Posted on 07/07/2009 2:10:50 AM PDT by iowamark
Two tours in Vietnam.
A Purple Heart.
A welding accident.
A wheelchair.
Death at 61.
A bill for $277,186.96.
Two months after Roger Lennon died, the woman who took care of him for more than a dozen years got a bill in the mail. The state of Iowa said the Bettendorf veteran owes almost $300,000 for the medical care he received in the state-run veterans home.
"I called them and said, 'Is this a joke?'" Sarah Miller said. "Who has that kind of money? And I was with Roger every time he was signed into the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. They never said anything about billing him after he passed."
The spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, which runs Medicaid for the state, said Lennon should have known the state would pursue any remaining assets after his death.
"Everybody who gets Medicaid is told this is a government program for which we will be expecting repayment," DHS spokesman Roger Munns said. "It's not fair for taxpayers - you and me - to pay if there are assets.
"It's not draconian. It's not meant to be cruel."
But that's not how Miller sees it.
'He went through hell'
Roger Lennon was shot in Vietnam.
In 1990, he was badly injured in a welding explosion in Bettendorf. After brain surgery, his ability to move changed dramatically. Most of the time, he was in a wheelchair.
"He could walk some with a quad cane, but he needed care," said Miller, his companion of 20 years. "He went through hell."
When he was awarded a modest settlement from the explosion, Lennon invested part of it. He and Miller put their money together to buy two rental properties, using the income as a retirement investment.
When Lennon lived - off and on - at the Veterans Home in Marshalltown, whatever money he made went to the state. He turned over his half of the rental income, $350, along with his veteran's benefits to the home in Marshalltown.
Meanwhile, Miller took care of the two properties they owned together. Now, she said, the state is demanding half of their value after Lennon's death on March 31.
"For the seven years Roger was in and out of Marshalltown, the houses were my expense," she said. "I paid the property taxes, put in the septic system the county required a few years ago, and I put in a new furnace in one.
"None of those expenses, including the taxes, are necessary expenses, according to the state. The only so-called legitimate expense was the funeral. They want half the value of the houses. It doesn't matter how much I saved the state for the 13 years I took care of him."
One of the homes is valued at $42,920, she said, and the other is worth about $35,000. Both are in Bettendorf.
The letter from DHS, indicating a debt of $277,186.96 begins, "We have been informed of the death of the above person, and we wish to express our sincere condolences."
The third paragraph, highlighted in bold, states, "This debt must be, and can only be, paid from anything that the individual owned or had an interest in at the time of death."
Does she owe, or doesn't she?
Munns said Miller "misinterpreted" letters from and phone calls with state officials.
"It's obvious that the woman has misunderstood the state's claim," he said last week. "There was no instruction, for example, for her to sell her duplexes."
Neither of the homes is a duplex.
Miller said she called the phone number on a letter from DHS and was transferred to an attorney for the state.
"He's the one who told me I couldn't use property taxes as a legitimate deduction," she said. "He didn't really say I had to sell the properties, but I have to give them half of what the properties are worth.
"I don't have that kind of cash available. It's not that much, but I don't have it. How could you have that kind of cash laying around?"
Munns said the state will regard Miller as Lennon's widow, classifying her as his common-law wife because of the number of years they spent together.
"She'll be contacted by the state (asset) recovery people," he said. "She's scheduled to be called sometime next week. They'll determine what her case will be."
But Miller said the state officials she has talked to already have told her what will happen: She will be required to come up with about $40,000 to pay for a veteran's health care that the veteran believed was a benefit he had earned.
"I was told to send them the money next week," Miller said. "People should know what the state is doing. Poor Roger was so proud that he was a veteran, and the veterans were taking care of him. He was very proud of his military service. People should be outraged."
video(2 minutes) at:
http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/article_421e3cf6-6900-11de-b675-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=video
This was very poorly handled, as usual, by all of the government entities. There should definitely be no bills for ongoing treatment of injuries that were a result of his military service. If the treatment had to do with his other accident, then yes, there might be bills to be paid. But it could certainly have been handled more professionally.
we should all be demanding free healthcare for all, right now!!
oh... right...
what ever happened to the VA??
If I were her advisor, I would tell her to ignore the State and toss in the trash everything they send her. She isn’t related to the deceased Veteran and that “Common Law” crap is pretty thin. She should just sit on the property and collect the rent and tell the State to take their best shot.
The man never had interest in her property, period.
(grin!) That’s common-bloody-sense. I know it when I see it.
Before the fascist state took over, many communities had private veteran’s homes, funded by charitable donations. We also had many charitable hospitals where people could receive treatment for free or a nominal sum. Doctors donated time as did religious orders, acting as nurses, etc.
The fascist government goosestepped thru these institutions and destroyed them with insidious regulations. This was done with the assent and collaberation of liberal for-profit hospitals, which are now engaged in every manner of theft against people seeking care.
In the 1990s we looked into starting up a veterans home in an old 14 room mansion that was for sale cheap. It had about 8 bedrooms where vets could have stayed for a nominal sum. The big kitchen could have fed the vets two meals a day. We had planned to invite older vets and would have charged them some fraction of what they collected in SS benefits or service-connected disability payments.
The state and federal regulations required to open such a home would have required nearly a million dollars in government mandated “improvements.”
The system is rigged against private charity, and veterans and others suffer because of it.
The entire criminal federal government needs to be flushed down the toilet - now.
The problem is that his name is on the deed to the properties. The state would, at least, impose a lien and take them when she dies.
First is the letter and the "what the hell are you talking about" phone call.
The second time they'll show up to tell you to pay and you tell them "get off my property"
Eventually after seeing you come from a gun show they surround the wrong house with Federal marshalls and storm it, beating the shit out of the wrong guy.
Finally they get a sniper across the street and a tank in the front yard driving around punching holes in the side of the house. You give up or go down guns blazing.
But they got your dang burned out 32,000 dollar rental proterty...just like the law says.
and that is how the state gets whatever they want...you are correct, if people would just ignore this crap, get an attorney and fight, 9 times out of 10 the petty beaurocrat just goes away..
Well...I think Weaver actually was breaking the law, but the outcome was a cluster for sure.
I studied the Weaver case pretty closely, (I was born very near where he lived) He did indeed break the law. He sawed off a shotgun a bit shorter than the law allowed for. He did this at the behest of a government employee (snitch) IIRC. And yup, it was a cluster.
A nice easy way to tell this story would be to run an infomercial about Catholic and other religous hospitals that once delivered 30% or more of all medical care and ask what happened to them? Then tell stories like your experience with wanting to help and show how the government is killing the volunteer and community actions with regulations and interference by hacks. Too many people don’t realize that good people like you are being squashed by the government. Help from the community is 100 times more caring than help from the government.
You forgot a step...Shoot the dog.
But yep the gubmnt screwed it up.
Weaver was acquitted on the weapons charges. It was never proved that the shotgun(s) were illegal.
He sawed it off with the intent ot sell to white-supremecist groups, of which he had become a member lol.
Can you provide a source for either of this allegations?
Randy weaver acted like an idiot and put his family in harms way. The government likewise acted foolishly when he resisted arrest.
Only goobers think hes a hero and you R1 Im betting.
Arbetrary like full auto and semi auto.
The point of the Randy Weaver situation is how out of control the government can get. They definitely did in this case.
As for you goober comment, you are obviously another internet macho man. I have a strong suspicion that if we were face to face you would not be so quick to start throwing insults.
I would tell you to your face your a goober if you believe Randy Weaver is a hero. wouldnt be my first beating If your such a bad ass, but I promise you you would know I had been there. At least you got my point.
Heres one of hundreds of links ive read.
“I’m not a white supremacist. I’m a white separatist,” Weaver said. “I was born white. I can’t help that. If I was black I’d probably be affiliated with Louis Farrakhan’s group, but as it is, I don’t belong to anything. I don’t believe I’m superior to anyone, but I do believe I have the right to be with my own kind of people if I choose to.”
Uhmmm seperatist/supremacist... same-same.
Listen, man, first of all, your tone is not what I expect from people on this site. I never said I was a badass, I didn’t say I was going to kick your ass; all I said was I believe you would not be so quick to call me a goober if we were face to face. I still believe that. If you had read my reply, you would also know that I said I agreed with you about Weaver being an idiot, not a hero. I’m just pointing out that what you put in your post is factually wrong regarding his membership in a white supremest organizations and I pointed our that he was acquitted of the weapons charge.
Second, you just made my point. I said that Weaver was not a member of a white supremest organization because he did not believe in what they believed in. The quote you provided proved my point, not yours.
You did in fact threaten me by saying if you met me face to face I would back down and I'm telling you your wrong. If being called a goober hurts your feelings so be it. I've grown weary of these fights about Weaver. He was involved with lots of bad people and the Feds were onto him. He didnt offer to cut the guns off for free you know, it was and income for him. he was selling to anybody and the word got out. Im just 20 year professional fireman, but think again if you think I wouldnt tell you to your face youre a goober if you think Weaver is a hero.
I do have knowledge of this. If he were cutting shotguns on a regular basis, why couldn’t they get a conviction? He was, at least, entrapped, and did you read the quote you put in your post? It confirmed what I said to start with; he did not agree with the white supremists and did not continue to attend their meetings.
If you think that what he did justified the federal government to shoot him, his son, his wife, and his friend, that’s your perogative. For the third time, however, I do not look at Weaver as a hero. He let himself get sucked into the situation.
And, once again, I did not challenge you, nor did I ever use the words “you would back down”. If discussing the Weaver situation gets you this wound up, maybe it would be better is you stayed out of them. I do have one request, though. Would you please read my replys? That might help clear things up. You seem to be stuck on issues that I thought I had made clear (whether I think Weaver was hero). Thanks.
The government let him off of the gun charges only after his family was slaughtered. I dont find that to be justice but they did. To me he is detestable for dragging them into that fight. He armed his child and his wife and then chose to fight to the death...except not his.
I think the some of the 'feds and Weaver should have gone to jail.
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