A System From Hell

The Nation ^ | April 9, 2009 | Kate Michelman

[malkee]

It was a crisp and brilliant autumn day last October when the medical and financial crises with which my family had successfully, if barely, coped for seven years became a catastrophe.

..My husband had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2002, a year after our daughter was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident. His balance had deteriorated until he fell two or three times at home last summer. In the face of his diminishing physical condition, a single fall could result in disastrous injury. We scheduled an appointment with his neurologist in Washington.

We pulled up to the main entrance of the hospital after the two-hour drive from our home near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. My husband opened his door, grabbed the roof of the car and began to pull himself out as I walked around to help him. I was too late. In an instant--time slowed enough for me to see the danger but raced ahead too fast for me to reach him--he lost his grip and fell to the concrete, shattering his hip, breaking his femur and causing internal bleeding that kept him in the hospital for months

[Ann Archy]

GREAT POINT!! Her daughter CHOSE to pay to ride horses, not buy health insurance.

[tet68]

Why doesn’t she just abort...er, I mean, put him out of his misery?

Simple answer, because he’s worth more as a stage prop,
rather like Jim Brady to his wife.

[Ann Archy]

A man who was a co-founder of NARAL has converted to CATHOLICISM!! NEVER TOO LATE, KATE!

[kcvl]

The ladies man

Kate Michelman, lifelong feminist and former head of NARAL, talks about why she's signed up to work for John Edwards.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/01/29/michelman/

"I am a senior advisor. I will advise on message, strategy and organizational development as we move from state to state. I hope to contribute to fundraising. And I am going to spend a great deal of my time organizing women for Edwards."

"The other important role I will play is as a surrogate for John. I will travel the country and speak to groups and rallies for John when he can't be there or when [his wife] Elizabeth can't be there. The goal will be educating people about John's views, his mission, and inspiring commitment to John's vision, with particular emphasis on the future of women's role in society."

******

How did that work out for you, Kate?!

[MHGinTN]

Ms Michelman will lie in any way she feels she needs to in order to make her case. A dead soul will resort to any means for its own empowerment.

[kcvl]

our daughter, who had no insurance at the time of her accident

So, Kate didn't provide medical insurance for her own daughter with the salary she made?! I'm surprised she didn't sue someone (anyone) for a faulty saddle or not training the horse properly!

[kcvl]

in 1969. My first husband had abruptly left my three young girls and me, stranding us without financial support. Our family was in crisis, and when I found out a few weeks later that I was pregnant too, I knew it was impossible to give a new baby--whose father had already deserted it--what it deserved while also giving my daughters what they needed. So in 1969 I made the difficult decision to have an abortion

I can't imagine why?! /s

Making excuses again, hey Kate?!

I thought Bill & Hillary Clinton 'fixed' everything.

[Landru]

It was a crisp and brilliant autumn day
"'It was a dark and stormy night' works well too when writing crap."

BWWWHAAAAAAAA!!!!

Yessssss! :^)

[wtc911]

Two weeks ago my son's friend (33) felt sluggish, disoriented, confused at work. Her speech was slurred.

She saw a doctor the next day (no waiting). He had her get an MRI (done the following day). They found a brain tumor. It was removed two days later.

From problem to diagnosis to surgery - five days.

In Canada or the UK she would still be waiting for the first visit. Then weeks or months for the MRI. Then weeks or months for the results. Then weeks or months for the surgery....if she lived that long.

[kcvl]

I started as a single welfare mother, then worked my way through college en route to a successful career.

Most people do not have the luxury of being able to call, as I do, on powerful friends for help.

Medicaid will pay for it only after we have liquidated most of our assets

I have enough years left to have one more fight in me. Healthcare is it.

And so do I! I'm not paying for your family's health-care, you old ignorant bat!!!

[kcvl]

If we got the government OUT OF THE HEALTHCARE business you would be surprised to know how much better everyone would be! It would cost so much less too!

Once the government sticks it’s nose and finger in something it’s going to be screwed up...guaranteed!

[Ann Archy]

Her daughter CHOSE to pay to ride horses over paying for health insurance. She CHOSE that....her daughter I assume was over 18.

[SuziQ]

In the town on the MS Gulf Coast where my older sister lives, there is a Doc they call the $40 Doctor. You can walk in, pay $40 and be seen and treated, or referred, if Todd can't handle the issue.

He doesn't do insurance cases, simply fee for service. He's open 6 days a week, and I think he even has evening hours once a week. I believe he has one woman working in the office, as a secretary/administrator, and his wife and 7 kids help out when needed, and as they are able. He has more business than he can handle, and I'm sure there is plenty of work, if other doctors wanted to do the same thing.

Oh yeah, all the layers of bureaucracy have gomered up health care, for sure.

[utahagen]

Kate Michelman is either lying when she says she paid her daughter's medical bills, or she is a jackass. her adult daughter's bills are not KM’s legal responsibility. If her daughter was unable to pay her medical bills, a lawyer could have negotiated the bills down dramatically. (Hospitals definitely work with anyone who is willing to pay anything because so many people just walk away from their medical bills and taking debtors to court is expensive and ineffective.) Alternatively, KM’s daughter could have declared bankruptcy. Also, her daughter would qualify for Medicaid/Medicare. If KM did liquidate her own assets and pay thousands of dollars for her daughter's medical bills, she's a fool and her foolishness doesn't justify upending our healthcare system. I suspect that what is really going on here — and I feel sorry for KM for this — is that KM has had to deplete her savings to reconfigure her house to accommodate her daughter and husband's wheelchairs. Also, KM now has to attend to both of them, which is certainly not how she figured she'd spend her retirement. I think this column is Michelman’s way of begging her rich lefty friends for a very high-paying job that will get her out of the house and pay for the extra nurses needed to care for KM’s daughter and husband. I am genuinely sorry for KM’s troubles, but I don't want even more of my tax dollars to be sucked into government programs.

[utahagen]

“Any woman, or man, who discards birth control [and then has an abortion]...” I agree with everything in your post, but i think we pro-life people should concede that birth control does sometimes fail, otherwise it'll seem that we're implying that using birth control gives you the right to abort if you end up needing to. The point is: there is always a risk with sexual activity. You can lower the risk significantly by using birth control, but you have to accept the risk of pregnancy up front.

[calex59]

“Any woman, or man, who discards birth control [and then has an abortion]...” I agree with everything in your post, but i think we pro-life people should concede that birth control does sometimes fail, otherwise it'll seem that we're implying that using birth control gives you the right to abort if you end up needing to. The point is: there is always a risk with sexual activity. You can lower the risk significantly by using birth control, but you have to accept the risk of pregnancy up front.

I'll be the first to concede that birth control methods fail, that is why I said TWO methods should be used, birth control pills and condoms for example. Now if both of those methods fail and the woman gets pregnant, I still will not condone a woman having an abortion simply because she doesn't want the child. That is total BS. Yep, it is a pain to go through carrying a child, it hurts(extremely so from what I have seen of women giving birth)to give birth, but once the baby is born it can be given up for adoption and, in most cases, they will be standing in line to adopt a baby. Not everyone wants to kill children, many want them and can't have them for one reason or another. No abortions for reasons of birth control, it simply isn't acceptable to me.