I'm evidence but I have not died yet! I don't have a serious condition but I'm a recent college graduate who had been on a ADD medication for over 6 years. When I graduated my insurance ended, had a very popular ADD medication with a price tag of $230 for a one month supply, and no refills. SO you would think that's not a big deal RIGHT? Think again.
ADD meds are highly addictive to the body even at the lowest dose which I was on, and cause horrible withdrawals that can often lead to suicide. Unable to pay for the medication or make doctor visits every month to fill my medication I decided to stop. Three days later I was not able to go to work, and began my 9 month battle with severe depression, unable to work, suicidal, severely fatigued, and finally developed severe insomnia. I had no money, could not afford to take any more meds, and despite my suicidal urges and cries for help I was denied free health care on the basis that I was a recent college graduate and young. My family has no health insurance, and my mother had recently lost her job. I would have ended up homeless on the streets if my family had not taken me in.
I could not stop sleeping for the first 3 months, I as most ADD patients rely on ADD meds on a every day basis, and after taking the meds for a long period of time the mind becomes lazy and relies on the meds for completing tasks or even waking up in the morning.
What is scary to me is that I had always refused to increase my dosage, and have no addiction history. I don't drink or smoke, and in all very healthy.
So now one year and half later, my depression is better, but I still cannot work or concentrate, or even clean after my self. Six years of college, highly skilled, and I still feel like a vegetable. I came close to suicide 3 times in the past year of recovery, and I was one of the better ones. If I did not have my family by my side to stop me, I would be one of the dead people.
Do you know how many children and college students are on ADD meds these days? So just do the math, go and read how many blogs have been written about people like me who either cannot get insurance or are denied insurance. So are we to just die because our pills every month have no refills, or are too expensive? I went on ADD meds to help get through school and to improve my grades, and I have ended up worthless, depressed, suicidal, and one day away from being homeless all because I lost my insurance, and could not afford the medication on my own, and was even denied free health care.
Some times I wish I had died early on so I did not have to feel so worthless. I cannot tell you how angry I've become at America, and how I was left to die on my own without any care or assistance. I was left to die, and not even my own doctor would return my call because I no longer had insurance to pay for his time.
would say, an 'economist' has no intrisic qualification making them of measureable quality. 'As an economist' could tell you to buy Bear Stearns stock until it no longer exists. Your comment is beyond pretentious.
Rest assured the rest of the World is completely baffled, repulsed by the attitudes you describe. Volunteer medical teams from the UK formed for third world medical relief go to American cities regularly now to help members of the wealthiest nation on Earth. It's fundamentally perverted and disgusting. NOT because of the insurance companies' tactics (we expect nothing less from them) but from your fellow countrypeople who have made this their mission in life to prevent healthcare going to more of their neighbours. I'm guessing there's a special place in the afterlife for people like that when they die.
So much depends on the rules established to govern a co-op and how they compare to the rules governing other members of the healthcare system. More at http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=1288#more-1288
AJ Lester, you aren't paying attention. Everybody in the White House is backing off of a public option and they only mention it when they're forced to. They do not want a public option. They're negotiating away the one thing in the bill that is true reform and they don't have to. They're not going to get a single Republican vote no matter what they do. They're not going to get a single vote from placard waving crazies who don't know the difference between Stalin and Hitler because those people never voted for a Dem in their life and aren't about to start with a black man. So now they're negotiating with Democrats?? No, on something like this, you're either a democrat or you're a pariah but is any pressure being put on these dogs like Conrad and Nelson? No. Would LBJ or FDR let guys like this off the hook on something this important? No way. Sherlock Holmes says when you've taken away all the possibilities but one, no matter how improbable that one is, that's the reason. The WH is getting the bill they want and wanted all along. Something they can call reform but which in reality is a bonanza for the insurance companies and Big Pharma. They don't want that money that's been flowing to the Democrats the last six months to turn around and start going back to the Republicans. They're throwing the fight because Corporate America made them a better offer. Sad to say but not really surprising, there hasn't been a whole lot of change going on since BHO took over. Fooled again.
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