I’m no expert, but I predict the nation will be broke in very short order; without healthcare for anyone.
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A safe bet seeing that the nation is broke already and healthcare is already becoming harder to obtain. We will soon be trying to import doctors and nurses by the millions from the Phillipines, India etc. Many people will not be able to see the same provider twice in a row even if they do manage to see someone for two or three minutes in six months.
I used to be a graphic designer and marketing consiultant. I still freelance, but I’d paint your house too if the price were right. My business has been struggling for 2 years. My wife, who is my partner, has been ill. My clients, small businesses like myself, are running out of cash.
This fall I went back to school to become a CNA, Certified Nursing Assistant. I’m a 46 year old man. We started with a class of 16, 5 students washed out of the program. All of them were on public assistance and grants to get through the program. I paid cash on the barrellhead. I probably qualified, just didn’t know about the FREE money.
It was high stakes during the exams and competency testing, if I had a bad test or blew a skill, I was out. No money back.
My classmates incuded a former master printer, a former USMC vet, a the manager of a now defunct big box electronics chain, a bank clerk and a hairdresser. The others were your conventional nursing students ~ young women. I scored straight A’s and ran circles around the younger kids, though I admit to being nearly manic with anxiety and apprehension.
I recently got hired on at a wonderful faith-based assisted living and nursing facility. I have to work my way onto the FT roster of CNA’s were I will make about 55 to 60% of my old salary.
I feel like I’m lucky. Many of my friends in the ad and communications industry are out of work. I’ve gotten 3 e-mails the last 3 days in a row, asking for a good word or informing me of parting company.
My classmates in my nursing program were sort of patting each other on the back saying what a robust field they had chosen; I told them that it would only remain robust if people were working in the private sector paying into medicare and medicade, which is how this industry is propped up.
I don’t know what will happen to the people that I care for if those programs go belly up? I worry about it, among other things.
I’m looking to move forward toward a licensure as a practical nurse, which should take about a year and a half.