Sunday, January 19, 2020

Life is Getting Scary For Disabled in America

I posted this on reddit....I will figure out the walker thing. One thing I learned in this life, is do not wait until one is desperate and sans walker, so I will get the doctor's paper work and try with another company, look in thrift stores. I don't ask for help unless I have no other options, a company here MIGHT cover it under my insurance. I have to find out still. I had asked the doctor to order me another walker for insurance to cover since my present walker is getting worn out. It still works, but it is some years old, and well, I am trying to plan ahead.

I get a call at 6:00pm on a Friday, "We got your doctor's order for a new walker--Medicare no longer covers them!" They told me Medicare will only rent them now or some crazy rule. I have gotten at least two walkers from insurance TWICE. I have been on a rollator walker for more then 15 years. My doctor sent the order to a place far away from me in another state, they would have delivered it, so the state's rules could be different there.

I got a walker for free once from a friend who is now deceased but it got stolen. A kind friend got me another one later. Getting those two was fortunate and a great thing because one a wheel broke before I was eligible for insurance to cover one. When I had the other free one, I just used it and was glad.
I may be able to get one soon, I hope if husband gets paid enough on one project but that's far less money for other medical bills. I was preparing to order walker because the brakes broke [one side] on this rollator and the handles are fraying. It still works though it's harder without brakes and better handles.

Whatever Trump is doing, Medicare rules are being changed radically so far less is covered and it's being cut all over. I had a medicine changed too Medicare stopped covering but fortunately they have made a generic form of it. It was switched over.

I asked the company to send me doctor's order to see if I could have better luck with another company but who knows. This one told me "The rule changed".

I have this friend who is disabled already for mental health stuff who got stage 4 cancer, and she is filling her social media with pleas for money. I know medical bills and how they add up....so figure she will be in collections soon, anyhow threatened by bill collectors. Knowing medical bills like I do, the co-pays of really big stuff are crushing. It makes me sad how people who have children who got cancer or get other medical problems have to go run to have spaghetti dinners and do gofundmes. This country is really messed up. Please vote for Bernie. Sick people in America are living under too much fear and a cloud of misery. Isn't being sick hard enough?

Oh I know of someone else too, who has gone blind to the point they can't drive, and disability turned them down.

I think stress definitely is upping the death rates in America. I actually said on the phone, "So you basically are telling me come up with the cash--these rollators can be expensive-- and tough luck kid, see ya later".

My patience is low.

You know it wears people out when you are told over and over, you aren't worth anything. At least with rollator I can walk and go places and do some stuff when I am able. Mine wear out fast because I use them a lot, when I am not housebound. I even used it today to walk out to the mailbox. It's like an extension of me. Now the costs are in the hundreds and I can figure it out though it's more BS and stress...I actually look in thrift stores for BACKUP ROLLATOR walkers all the time.
 
Bet you anything they say "Goodluck kid!" to wheelchair folks, already. "Oh you are stuck in bed, tough turds!" There you need thousands of dollars.

It's a good thing I planned ahead and didn't wait for this one to break to point it was unusable. The default is tons of bullshit and red tape so used to this by now. I was thankful to doctor for getting the order in. I got denied some other medical stuff too recently, don't want to get into detail, but things are getting scary out there.

I had walkers stolen from me.  People in medical establishments are always telling me to put them in the hall for space, I say "No way!" I got smart about making sure it is always put in the car, the present one that needs parts taken off of it to fold it up, actually was more of a memory booster and never taking my eye off them. One walker I even put up pictures all over it on local social media, it was weird how a giant walker for super-fat people and was bright blue vanished into the ether.  I think some of these problems is why walkers got stolen since problems started a few years ago especially for uninsured people.

A nurse warned me right before Trump was going to take office, that more things would not be covered. This is what Republicans do to disabled and sick people.

My Walker Got Stolen

5 comments:

  1. Stealing someone's walker, how wicked do people have to get? i know, dumb question!

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    1. yeah, what is weird is I never saw any walker again and I go to thrift stores and live in a small enough town seems I would run into whoever was using it. Remember these are specialized very big people walkers too. :/

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  2. Thrown Away DaughterFebruary 1, 2020 at 11:23 AM

    there's something on facebook called Buy Nothing. It's for the area's you're in at least in NYC. You can post for what you want. I know when I've done clean outs, they would be throwing away all kinds of useful things that some one could use. I always did my best to have a day when people could come take what they wanted instead of trashing it. BTW, the women's writing retreat is coming up in March, if you want to go get in touch w/ me. I don't know if you have Craigs List in your area, here people put stuff on their for free and things they are getting rid of, might find a good rollator in the Free section. There's also Free Cycle -

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    1. I will check out Buy Nothing sounds good. Where is the writing retreat, my ability to travel is pretty low money wise and health wise. I do use Freecycle, but it has slowed down majorly in my local area. Thanks. :)

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    2. Thrown Away DaughterFebruary 5, 2020 at 4:54 AM

      Cape May New Jersey
      https://oc87recoverydiaries.org/retreat-2020/

      In the meantime I am in an awful living situation with a friend who feels I've overstayed my welcome. He threatened me last week and now is just being a dick.
      I would leave but I have no where to go. I really don't like being scapegoated. On top of it, he has a medical condition that he never told me about, I found out totally by accident. I am very scared.

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