Two of my adult sons(I am a mother to four sons) 23 and 28 were passengers in a horrible auto crash 8-8-09 . They have no private health ins. The driver no auto ins. Their bills combined are half a million dollars in their twenties. After the emergency care and surgeries the door closed . They have no continuing care and cannot get any . A lien from the trauma/surgical hospital was filed in court within weeks on my youngest sons bills. I applied for medicaid for them and they were turned down but meet all criteria. Medicaid is federal but each state makes their own rules and decisions on he sick and injured this needs to change I would like to know what the ratio of those who get coverage under medicaid in WI compared to how many are rejected for medical access. I am still fighting that battle they cannot get private insurance with the cost and serious pre exiting medical problems they will have for the rest of their lives. My youngest of the 2 Adrian has lost the use of his shoulder and upper arm the axilllary nerve is severed and the muscles are atrophied after a metal plate was put in to hold his shoulder to his neck. He waited at home for 22 days to get that metal plate in. His collarbone was broke hanging in three pieces his shoulder blade busted up like a jig saw puzzle only able to sit in a recliner waiting for the repair he could not have the luxary of a hospital bed as Lance Armstrong did. He was in very unstable condition to be at home blood clotting possibilities severly increasesd his blood pressure pain off the charts he had an infection on his chest and I cannot began to explain the screaming from pain with nothing holding his shoulder to his body but his face mucsles.His upper arm is non functioning with no self movement or control 11 months later. My older James has a full metal leg of titanium rods pins screws and plates in his arm also reconstructed with metal and multiple broken ribs. He broke two pins/screws in his leg 8 months ago when he returned to work as a chef and cannott get them removed with no insurance. The worries for me are enormous Adrian has a history of tachacardia and pnemonia and his mucsles in his chest are seriously affected he also had tendon surgery on his right hand opposite side of his body the year before. He begged and pleaded this time too with a doctor at that the clinic for 3 months who said no insurance no surgery. This separate time the emergency room doctors said he needed immediate surgery and that Dr contacted doctors pleading Adrian's needs the hospital /clinic board finally getting the surgery when Adrian called the powers to be everyday for months I had to pay 10000 dollars down to finally get him on the surgery table with a different surgeon that accepted him so he would not completley lose the use of his hand with a 28,0000 bill. He was refused for those months because he had no insurance the ER doctors were adement calling drs for him because it medically needed repair within 3 days to save the tendons . So Adrian went through the nightmare of a serious injury with no insurance twice in one year he is disillusioned about his value in this country. He was sure while he sat in the living room chair broken in pieces for over twenty days that he would never get the surgery this time.It was traumatic fear for him. James was born with kidney disorders that required many surgeries. Adrian has been diagnosed with PTSD and depression and anxiety (the driver took the car he was driving off the road on purpose at 70 miles per hour into a fence a tree and a telephone pole and tried to run leaving my sons trapped in the car) from the trauma and continually expressing itself because he has begged written pleaded for physical therapy and care to agencies and clinics he has no access to. He says "mom I feel forgotten because I am an American without a health insurance company I will never know if my arm would have worked if I was allowed to get physical therapy. " I the mom cannot afford 700.00 cost for X rays and a specialist visit per visit a regular office visit to an intern is 178.00 per visit MRI' are thousands of dollars and physical therapy weekly would average 300 to 500 per week. Future surgical repairs are not accesible.
My husband has worked the same job for 35 years in a manufacturing position his hours were cut with forced vacation days weekly to get paid and lost overtime went to a 4 day work week, then he ruptured a disc in April kept working until 3 weeks ago because we are in finacial trouble. He couldnt take the pain anymore he is on short term disability through his employer Wednesday he had a ruptured disc removed from his back . We cant worry about the bills we just have to keep trying to keep a float. I am working a 22 dolllar an hour job but getting paid only 10 dollars an hour as a grant writer funding developer for the Boys and Girls Club half time getting this 200 dollar a week job after 1 year of unemployment. They cannot afford to pay the wage the job normally paid. Please Mr President in Wi in 2007 the adult citizens with no children were 54 % of the unisured they are not eligible for Badger care without children and not old enough for medicaid they are caught in a dark hole of no medical care if you are not a card carrying member. Can you will you help all of my sons and the tens of thousands of people who are locked out of medical care when they are sick and injured ? Will you not give in or stop until all people have medical access and care especially those who have no group access or the income to cover private insurance. I have 4 adult sons for them duct tape has been stiches dental care is lagged for years antibiotics are unreachable one has a hernia his name is Casey and my other son a hip that locks up and he lives in pain from an injury he got when severely bitten by a neighbors dog at age eight he is twenty five now his name is Ben he cant even get an MRI or see a surgeon those are the every day care situations for people that they are not allowed to have. ER and community lower cost care facilities can only address the immediate basic care then the door is closed after basic care. I am broken hearted I have been in that situation myself what are you going to do.? When people are sick when people are hurt and cannot afford the unreachable cost of healthcare.
they do without. It is difficult not to be angry over this when you watch people suffer. I was invited to speak at a town hall meeting with Congressman Tammy Baldwin I have been invited by Citizens Action Group Health Care Now , Justice Overcoming Borders and other groups to tell this story I do so only to try and keep trying to help others sift through the closed doors to medical care. . When my sons were taken to our local hospital by paramedics their level injuries required care that the local hospital was not equipped or able to handle. . The on call Dr at this first hospital told my oldest son he needed two thousand dollars paid up front to get transported fifty miles I was down in another room with my other son. I was livid that he had to be treated like that he was in a serious condition, he really thought he'd be thrown out in the street because he did not have two thousand dollars. The hospitals advocate came to me after I informed staff of this and told me they wanted me to file a written complaint this was not in my schedule. After a few hours of phone calls a wonderful nurse and physician said they are going to the University hospital you wont get charged for the ambulance ride they need to be in that hospital immediatley The bill for the transport ride showed up on one sons bill I cant even care about that or the half million in debt. I have to stay focused on how to get the long term care they need that is not available to them. Can you give me this answer the one they should have? That they can get the medical care they have gone without for almost a year . I watch my friends add up that are in the same situation. People are scared they are hurt they want to be healthy they want to know if their conditions are improving or getting worse they have that right but the reality is they do not in the United States of America today. People are uneducated about the FACTS that medical treatment is a lock out for so many ..... what scares me even more is that the deciding parties in the government believe that their are medical care options available that do not exist MEDICAID for the poor and sick apparently not in my state. What are you truly planning to do , I welcome that phone call and tell me so I don't have to give another ray of hope to my sons that " such and such a plan will cover them " and BOOM the door is closed, and I should not have to say it again. This is out of our hands as citizens which of you will make that unaccessible dream come true,,,,