IF YOU SUBSCRIBE, GETTING THIS AS AN EMAIL, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST TO COMMENT (OR CLICK ON THE HEADLINE FOR THE INTERNET)
**********************************************************************
I bet you don’t think about chronic illness as a cause when you read about foreclosures (unless, of course, that’s why you’ve lost your home!)
But, a new study (Get sick or get out, the medical causes of home foreclosure) found that medical bills were a factor in 23 percent of home foreclosures. Overall, illness and injury contributed to about half of the foreclosures examined.
Do you find this statistic staggering? I do.
Along the same lines: “A new study showd that nearly one out of every three working aged uninsured American suffers from a chronic illness and that many of these individuals are not going to their private physicians but are visiting the emergency departments in hospitals for medical care.” Read more
Harold Pollack’s post in the Huffingtonpost blog gives more information about foreclosures and medical costs – and, in particular Obama and McCain’s voting record on health care and chronic illness.
Last week I wrote a blog post (Sarah Palin’s stand on chronic illness) in which I tried to make the point that the candidates should be talking about chronic illness health care coverage. My bad – I mentioned Palin and that is off point.
I don’t think that any single administration will turn this broken system around so everyone gets the health care they need. Nor do I think that we will change the bias around the chronically ill — very quickly. But is it too much to expect that the next President and the people he appoints might at least put some effort into improving the situation?
Recently, at a book reading for my book, Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working, Girlfriend!) at Newtonville Books, a lovely independent book store here in Newton, MA, a young woman told me she has mitochondrial disease and asked me for some advice.
She has a graduate degree and wants to get some work but she’d forfeit her MASS Health payments and maybe her Disability checks. Her mother said they’d worked so hard to get the Disability that they were afraid that any work effort would forfeit her health insurance for now and the future.
The GOOD NEWS is that she was able to get SSDI (which shows how sick she is) and MASS Health. The BAD NEWS? She’s afraid to work — and not just because it might make her sicker!
What do you think — work or take insurance? What a world – what a choice.
Do you plan to vote with your health needs in mind? Do you plan to vote with George Bush’s record in mind?
Rosalind aka cicoach
Jessica says
Rosalind~
Thank you for bringing this up. I appreciate your willingness to put your political viewpoints out there because I think it is important for people, with CI and without, to realize the stands that politicians have and have not taken on this issue. It effects each of us each day… and if we had some base line national helathcare plan your reader would not have to make this heartwrenching decision between working and staying on SSDI.
In light of the forthcoming Wall Street bailout, which is facing resistance to oversight and help for individual homeowners, I wonder if lawmakers are even aware of the statistic you note above and of how impactful healthcare costs are to people to being able to maintain their most basic needs, including housing. I am passing this article along to friends on both sides of the political aisle. Thanks for sharing.
Christina Gombar says
Ros — Thanks for bringing this up. Democrats and Republicans alike — if you have a chronic illness and are struggling with work and disability issues, let your party know!
The above young woman’s dilemma is exactly the type of thing both parties need to address — we need to try to work without being punished by having our safety net income and health care pulled. We need to bring to Senator McCain’s attention that we’d love to hang on to a $58,000 disability pension, as he has, plus life long government paid health insurance, while also earning money at something else. I don’t think he or any other politician has in mind deliberately impoverishing any of us with the Catch-22 “work and lose” system currently in place. They just don’t know about it.
We the chronically ill, working and would-be working community need to get our situation across to our elected officials.
Rosalind says
I don’t think any politician is thinking about this, at all. Social Security disability payments are set by the SSA – and I know, because I’ve been a consultant to them – that they’re trying to make this work better. But the system works poorly as we know. Private insurance policies vary widely. And, each state controls their state health plans. As I said, I don’t think our president is going to pay attention to this issue but he/she will be making appointments and hopefully, will have influence as to how we, as a country, addresses this.
Lee Rachel Jurman says
In MA, Medicaid (MassHealth) has a program for people with disabilities who work and don’t have health insurance. The CommonHealth program provides continuation of MassHealth to people with disabilities who work 40 or more hours a month. A few other states may have a similar work incentive.
SSDI (Social Security disability benefits based on an individual having a work history) has 2 different criteria to consider when thinking about working. The first is Substantial Gainful Activity (or SGA) which is the standard Social Security uses to consider if someone is disabled. In 2008, a disabled person can earn up to $940/month (gross income) before jeopardizing benefits; a blind person can earn $1,570. People on SSDI can have up to 9 months of what is called Trial Work months in a 60 month period. Trial Work is when someone earns $670/month or more (in 2008). So if a person isn’t sure she can work successfully, and doesn’t want to risk losing SSDI, she is safe if her income (based on pay periods, not pay dates) stays under $670/month. It’s much more complicated than that, but this is the start of how to think about it. You can find more information about Trial Work at Social Security’s Red Book at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/redbook/eng/main.htm.
Christina Gombar says
That’s exactly the problem Rachel, this is a work and lose situation for many people. $670 a month, $940 gross? This is not a middle class income, even on top of a Social Security income. This is not an incentive to move forward and work. I know many people who have worked on the “Ticket to Work” program, and wound up having their underlying SSDI pulled, Medicare lost, and were evicted. We need much, much more than this program — it doesn’t work for those who must be truly independent.
Michelle Traub says
I read this post and was totally saddened, but not really shocked. Health care is so unbelievably expensive that even those who do work full time are paying a hefty chunk of their salary toward care – I know I am.
I agree that healthcare is a huge issue in this upcoming election. Here is a great synopsis of what Consumer Reports found to be the candidates’ stance on the issue http://www.consumerreports.org/health/insurance/health-debate/how-the-candidates-proposals-compare/health-debate-candidates-proposals-compare.htm (Sorry it is a really long link)
Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com says
Thanks for that resource, Michelle. I’m going to include it ina post so people are sure to see it. !
seo optimization says
good data……….
seo optimization
pakar seo says
Hello, I log on to your new stuff daily. Your story-telling style is
awesome, keep up the good work!
http://www.missystyles.com/html/userinfo.php?uid=171400 says
What’s up, yeah this post is in fact pleasant and I have learned lot oof things from it on the topic of blogging.
thanks.