#Medicaid for all

[thoughtfulqueerwizard]

It's a fucking disgrace that the USA doesn't have free healthcare for it's citizens. It's a fucking travesty that people have to weigh the cost of staying alive in a time where we HAVE THE ABILITY TO FUCKING TREAT AND CURE SO MANY DISEASES.

[warmhappycat]

every single I have to interact with unitedhealthcare i end up googling stuff like "how to file a human rights complaint" or "how to report crimes against humanity"

[sleepynegress]

THIS ISN'T COMMON KNOWLEDGE BUT SHOULD BE...ABOUT MEDICAID....

If you ever find yourself in the position of living in the home of a parent who is disabled and requires full-time care and you are their primary caregiver for at least 2 years, and they intend to leave their assets to you after they pass, make sure to transfer ownership of their assets, home/land in your name ASAP...or they will require you to pay back any benefits received and claim those assets even out from under you, as soon as your loved one passes. This is yet another way that generational assets /wealth are easily taken out of marginalized communities. It is a loan.

And the sharks circle as soon as your loved one passes. Here's an article about it:

Decided to add context. I don't like to talk about it here, because ehh, social media is for my vapid entertainment thoughts for me. It's a hobby/getaway/ place to get semi-social with strangers and online friends with shared interests, but I don't want anyone else to go through what I am... Of course, this applies specifically to the U.S.'s broken healthcare system. So, for those who don't know, my mom passed recently. I am an only child with no siblings or children. My whole life during that time was 24/7 care. She had insurance, but it wasn't enough to cover everything that she needed, so Medicaid was the obvious solution, right? The government takes care of our disabled elderly who have worked until retirement, right? It seemed like the routine thing to do, I had never heard anything during the process about having to pay it back,but sure enough, less than 12 weeks after her passing, I was hit with a warning (which I followed up on and was told I would NOT be charged because of my caregiver status) and then 2 weeks later the "bill". The lady I spoke to, totally changed her attitude from the first time I spoke to her to the point where I felt scammed. Out came a patronizing voice certain people use with children, that measured whiny thing (it's always a red-flag to me and makes me instantly dislike you if you do this even with kids, btw... speak to kids like PEOPLE). I feel like an idiot. I have been doing this for over a decade and didn't think to transfer any assets of hers during that time because it *was* hers. I wanted her to feel as empowered about that as possible.

Not a single soul said I should transfer those assets to keep this from happening and now I'm facing down what feels like some kind of weird conspiracy to take the land and house.

FYI, there have been weird inquiries, the census came to mark down my mother's death literally *immediately* after she passed...and odd timing called the day of the notice to "help", with all the southern Christian signifiers (bless your heart we'll be praying for you).... It feels so seedy. Anyway, all this to say if you find yourself in a similar position....

TRANSFER THOSE ASSETS INTO YOUR NAME 2 years into caregiving or they will take them from you, house etc..

[normal-with-adhd-is-a-joke]

I've seen several posts discussing the trade-offs of using a mobility aid, and how many mobility aids can cause health issues later on. While this is absolutely true, I want to emphasize something else very important.

It is not normal for your mobility aid to be causing you new-onset issues.

If you are experiencing new pain, muscle weakness, contracture, etc. it's important to look into it asap. Your doctor might have gone over possible issues and their danger levels at prescription or followup appointments for your aid, if they gave you educational material about these issues check that first. If you're experiencing an issue that you're not 100% sure is an expected (and safe enough to not be an emergency) side effect of use, get in touch with a doctor to make sure you're not having a fixable problem and/or a medical emergency. An occupational therapist was able to help me the most but depending on your condition and the issues you're experiencing you might benefit from a physical therapist or a specialist more. Another important thing of note:

Open pressure sores/bedsores are an emergency.

It can feel silly to go to the hospital for a small wound, but if they're not treated and you aren't repositioned to take pressure off the sore you could develop a bacterial infection and die. More than 24,000 people die from pressure sores every year. If you spend a lot of time in bed, sitting in the same place, or in a wheelchair/powerchair you need to learn to recognize the early signs of pressure sores and seek out ways to prevent them. There are special mattresses and cushions specifically for preventing sores. If you have paralysis or another condition that might mask pain you need to either check yourself regularly or have someone check you regularly for sores.

Less important but still good to think about, I recommend talking to someone who specializes in joints (i.e. an orthopedic doctor) about how you position yourself in a bed, couch, or chair if you spend a lot of time in one. Take a picture of your setup, bring it to them, and ask if there's anything more you can do to prevent joint or muscle injury.

[crimeronan]

dentist update: my mouth is actually in WAY better shape than i thought considering i basically didn't brush my teeth at all last year and haven't had a cleaning or regular dental care in 12 years. there's one molar that's not salvageable and another that probably needs a root canal but i honestly expected to lose both bc they've been rotting in my mouth for. Months. and other than that i literally only need like 3 fillings. ✌️

[arctic-hands]

I've had more than one anarchist I associate with be surprised to learn I'm actually not an anarchist. But like. I'm a huge proponent of the Welfare State, and you kind of need a state for that

[bonyfish]

tomorrow when I get to the allergist they're gonna be like, "hey how are you doing after a week without your antihistamines?" and I will reply, "you know that bit in Blade of the Immortal where (for reasons I don't remember bc it's been over a decade since I've read it) something makes the guy's regenerative powers turn against him, and since he's an immortal samurai who gets chopped up doing samurai shit all the time he just starts coming apart along every seam where he healed a wound and he's just violently disintegrating in a welter of blood?"

and my new allergist will be like, "what," and I'll be like, "that is how I am, approximately." and then my new allergist will stab me with like 100 needles, but it will be okay because afterwards I will unhinge my jaw and chomp down on an entire bottle of claritin and then cough up the cap like a dragon coughing up the shield of a defeated knight

and then I will drive an hour back to my house

[californiaquail]

gynecologist wants me to get a whole mri because i probably have a cyst....girl can you please just give me the abdominal surgery

[thoughtportal]

[bakedspoonie]

narcolepsy is hilarious, I fell asleep but my brain didn’t do it all the way so I kept doing my tasks. Finished several quests in Skyrim, made a cup of tea, and fed my cat (I’m assuming I also gave her her pill but I can’t verify that like the other things). Was awoken by a call from my mum about the puppy she’s driving 7 hours for. I was in the middle of a fight in Skyrim and have no memory of the things I did. felt like I was back in school leaving class with a notebook full of notes and no memory of doing it. One time a teacher stopped me on my way out and thanked me for my insight on something, I still don’t know what I said but it was good I guess. Sleep me is more well spoken than awake me was something I learned.

[puppiedogs]

i called the ssa office to ask something and in the pre-recorded message they say, like it’s not fucking Insane, “if you’re calling with regards to a disability claim, due to a staffing shortage, current processing times for disability claims are between 250 and 300 days, after which it will take three to four weeks for you to receive your decision by mail” as though that’s just something that happens whoopsie sorry about that like die actually. how do these people sleep at night

[thedisablednaturalist]

So for at home care do you have to need like, nursing home level care? The nurse I talked to made it seem like that was the case which is why I thought it wasn't for me. I technically can bathe and dress myself but it's hard and I don't bathe as often as I should. I wear mostly overalls and sweaters. It varies though. I can't really do much during a flare up but I'm mostly ok outside of those. Cleaning is super difficult and usually causes a flare up and I rarely am able to clean. Cooking is also difficult as I can't stand that long and my mom doesn't allow chairs in the kitchen (the counters are too tall anyway). But the nurse said I needed to require help with bathing and dressing? Also I'm kind of nervous about having a complete stranger bathing me, as that's super intimate and I have sexual trauma related to that. Could my partner be my aid? He's pretty much the only one I'll let see me in that way.

[binders-and-beanies]

I hate rich people and no I’m not just talking about billionaires

[crimeronan]

therapy is also not about giving a good first impression or being honest. therapy is about charismatically brightly and cheerfully checking all the buzzword boxes so that your therapist likes you enough to tell a psychiatrist to continue prescribing the medication that keeps you from killing yourself the same way basically every woman in your matrilineal line has since time immemorial.

[ejzah]

One more week before spring break and in that time, we’ve got progress reports, evals and IEPs to write, annual updates and meetings, regular services, and of course, delightful Medicaid billing.

How are all my teaching/education friends doing?

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A national physician group this week called for the complete termination of a Medicare privatization scheme that the Biden White House inherited from the Trump administration and later rebranded—while keeping intact its most dangerous components.

Now known as the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model, the experiment inserts a for-profit entity between traditional Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare providers. The federal government pays the ACO REACH middlemen to cover patients' care while allowing them to pocket a significant chunk of the fee as profit.

The rebranded pilot program, which was launched without congressional approval and is set to run through at least 2026, officially began this month, and progressive healthcare advocates fear the experiment could be allowed to engulf traditional Medicare.

In a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) argued that ACO REACH "presents a threat to the integrity of traditional Medicare, and an opportunity for corporations to take money from taxpayers while denying care to beneficiaries."

The group, which advocates for a single-payer healthcare system, voiced alarm over the Biden administration's decision to let companies with records of fraud and other abuses take part in the ACO REACH pilot, which automatically assigns traditional Medicare patients to private entities without their consent.

CMS said in a press release Tuesday that "the ACO REACH Model has 132 ACOs with 131,772 healthcare providers and organizations providing care to an estimated 2.1 million beneficiaries" for 2023.

"As we have stated, PNHP believes that the REACH program threatens the integrity of traditional Medicare and should be permanently ended," Dr. Philip Verhoef, the physician group's president, wrote in the new letter. "Whether or not one agrees with this statement, we should all be able to agree that companies found to have violated the rules have no place managing the care of our Medicare beneficiaries."

Among the concerning examples PNHP cited was Clover Health, which has operated so-called Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs)—the name of private middlemen under the Trump-era version of the Medicare pilot—in more than a dozen states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and New York.

PNHP noted that in 2016, CMS fined Clover—a large Medicare Advantage provider—for "using 'marketing and advertising materials that contained inaccurate statements' about coverage for out-of-network providers, after a high volume of complaints from patients who were denied coverage by its MA plan. Clover had failed to correct the materials after repeated requests by CMS."

Humana, another large insurer with its teeth in the Medicare privatization pilot, "improperly collected almost $200 million from Medicare by overstating the sickness of patients," PNHP observed, citing a recent federal audit.

"It appears that in its selection process [for ACO REACH], CMS did not prevent the inclusion of companies with histories of such behavior," Verhoef wrote. "Given these findings, we are concerned that CMS is inappropriately allowing these DCEs to continue unimpeded into ACO REACH in 2023."

While the Medicare pilot garnered little attention from lawmakers when the Trump administration first launched it during its final months in power, progressive members of Congress have recently ramped up scrutiny of the program.

Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) led a group of lawmakers in warning that ACO REACH "provides an opportunity for healthcare insurers with a history of defrauding and abusing Medicare and ripping off taxpayers to further encroach on the Medicare system."

"We have long been concerned about ensuring this model does not give corporate profiteers yet another opportunity to take a chunk out of traditional Medicare," the lawmakers wrote, echoing PNHP's concerns. "The continued participation of corporate actors with a history of fraud and abuse threatens the integrity of the program."