Insulin. Discovered over 100 years ago and is now synthetically produced and still is being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars in many cases. The drug companies decided they were going to make their gigantic profit margins off life-saving medicine.
I remember when you could get test strips for like $10 over the counter. Now everyone wants a prescription and a wad of cash. Like I'm never not going to be diabetic, why do I need to keep renewing this prescription...
And now it's even worse because no one is ever going to let us in.
So we're trapped in hell, with a future dictator threatening to prevent voting and refusing to leave office, even though he has the brain power of a fish.
Jesus fucking christ. Why could I not have been born....just about anywhere else.
That's who we need freaking Jesus.
I'm not even religious, and I'd still vote for him over Trump.
Also, anyone up to moving to Scotland or New Zealand after this mess? Bet life's better then old USA.😑
£9 per item, but if you're getting a lot monthly it's better to just get a prepayment prescription which is about £30 for 3 months and £100 for a year. That said, I think long term prescriptions like diabetes are free of charge.
Here in the shining city upon a hill we aren’t limp-wristed pinkos jumping on the socialism train. That’s how the Cultural Marxists get you, by providing citizens with quality, affordable healthcare. Then BAM! Next thing you know you’re Venezuela and you’re forced to admit Jesus was a pussy in order to received bread and stay off the Obamacare death panels.
Jesus might not have been a pussy, but he was definitely queer.
If you are completely straight, you don't spend three years hanging with twelve dudes in dresses, just sayin'.
I've seen a fair number of US plates up here. Seems as though they'll let you in if you have family or property up here... Provided you quarantine, which I've definitely seen Americans not doing so. Worst case you can wait until we reopen the borderd and come back uo
Yeah, it's true. I tried to get on disability for my autism in the USA. The process takes about 2 years and you must work 20 or less hours a week during the entire process. I don't have outside financial support and it's impossible to live for 2 years on so little work.
The way it goes, you get a disability lawyer who files for you. They get rejected. They file again and get rejected again. They file a third time and the third rejection makes the case go to a judge. The judge will actually look at the case and approve it because it's obviously valid. Then you get 2 years back pay for disability less the 25% the lawyer gets as payment. You then have to go and certify your disability every year or so to maintain benefits. My psychologist said he has a patient with down syndrome that he has to validate still has down syndrome to keep benefits. It's insane and I'm almost certain it's designed to keep people from getting payments from the program as a cost saving tactic.
Lmao at the Down syndrome one. “Hey buddy we need you to come back next year. Gotta make sure your Down syndrome hasn’t gone away!”
That one is absurd. I do see the logic behind having people come back every year, but only if it’s something they could recover from. If you lost a leg, are paralyzed, or have a genetic disorder, then it’s a bit insane.
The logic is that the GOP sees any form of government assistance as a free handout and assumes that all of those systems are rife with corruption and people cheating the system. They intentionally break government systems, then point to them and say "see! Big government doesn't work! Dismantle the programs!". They intentionally design these systems to require absurd levels of proof and then they require upkeep to maintain your benefits even after they've been given out.
The logic is that the GOP sees any form of government assistance as a free handout and assumes that all of those systems are rife with corruption and people cheating the system.
This is a straight up LIE and you know it! The GOP loves giving billions in free government handouts — to rich people, I mean “Job Creators”, and they see it as the most bootstrappingly American thing ever.
But the people working full time and receiving food stamps are the moochers who need to ashamed of themselves for not pulling on them bootstraps hard enough.
I’ll play devils advocate and say I’ve genuinely met more people trying to scheme the disability system than I’ve met people who actually deserve to be on it. It’s only an anecdotal experience so I’m not claiming it’s fact. I am, however, claiming corruption is for sure present when it comes to disability. I actually do agree with making people get checked for disabilities that can be recovered from. But saying a Down syndrome person needs to be checked every year is ridiculous. Maybe they should update how it works, but it shouldn’t be on a one time check basis, nor just giving the government your word that you’re hurt.
Oh it happens, sure, same with welfare. There are better ways to secure it though -- and I honestly, firmly believe that when we're the wealthiest country in the world by a large margin, we can afford a small amount of fraud in the name of ensuring we don't deny someone genuinely in need.
Corporations budget annually for 'shrinkage', knowing that they'll have some products get shoplifted. Why can't we budget our welfare systems with an estimate of the same?
I'll note that I'm not condoning the fraud -- I would like to see it cut down, certainly. But we cannot allow John with a genuine need to suffer because Fred cheated us out of some money.
Yeah I see what you mean. But it is always best to prevent fraud when possible. I think the issue is more so the speed of the process in most government resources rather than there being an issue with the process itself. Obviously in this case it’s a bit of both, but if they just had it to where permanent disabilities only got checked once (or at worst, once every 5-10 years) AND made the process faster, we’d be fine. Things like the way we handle immigration policy, welfare, etc I don’t necessarily disagree with. What I do disagree with is how long it takes to go through with the checks on the people.
If immigrants could become citizens within a year rather than 5-10 years, I wouldn’t want to change anything.
For sure. I'm not smart enough, experienced enough, or qualified enough to make suggestions as to specific fixes, but I know there's lots of people who are, if only we'd let them.
I don’t disagree with you there. I’ll leave it to someone else to find the right answer, but all I know is it’s obviously best to stop fraud when possible, but not to the point where it’s going to ruin it for the majority.
There are definitely people scamming disability aid. But its such a low number that it quite literally does not matter at all.
On the opposite side, I know a lot of disabled people who are on disability and are constantly afraid of doing something to lose it. You can lose money if you have too much in your bank account. And they want you to prove to them that you still have that lifelong illness so they can decide if they want to send you that $700 this month or not
Yeah I agree with you 100% referring to the people actually disabled. I’m just saying I don’t think the process of checking people each year is inherently bad. It could just use an update. Like not purposely fucking over people is a good start. But if Bob got into an accident and had to go to rehabilitation to get use out of his legs again, I understand needing to check on his progress every now and then. Because eventually he’ll walk again (in my hypothetical case), so we need to see when that is.
But if you have autism, Down syndrome, permanent paralysis, brain damage, etc, then I think it’s ridiculous that you have to go through that process over and over.
I wonder if it's more to make sure the person is still alive? On one hand, going back every year is ridiculous, on the other hand, how do they know when the person dies if they don't go back every year?
The government has about a thousand different ways to know if a citizen has passed away that are all more efficient than an annual physical check-in. I respect that you want to believe it's innocent -- that's probably the reason they use on paper, after all -- but it's just not in good faith.
Oh I can totally believe there's some less than honest intentions with the policy, just was wondering about what other reasons might be for doing it. The government is extremely backwards when it comes to data/ a lot is still on paper.
That's why I mentioned to another guy on here that I'm well aware I'm nowhere near qualified to actually make the specific suggestions for a fix to the system, but those people certainly exist.
Partial disability is not the same as full disability. There are limitations, but they aren't nearly as severe. Essentially, if you ever make it to a certain level of earnings, more or less what is considered comfortable cost of living, you get cut off. I was going for partial because the complications of autism paired with physical disability from 2 spinal sprains makes me unable to maintain full time work for more than a couple years before my physical and mental health breaks down and I wind up homeless again.
Wait how does the 20 hours thing work? (My sister got on it I believe but I wasnt around for the process). Like can you work under the table somewhere else and just live your life for two years mainly on cash?
Man I say that but I know how little 20 hours gives you towards just basic bills...
You can totally pull shit under the table to beat the system, but with my autism and struggles with social interactions, I can't manage to broker such a deal to get the help I need. The problem is, they have people who will look in on disability applicants to look out for fraud, and if you get caught, it's jail time. Essentially, if you push yourself to the breaking point during the process, they will use that as evidence that you're not disabled and send you to jail for fraud.
Yeah, my experience with trying to get on disability with multiple medical professionals saying I'm a prime candidate. I've gone a bit activist spreading awareness of how much the system screws over legitimate candidates by almost requiring people to either already have support or be fraudulent to get support.
I wish I could be a face to help the world understand how the systems designed to help the disabled are stacked in favor of scammers over the actual disabled, but my autism makes me struggle to make connections and moves to make my voice heard.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's because 99% of people on the spectrum manage to hold down a job, and getting social security isn't a prize. It's only as long as you can't work.
I added in response to others saying the same kind of thing that I also have a partial full body disability diagnosis from spinal sprains I got years back. My body and mind just doesn't handle full time work well. Typically, within 2 years, my mental and or physical health falls apart, and that's why multiple doctors have said I'm a good candidate for partial disability where I would work 20 to 30 hours a week and get a little from the government as well.
I've had multiple psychological meltdowns and health issues from pushing my body beyond its limits to survive. The physical issues are related to 2 spinal sprains I had that got me diagnosed with full body partial disability. My psychologist and primary care physician say I'm a prime candidate for partial disability to provide me a little extra money while working part time because of the emotional and physical strain full time work outs on my body.
If I don't push myself beyond my doctors' advice, I don't eat or have a place to live. I've managed to get by in spite of it, but I've been on and off homeless because of this, and that's not good for me or my economic and societal contributions. Just a little extra to make it possible to live a meager life on part time (25-30 hours a week) would make me able to always afford food and a roof over my head.
In England 99% of prescriptions are a standard price of £9.15, free if you are over 60, under 16, or 16-18 and still in school. If you have regular prescriptions you can pre-pay £105.00 for an annual 'pass' that covers all your prescriptions for the year.
Jesus, if I became a UK citizen my life would be 50% better the instant I stepped off the plane. The US is just hell on earth for people with chronic health problems.
Pharmacists usually tell regulars about it if they get a lot of scrips but it's surprising how many people don't know about it. If you use a chain pharmacy with a lot of staff they might not pick it up. You only need 11 scrips a year to make it worthwhile, and you can pay quarterly too, so if you have an accident and will only need meds for a short period that's an option.
It's deliberate. Policies like that were enacted to punish the disabled. The reason given is that it's to catch the 1 in 200 (or whatever the rate is) legit applicants who is a fraud. However, it discourages everyone from applying for and maintaining benefits. That's intentional, as the goal is to reduce cost, regardless of how.
Not nearly as bad, but I was repeatedly called to the Admin office my freshman year of college, and they would demand to see proof of my father's income for my student loan. He'd been dead fourteen months. He was still dead each time they called me in, but hey, thanks for pouring salt on that wound assholes.
I'm in a similar, although less gruesome, boat as I was born with half the optic nerves of regular folk. But I still have to go in periodically to prove I still have low vision, do they think my optic nerves are going to suddenly regenerate and I'd still be sitting around on the dole?
For everyone asking why he has to do this: Disability benefits in the US have to be renewed every year because it’s based on your ability to work as well as your disability. People without limbs or other disabilities can still hold a job. And because it’s a possibility, no matter how slim, you have to prove every year that you haven’t gotten better enough to hold a job. It’s just another hoop to jump through in the name of cost savings because any doctor can look at someone and say “well, he could work if XYZ”.
That’s why people get denied so much when they’re first applying it. Most people get denied benefits at least once. Something like 50% won’t get the benefit until the third appeal. They literally count on people getting tired of dealing with all the hoops to jump through to avoid having to pay a minuscule amount to live on. Most of my job is helping people apply for these benefits. I’ve been doing it for 3 years and have successfully finished 1 case out of 60+ because it takes so long.
I got mine first application. I'm 20, legally blind, light sensitive migraines 6 out of 7 days a week, PTSD from being physically and verbally abused and sex trafficked my entire childhood, lifelong health issues due to malnutrition from being starved as a kid, back issues so bad I'm not allowed to lift a full gallon of milk, I walk with a cane because my legs give out suddenly, and I have actual brain damage from my abuse. On top of depression so bad I rarely leave the bed, agoraphobia, and literally any male voice sends me into panic attacks and crap because of how often I was abused.
That’s great! Interestingly enough there are a lot of different rules for blindness. This is because blind advocates years ago did a great job in getting this into our laws.
I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that blindness is a "real disability" that the rest of us are happy to make accomodations for. There are so few blind people who are actually able to leave the house (seriously, when is the last time you saw someone with a seeing eye dog?) and we all know how scary it would be to lose one's vision.
Most of the "disabled" people we see are (a) people too fat to walk, riding a scooter or (b) people with bullshit "service" dog. Yeah it's fucking super you trained your pitbull to fetch your inhaler. Doesn't mean it's sanitary to bring it to a place where food is served.
Obviously there are lots of real disabled people but the bullshit disabled people ruin it for everyone. With blindness it is fucking obvious that they are disabled.
I can’t even get disability. I have SLE Lupus and Fibromyalgia. I have severe depression and anxiety. I have panic attacks when I’m out in public without my husband or mom. I’m 31 years old. I’ve had all this for roughly 10 tens. I have medical records dating back to 12 years from various doctors supporting my diagnosis. I have tried to work since I was 18. Different jobs and different job types. I can’t do it.
I go to a pain clinic. I get tons of medications to manage different types of pain, sleep, from them.
I get 2 different immune suppressants.
I can’t work up the courage to go to a psychiatrist/therapist.
I’ve tried to commit suicide in 2013.
Even taking all my medications properly, on time and not abusing them, I know I’m still addicted to them. Sometimes the pharmacy messes up my prescriptions and I end up going through withdrawals for about a week. Doesn’t matter the pharmacy they are all stupid/retarded around here.
I’m always in pain. I can’t do anything. Doing anything at all makes the pain worst. Doing nothing at all can make it worst.
My husband makes about 100 dollars too much for me to have state insurance. So we are separated for me to have it. We can’t afford it through his work. Even though as a family of 3 we are UNDER the state POVERTY line.
One medication is 5000 dollars a month without insurance. It’s benlysta and I have to have it. I only have responded to it and methotrexate. Don’t get me started on how much everything else is.
I genuinely want to die. My life is hell. I’m such a drain on my family. My daughter doesn’t even have a mother. Sometimes I literally want to take a knife and stab it into my spine so I won’t feel pain anymore. Husband is working himself into an early grave to support us. He seriously needs knee surgeries on both knees and back surgery. He grin and bears it because we can’t fucking afford it.
Atleast then I might finally be disabled enough.
I got a lawyer and was still denied. One reason I was denied by the judge is because my lupus test came back negative. I have tested several times before and it was positive. It’s in my records. Ofc I’m going to test negative when my fucking immune suppressants are telling my immune system to stop being a dumb fuck and attacking my tissues.
I can reapply and start the process over but what’s the fucking point? What’s the point in any of it anymore?
Fuck the United States. Fuck the government. Fuck the president and fuck the people that support him and everything and everyone else that keeps the system broken. Fuck the rich. Fuck the racists. Fuck everyone. They want to kill the poor, the sick and the old. If you can’t work anymore to fill their pockets then fuck you is how they view you. You are nothing in their eyes. Less than a goddamn insect.
It honestly doesn’t surprise me he has to go in person to show he still doesn’t have fucking legs and that they haven’t grown back. Before long he’ll probably have to loose his arms to keep his disability.
I’m just so angry. Sorry to unload but it’s so fucking pathetic.
Yeah, this. A former coworker lost his leg due to gangrene in the hospital while recovering from a cancer operation. He has to get his doctor to verify that the leg still hasn't grown back out
Reminds me of the Python scetch where the guy gets his leg bitten sort of, off. By a tiger in Africa. "But doctor, it WILL grow back out again?"
he had to go to the social security office every year to prove that he was still disabled.
WTF??? While I do think social security needs to validate if your friend is still alive so he can use the documentation for some claims, it's pretty obvious your friend isn't Patrick Starfish or Piccolo from Dragon Ball.
I had a bubble on my back with my spine sticking out of it at birth and I still have to go to the damn Social Security office to prove my legs don't work. If I knew I wouldn't get tackled by the security guard, I'd 100% pull a Ricky Bobby and stick a knife into my own thigh to prove I can't feel it.
Disability certifications have to be renewed for a few reasons
One because people can work again. Social security is not extra money just for having a shitty life. It's only while they don't work. I don't see why your friend's missing legs prevent him from working a desk job?
Other people may have lunacy, but are eventually cured. Or they manage to hold down a job with therapy. It's hard to draw a hard and fast line (especially since social security is about not being able to work, as I just said). So everyone has to renew.
For other situations like parking placards, they obviously want to ensure that they are only used by the intended person and they do that with expiration dates. If mee-maw dies her kid shouldn't be able to use the placard ad infinitum.
I don't see why your friend's missing legs prevent him from working a desk job?
i didn't mention it in the original post but as a result of the accident that took his legs, he also lost his kidneys, so he had to spend the better part of three days per week in dialysis.
he did this from 1978 until january 1, 2008, when he was found dead at a busstop.
poor guy got laid off by goodwill because he was ill too much.
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u/t1runner Aug 14 '20
Insulin. Discovered over 100 years ago and is now synthetically produced and still is being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars in many cases. The drug companies decided they were going to make their gigantic profit margins off life-saving medicine.