "fast food medicine" with many Dr.'s it seems.

I'm sorry that several of you have had problems with physicians. One of the biggest problems with medicine is managing reimbursements. Negotiating with insurance is a gigantic headache. Imagine if you had a business where people come in and expect service. They pay you a tiny percentage of the bill, and expect to to argue with another company to get paid, and you might get paid, or you might not. Medicare/medicaid pay faster but pay less. An average medicare visit pays something like $50 (for a 15 min visit). It is difficult to handle more than 3 visits/hr (something always runs over, and charting everything that happens during the visit takes a lot of time as well). Then you have to pay the rent, nurses, receptionist, malpractice insurance, and student loans, needles, computer systems (an electronic medical record system can cost $20,000 just for software). Malpractice insurance will vary a lot based on specialty and location. It is not unusual for medical students to graduate with $200,000 or more in debt, and that usually assumes they had parents pay completely for undergrad.

And there are many years of no income, or very little income (4 years college, 4 years of medical school, 3-7+ years of residency where on a per hour basis you get about minimum wage, often working 100+ hrs per week . . . the legislated 80 work week is an absolute fantasy at most places, and interest rates currently fixed at 6.8% means that either your loans are in forebearance during residency or you can't afford food). Then once you finish all this training you have to pay off your loans, and most people want to start thinking about starting a family (reasonable now that you are in your 30's and haven't yet had a decent paying job, or even spent significant time with your spouse, if you have one and they haven't left you yet). Many have to stay on call many nights each week, taking calls from patients at 3am, and if there's something urgent they have to go in and see them.

I'm sorry that several of you have had bad experiences with physicians, I'm just asking that everyone try to understand the pressures they face. I can't think of anyone doing Family Medicine who wouldn't love for every appointment to be 30+ min. Unfortunately it's not possible to do that and stay in the black. It's tough trying to balance listening to and doing our best for patients and the business realities of medicine. No one goes to medical school to manage the business aspects, and the essentials are not even covered, it's up to you to figure them out. This makes it tougher to focus on what we're really concerned about, caring for our patients as a person and understanding our patient's needs and concerns.

This does not excuse bad physicians in the least. If you aren't happy, by all means go see someone else (I understand this can be tough in more rural locales). I hope all of you can find physicians who can take time to listen; that's often the only way to catch a unusual diagnosis, and it's certainly the only way to understand what a patient's treatment goals are and to educate them about their conditions.

Sorry for the thread derailing, you may return to your regularly scheduled discussions.