2008 Woodie Awards
In The End We All Lose
If elected...Can one of you eager Candidates please fix this situation?
Issac Stolzenbach
Issue date: 10/29/04 Section: Opinions
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After the nurse removed my IV, the hospital's finance representative greeted me and the true price of my motorcycle accident was revealed.
She asked me various questions about how I was going to pay for my emergency room visit in the middle of the night; I had no medical insurance, so this was obviously a large concern for a financial representative whose hospital had probably just spent twenty to thirty grand on their newest patient.
I explained that I had no medical insurance because I was a student, and I was on a motorcycle because I could not afford auto insurance and auto payments. I asked if I was eligible for Medicaid because I did not have medical insurance and I made very little money last year from a debilitating back-injury the year prior. The representative replied, "Do you have children?"
This is a salient example of why we all need to reexamine our current social system; someone who is single and was responsible with birth control in their younger years should be eligible for State medical assistance just like someone with a family is, but because I'm not married and do not have children - I am not eligible for Medicaid. This is preposterous! When it comes to getting state assistance, it seems that if you are just another single person out there, then you do not exist.
Another example of how our current social system does not acknowledge the "singles population" is that you cannot get food stamps if you are single and have a car worth more than three thousand dollars. I found this out after being laid-off for not being able to do my job, from the back injury I had suffered in a car accident.
Because Florida is a "Right to Work" state, my employer had the right to fire me from a medical condition - no union to protect me - and without a job, no medical insurance to get better.
After slumming-it for about a year I finally collapsed and decided that I needed food bad enough to try and get assistance from the state. They told me that my car was worth too much; if I wanted assistance I had to sell my car. Would have loved to sell the car, problem is, the car is worth less than the pay-off (as one will usually find); thus, if I sold my car I would owe the bank $7000. Holy antinomy!
The moral of the story goes like this, rule #1: do not get hurt. Rule #2: if you are single, either get married soon or stay living with your parents. Rule #3: the state will not recognize you if you need their help - that is, until next tax season.
She asked me various questions about how I was going to pay for my emergency room visit in the middle of the night; I had no medical insurance, so this was obviously a large concern for a financial representative whose hospital had probably just spent twenty to thirty grand on their newest patient.
I explained that I had no medical insurance because I was a student, and I was on a motorcycle because I could not afford auto insurance and auto payments. I asked if I was eligible for Medicaid because I did not have medical insurance and I made very little money last year from a debilitating back-injury the year prior. The representative replied, "Do you have children?"
This is a salient example of why we all need to reexamine our current social system; someone who is single and was responsible with birth control in their younger years should be eligible for State medical assistance just like someone with a family is, but because I'm not married and do not have children - I am not eligible for Medicaid. This is preposterous! When it comes to getting state assistance, it seems that if you are just another single person out there, then you do not exist.
Another example of how our current social system does not acknowledge the "singles population" is that you cannot get food stamps if you are single and have a car worth more than three thousand dollars. I found this out after being laid-off for not being able to do my job, from the back injury I had suffered in a car accident.
Because Florida is a "Right to Work" state, my employer had the right to fire me from a medical condition - no union to protect me - and without a job, no medical insurance to get better.
After slumming-it for about a year I finally collapsed and decided that I needed food bad enough to try and get assistance from the state. They told me that my car was worth too much; if I wanted assistance I had to sell my car. Would have loved to sell the car, problem is, the car is worth less than the pay-off (as one will usually find); thus, if I sold my car I would owe the bank $7000. Holy antinomy!
The moral of the story goes like this, rule #1: do not get hurt. Rule #2: if you are single, either get married soon or stay living with your parents. Rule #3: the state will not recognize you if you need their help - that is, until next tax season.