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Change

Put yourself in her shoes.  A moment is all I ask.

You’re a woman.

A mother.  A wife.  A daughter.  A sister.  A friend.  An employee.

You are many things to many people. 

You don’t feel well, but you press on.  Time passes, and your husband encourages you to go to the doctor.

Your employer doesn’t offer health insurance, and you can’t afford to pay for private-pay coverage – not with 5 mouths to feed and bills to pay, not since your husband was laid off when the economy tanked. 

Your family qualifies for medicaid , as long as your income stays low, and so your husband works only part time, keeping you just below the cut-off.  You can’t risk not having health coverage for your kids.

So you try to go to the doctor and you are refused, time and time again, because few doctors will take Medicaid patients and those who do, aren’t accepting new patients.  You call your former doctor, sure he will see you, and learn he has retired.

Your symptoms persist, get worse.

You go to the local clinic and are told you probably have “woman problems”.  Probably.  Have woman problems.  Whatever the hell that means. 

Finally, you find a doctor who will see you, and he tells you, point blank, that he doesn’t like to take Medicaid patients.  As he examines your abdomen, he says yes, he can feel something.  It’s probably ovarian cysts.  Probably.  He gives you a prescription for pain killers and tells you to come back in 6 months if you’re still having problems.

The months pass.  Your symptoms have worsened, and the pain meds only slightly dull the pain.  You can hardly function, barely get through the day, but you’ve used all your sick time and are afraid to be fired if you don’t show up for work.  Your family needs that paycheck. 

You call for an appointment and are told that the soonest the doctor can see you is 3 months from now.  Because you’re on Medicaid, and there are only so many slots available.

You suffer.  Your family suffers with you, because the pain is so severe, so horrendous.  You’ve lost your appetite, overcome with relentless nausea.  Your friends and family comment on how pale you look.

Finally, you get in to see the doctor.  Again, he complains about your Medicaid.  Makes you feel like you’re the scum on the bottom of his shoe.  He looks at your file, listens to your complaints.  Without even examining you, he writes you a new prescription for a different pain medication.  Tells you that if you’re still not well in six months, he’ll discuss a hysterectomy with you.  Because you probably have woman issues.  Probably.

More time passes, and you are in so much pain that you can barely walk.  Getting into the car one day, you feel as though something in your abdomen has burst.  The pain is unbearable, like nothing you have ever felt.  You are rushed to the ER.

The CAT scan reveals two large tumors.  The one on your colon is 5 cm in diameter.  The one on your liver is a whopping 12 cm.  A biopsy concludes that they are malignant.

“There are a few treatment options,” the oncologist says, “but so many more if we’d caught it sooner.”

If only someone had taken you seriously when you first sought medical attention.

There is nothing left to do, but hope, and weep, and wonder what could have been. 

If only.

She has a name, a face, a history.  Likes, dislikes, passions.

Her name is Rachel.

She has a wonderful smile, an infectious laugh.

She works hard, pays her taxes. 

Maybe you support healthcare reform.  Possibly, you oppose it.  Perhaps you don’t know what to think.

Is this what Rachel deserves, America?  Is this the kind of healthcare that anyone should have to live with?  To die with?

This much I know is true:

Rachel is not the only one.  Politicians can spout off statistics all day long, but who are the people behind them?  What are their names?  What are their stories?  

Put yourself in any of their shoes, only for a moment.  And then dare to tell me that nothing needs to change.

30 replies on “Change”

No!! That’s not what she deserves! What a terribly sad story. Do you know her? Is there anything I can do to help her or her family?

Ronda,
I do know Rachel.  Her husband and my husband have been friends since High School.  The CAT scan was only done at the end of last week, so this is all very new.  I’m not sure at this point what anyone can do to help.  They are researching treatment options and kind of just trying to take things one day at a time at this point.  There’s a lot of hope. 

Stories like this make me sick, make angry, make me cry. This is why I support health care reform. No one deserves to be treated like that. No one deserves to be neglected like that. No one deserves to be ignored like that.

I will definitely keep Rachel and her family in my thoughts. I hope they find something that can be done to keep her with her family, keep her with her children.

Please keep us updated. I’ll keep her and her family in my prayers. I hope a successful treatment can be found.

There are too many stories just like Rachel’s. I’ve never been one to hit the streets in protest of injustice, but in the case of health care — I.AM.ANGRY.

I wrote a post in March about it, calling myself “hesitantly optimistic” about where health care reform was heading. But we’re not getting there near fast enough.

Heartbreaking. I do support Health Care reform and I’m hoping that what has passed it not watered down even further into something useless.

I send Rachel my best & I hope that, at the very least, she gets the care she deserves.

And I hope the doctor who dismissed her symptoms because she is on Medicaid a) hears about this & feels like the scum HE is and b) gets retribution from Karma in some way.

OMG. My heart is breaking for your friend and her family. I just cannot fathom why something like this can and does happen.
Sending lots of good thoughts that way. Please keep us posted on how she is and if there’s anything we can do.

Thanks for posting this story. Being a nurse at an inner city hospital I saw a lot of Rachels. I agree very much that something must be done and those that don’t think so are sitting there with no worries and passing judgement on those less fortunate than themselves. I fight this attitude in my own family. I find myself educating the ignorant on this issue all the time. One day we may all be a Rachel and how will we feel then?

When people tell me they don’t support healthcare reform, I ask them who they know that is insurable. In other words, if their friends lost their jobs, would they be able to get private insurance? Guess what? Most people are not insurable. It’s so easy to be uninsurable, but no one recognizes it.

One of the things I was looking into was if I could maybe come up with a fund for Rachel’s family, something to help them with their bills while she’s in treatment and can’t work. The problem with that is, if they receive “too much”, they could lose their Medicaid and then they will be in a terrible position of not having ANY health coverage. Rock, meet hard place. I’ll keep you all updated! Thank you so much for spreading the word about Rachel’s story – if nothing else, let’s not let the future ‘Rachel’s’ out there go through this!

I think @PrincessJenn has a good idea.

What if Rachel’s family doesn’t “receive” the money? What if the fund pays directly their rent, utilities, car payment, etc…?

What if cash shows up mysteriously at Rachel’s house?!

This upsets me for so many reasons. One, for Rachel. I hope that everything turns out for her. Second, her children and family. Third, we should not ever treat people this way. I am insulted that no one took her complaints serious enough to treat her early and even more insulted that she was brushed aside with “woman problems”. I wonder what kind of nation we have become? Where is the compassion or the concept of doing what is right? We do need health care reform, asap!! I hope that Rachel gets the treatment she needs and makes a full recovery I also hope that she can find some peace from the worry she must feel for her family.

You could do something useful instead of praying.

You don’t see doctors finding a treatment through prayer. Never have, never will. Ever.

Thank you for your point of view, Adam, but I wonder if you saw where Ronda *asked* if there was anything she could do to help? Or read through the comments further to see that readers are helping me come up with a way to help Rachel and her family without compromising their Medicaid?

I’m very sad for your friend. I can relate a similar story. My mother was a diabetic from her late 20s through the end of her life. She worked hard her whole life (full time) but never had insurance nor did she ever qualify for Medicaid. So she had to scrimp and save, beg and borrow, to be able to afford her medication. She only went to the doctor when they refused to refill her prescription, because she couldn’t afford to go for any other reason. She suffered various aches and pains but contributed it to the diabetes or getting older. She certainly couldn’t afford to have regular checkups. So one night, two months ago, my mother had a massive heart attack and died. She was only 56. She spent what little money she had managing her diabetes, and because of that she was never diagnosed with heart disease.
It’s time for enough to be enough. I will keep your friend in my thoughts.

Some of these comments are so retarded. Democracy is not a virus, HUMANS ARE. Has it occurred to you that this is the world we’ve created for ourselves?! Everyone is SUPPOSED to die. Life expectancy used to be much shorter, but we as a species have “improved” it through medicine, and pharmaceuticals, and the almighty chemistry which we all know is a good reason we’re all getting cancer to begin with. Let’s spray all the fruits, vegetables, and animals with pesticides and antibiotics so that farmers can make a good living with higher yields and no child will have to go hungry because of pesky old nature. Let’s keep everyone alive until they have no more use or will to live, because no one should ever have to say goodbye to Grandma. Every single organism on this earth finds a balance, except for humans. By definition, a “a parasite obtains benefits from a host, which it usually injures”. Sound familiar? You’re praying to God for help? We have been given everything necessary to live, grow, be happy and multiply, and it wasn’t good enough so we’re using our “superior” knowledge to trash our and everything/everyone else’s homes and resources as fast as we can manage. You want to point a finger at health care?! Look in a mirror and point at your own hideous nature. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Yes, you. Right there. Thinking to yourself “Not me!”. Every one of us.

This is a heart-wrenching tale and no one will say that this is how our health care system ought to function. But the problem was with her government provided health care – Medicaid. This would have been caught sooner had she or her husband found work with employer-provided health care or if they paid out of pocket for an exam. There should be reform to the health care system, but all Obama’s plan will do is make Rachel’s situation the norm for everyone else. She should have paid for the appointment she needed. Doctors give discounts for those paying without insurance. Maybe if they weren’t trying to work the system by intentionally working fewer hours, they could have paid for the appointment that could have saved her life. Or maybe if the government was able to run Medicaid efficiently, then doctors wouldn’t be refusing to see patients using it.

I’m truly sorry for Rachel and her situation. I think it is an awful story and I could not imagine the hell her and her family are living through.

Healthcare reform is not the answer. As PP stated, it was the GOVERNMENT Health care that screwed this woman over. And, she and her husband were scamming ME – working less so they could use my hard earned tax dollars.

From the story it seems as if a year (if not more) had passed. There were honestly NO job opportunities? I mean McDonalds and Taco Bell even offer their full time employees insurance. Surely working full time + insurance is better than working part time with none. There are other solutions than the government dictating how and when we can receive medical care. Obviously the government did not help Rachel when she needed it – and we’re supposed to entrust them with our entire nation’s health (except those in Congress, they will keep their special insurance/program they already have).

Unfortunately there are too many people like Rachel and her family ‘using’ the system. They are able to work and won’t just to stay on government assistance.

And as far as health care reform for the kids, MOST states have insurance programs for children whose parents can’t afford insurance. The story says they need medicaid for the KIDS.

Again, I’m truly sorry for Rachel and what she and her family have been through, it flat out sucks. But just because one person (who was trying to USE the system) fell through a crack doesn’t mean the entire thing is flawed. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but giving it all to the government to fix is definitely not the answer.

I would like to add a few things.

First of all, I know it sounds like a no-brainer for Rachel and/or her husband to go get a better job, one with full benefits. Have you tried to get a job, lately?

The unemployment rate for California is 13.2%. That’s pretty high, right? Well, the unemployment rates for our county and the two surrounding counties, where one might find a local job, are 20.4%, 21%, and 27.4%, respectively. I have college educated friends with tons of experience who can’t even get a job at Wal-Mart, of all places. McDonalds, Taco Bell. THEY AREN’T HIRING.

As far as paying a doctor out of pocket for an exam? I’ve had un-insured friends try to go to our local doctors with fist-fulls of cash and be turned away. No insurance = NO DOCTOR. It’s unfortunate, to be sure, but that is the way it is, at least here.

Thirdly, I understand that it’s easy for someone else to read Rachel’s story and see all the things she SHOULD HAVE done. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Rachel and her husband, both, could tell you a million things they could have done differently. But they put faith in their doctors to take care of them, and they were failed. Not by Medicaid – by their DOCTORS, who don’t want to spend time with patients whose insurance won’t pay their inflated fees.

Would I ever end up in Rachel’s shoes? I don’t think so. If you’d like to see how *I* react when a doctor tells me to “wait and see”, go to my health & fitness category and see the kind of war path I went on when a tumor was found and the doctor who found it told me to “wait and see”. I. think. NOT.

But not everyone knows they can challenge what a doctor says. Not everyone knows they have options. Not everyone knows that when it comes to your health, YOU have to be your OWN advocate.

And that is why I *know* Rachel is not the only one.

My family and I pay $1200 per month for health insurance, and it isn’t even GOOD insurance – it was supposed to be, but it turns out? The insurance company challenges every little thing and we have paid thousands of dollars out of pocket for prescriptions, doctors visits and hospital stays. Who can afford that kind of thing? We are fortunate that we can, but we are the exception NOT the rule.

*stepping down from my soap box now*

I’m Canadian, which means I currently live in the system that the US’s Health Care Reform is trying to emulate. And it’s not perfect – not by a long shot. Doctors and nurses are overworked and harried, you still have to be your own advocate, there are obscenely long wait times for things deemed “non-critical”, and you’re taxed up the wazoo.

But I don’t have to worry about whether my kid’s fever is “high enough” to justify paying the ER fee, or whether my symptoms will be taken seriously. (Not to say sometimes they aren’t – but if that’s the case, you just go find another doctor.)

I’m so sorry your friend is going through this. I hope she can get the help she needs.

I stumbled upon this story, and I have to say I’m appalled by the healthcare the USA offers. One of the largest, most powerful countries in the world and THIS happens to its citizens.

Hey, it may not be a ‘normal’ occurance, buts its unacceptable.

I live in the UK and we are heading toward getting rid of our NHS (state run healthcare), and going for a healthcare insurance root. To be honest it TERRIFIES me that we could end up like the USA is healthcare respects, so I feel for this woman deeply.

As to the post I am repsonding to, your narrow minded view sickens me. Government healthcare screwed this woman over cause the doctor was narrowminded enough to dislike Medicaid patients.
He DISCRIMINATED against her, when he made an OATH to care for his patients. This should be regardless of age, race and INSURANCE.
If you are all equal, all have the same rights and the same healthcare cover then people would not fall under the radar.
We have poverty in the UK, sure. Despite that everyone is able to receive health care, pay for subsidised prescriptions and not have to worry if we fall sick. I’m not saying our systems perfect, but your ability to pay for insurance shouldn’t affect your health.

All you see is $ when you hear about the healthcare reform, worrying about your tax going to help people who can’t cover their healthcare cause of the hyped up costs of treatment in your country. Some people can’t get jobs that give them cushty healthcare insurance or be able to afford it.

If you entrust you healthcare to Government it will ensure NO ONE falls through the cracks in the end, because everyone is equal and greedy doctors looking to line their pockets won’t be able to discriminate because someone is on Government funding.

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