End of government safety nets means end of health security

For most of my life, I felt sorry for my father. And for the legions of blue collars, just like him.

Solid working class, my father often worked two, sometimes even three, difficult physical jobs to support his large family. He did not succeed in “climbing”, just to reach both ends. If there was a little more at the end of the month to take pizza or take the children in the village of Santa Claus, life was beautiful.

Whenever the union went on strike, he laid down and hardens him, tightening the expenses and keeping his eyes on the prospect of a sacrifice made well. A drop in income on the picking line can cause wages slightly higher later. Maybe even enough to repay the Sears credit card.

When he was considering retreat, he was sleeping, driving my mother to the store and occasionally launching a fishing rod. He did not want international cruises and travel. He did not eat in fancy restaurants. He didn’t even have a hobby.

He was a simple man having simple needs. And even if he regularly gave those who had less, he kept his savings closely because she had to see him until the end.

And it did.

Just barely.

He was 84 years old when the background fell, when his health and finances choke. Months far from lacking money, I had started the request for Medicaid, the health insurance assistance program funded by the federal government.

Medicare and private health insurance supplements do not cover the cost of residential skilled nursing, a service that most hope to avoid, but many end up needing. For those who cannot afford, the only option has been Medicaid, which requires that a person be out of funds and out of options before launching.

As demoralizing as it may seem, it is at least a minimum of relief.

It was terrifying, the idea that a human being had worked all his life and who had never set off when he was asked to give dollars hard earned to local hospitals, churches, high school groups and his disabled sister would end up staying alive.

And yet, now it seems much less terrifying than things about to become.

Soon, the Medicaid safety net which allowed the millions of poor Americans to obtain the care they need will be considerably cut. Some say that the cuts will only target waste and abuse, but many others say that they will devastate a vulnerable population.

While the Republicans shine in the adoption of their “big bill of invoice”, which gives more to the rich while cutting the essential elements for the poor, it should not be just the without concern.

We must all be afraid. Because if estimates of the Congress Office Budget are correct, some 8 to 12 million Americans will lose their health care.

But we all attend suffering and despair.

We will all feel economic undulation when emergency rooms are flooded, hospitals and nursing homes close under stress and pink slips are transmitted to health workers.

We are all likely to know someone in distress. Maybe someone will even be ourselves.

It is not the Ultrarich which is a strong wind to fall from this financial wire. It’s us. All you need is an unstable economy, an unforeseen disease or accident, a change in government policy or simply “bad luck” to survive our nest egg.

Knowing what I now know about the world of care for the elderly, I am afraid for everyone retired or nearby. I am afraid for all those who have special needs or an expensive chronic medical condition. Because the alleviation of the disease and conditions and conditions requires money.

During my father’s difficulties, I met many people who counted on Medicaid and many about to apply for this. All were sick. All were afraid.

They did not plan that their lives go down in poverty. They did not expect to reach their empty gold years. Some have been victims of falling on the market or reducing business staff. Some who thought they had saved enough were made by unexpected expenses. Some have never won enough to save enough. And some simply lived longer than they thought.

None have been prepared for the cost of basic health care without frills to go through the roof, for the price on a single bed in a shared room in a nursing home at more than $ 12,000 per month.

However, I stopped feeling sorry for my father, as miserable as he looked at his body and his net value at the bottom. Because at least his government was there to break his fall.

Not only will the new federal safety nets abandon people when they need their government, but they will be a daily reminder of what America has become – a nation that turns back to those who need it.

We no longer open our arms to the tired, poor or huddled masses. We direct them and locks them. It is weird that we can allow ourselves to bring together “illegal” and pay the cost of transformation, transport and imprisonment, but we cannot afford to give health insurance to our most vulnerable, many of which have helped build this country.

Which makes me think that my father was among the lucky ones. He lived at a time when the government cared about it. He fell ill at a time when there were safety nets and backup plans.

And then, just before the Republicans turned to the most fragile in America, he did what Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said with casualness that we were all doing one day.

He died. And decreased the excess population.

Donna Vickroy is a award -winning journalist, editor and column who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years. It can be attached to donnavickroy4@gmail.com.