The Tweet That Brought It All Back Home for Me. Truth is truth.
First off I would like to thank Charles Johnson and the community here for this space. This is one of the saner places.
For that I thank you all.
Excuse my ramblings. Years and years.
Thank you President Obama. Thank you Democratic party.
I’ve posted here years ago about my thoughts on the ACA. When my son was 3 years old he was diagnosed with/developed Leukemia. Three years old. My wife and I say that was a blessing. Too young to understand the gravity of it all. I had to say something to his brother who was 6 at the time. I hope you never have to try and tell your 6 year old his brother may not come home. If it had been a year earlier, we would have lost him as the treatment curve was gaining ground and success almost weekly. We were blessed with two of the finest childhood oncology doctors a mom and dad could pray for.
As it was, he got on one of the successful Chemo cocktails and is now 33 years old and anticipating fatherhood for the first time. Just that is a small miracle. Some of the other children did not survive. They doubted that he could ever father. He endured spinal injections. Drugs that have to kill the good along with the bad cells, and all this as his body is growing. My wife would promise him the world and anything he wished to get through the treatments. Anyone who has gone through this knows the shadows and the fears. He went into remission and all has held. I say a thanks every time I think that we still have him. I was employed, made good money and had a good insurance plan. But it was changed from a self insured, to a HMO, to a third party and we always were in fear that he would be uninsurable at some point in time.
If I lost my job, there was a good chance it would be a fact.
The treatments my son endured were enough to wear you down both mentally and physically,, but the insurer and the hospital would play tennis with the bills (thousands of dollars) and use words like “beyond reasonable and customary” and “experimental” to try and not pay. They called my house almost every other day. I worked as a regional driver for a manufacturing firm and some weeks saw me 4 nights away from home on the road. My wife did most of the heavy lifting with the “machines”, and that is what they are. Bill collection machines. I always thought that if a man acted in good faith, and would pay his bills, not run and hide, but pay all that he can afford every month until his obligation was paid for, it would all work out. What more can be expected from a man? No. The hospital can call, or could call, that marker in at any time. Demand payment in full. My wife told me of the harassment and veiled threats.
I happened to be home one afternoon when the phone rang, and a girl, who sounded like she was 19, informed me in a very cheery voice that if i didn’t do something about my outstanding bill to the caring, loving hospital, I would be subject to a Sheriff sale. It had been years since I could not speak due to my throat closing with anger. Her very demeanor was as if i had bought a color TV and could no longer make payments. So they were to come and lay my life in the driveway? Take what makes me be able to go to work for 6 days a week to balance a book? What transpired between us after my throat allowed me to speak will go unspoken here.
I managed to personally confront a very high up official with the hospital in question, and the calls stopped. Bastards had two different shadow collection agencies, with no visible connection to them they used as hammer to frighten people. Made your viewing of the Children’s Miracle Telethon a whole new experience. Here they are showing a sick child, and all the hope that your contribution can bring, while in the next room, a father is being served papers for outstanding bills.
Now add in the fact that insurers at that time could reject you out of hand for pre existing conditions. You changed jobs? Careers? Hold tight. My boy could relapse somewhere down the road and be ruined because that card was always playable. Sorry. Sick before he got here.
They say save for a rainy day. Be frugal. Pay your bills. I remember Bush the Son with a big smirk on his face announcing to the nation “a new law about declaring bankruptcies and that people who attempt to run from outstanding bills can no longer hide. They will pay.” Followed by cheers.
What was not reported was the people that bill was addressing were people who had a sick son or daughter or loved one, and did not want to end up in the street. Medical bankruptcy. And my employer was shifting back and forth between providers of medical insurance for years. And now they were sold. Sold to a British holding company, who then ran our insurance through other “holdings” across their portfolio.
Far too many years thinking my entire life’s earnings could vaporize in a moment, and my child if stricken could be uninsurable. And here is where I will say that if for no other reason, President Obama will stand among the greats of American Presidents. He got the ACA passed. Now what people have to do is ensure people like Trump come nowhere near the levers of control along with any others who wear the stain of this GOP on them. Mike Huckabee can bring a crowd to it’s feet saying a sick woman is nothing more than a burned down house. Bad investment. Dear Huck; Die. Just fucking die.
.
So I sometimes visit and Tweet the Twitterverse. I did so today. And i saw this.
Just posted this on FB. It’s not that I don’t care anymore. I care exactly enough. I wish everyone did. pic.twitter.com/Av9zCdSyJW— James Morrison (@JamesPMorrison) July 23, 2016
I know that mans pain. I felt it, and feel it. I stand with him. He is me, and I, him.
I suffer from too many words in too short time. I stumble sometimes. Trump sickens me beyond the rest of the self serving cretins who hold you and your loved ones in contempt. They built this. They laughed about it. They don’t give a rats ass about anything but control. Take it from them. Take. It. From. Them.
Thank you for allowing the deep water behind the dam to spill forward. My children are intelligent enough to take from this and know truth. Me? I can never STFU. I will not brag about my boys. They do quite well. My 3rd grand daughter is on the way and my joy and surprise of my life, my daughter Kelly is 20 and going places. We are lucky.
I remember…..
My wife would sometimes grab my brush and use it on my sons hair. I would put it in my kit bag, handy by my side in my truck. I pulled it out one day to brush my hair and clumps of my sons hair were all through it. It was all I could do to pull my rig over safely. And I sat and wept for God knows how long. Long enough to run out of tears. There were long days, and I had to forget and do what I must do to to support the family.
It’s Saturday night. Fuck the GOP. Tomorrow will be Sunday. Fuck the GOP.
Thank you all. Ramble off.