Open Letter To Senator Dr. John Barrasso Re: Your Lies About Obamacare (OP-ED)
Dear Wyoming Senator Dr.
I just watched you on CNN’s State of the Union this morning. I want you to know that you just lied. I am a Wyoming citizen, one of those that you said doesn’t want the Affordable Care Act, and you lied. I want it. Very much so. My cousin, also a Wyoming citizen, is now covered under his parent’s plan as a student at UW because the ACA extended the age requirement for children to 26. My mother, father, aunts, grandparents and cousins are all insured because they cannot be disregarded because of a pre-existing condition.
You said that Medicaid patients aren’t being seen because doctors don’t get reimbursed. Also a lie, they do get reimbursed. Shame on you for spreading that rumor. I am a very ill woman whose blue-collar husband works his butt off and, still, the only insurance option I have is Medicaid. The doctors here in Wyoming believe your lies. They believe that they won’t get paid and that they shouldn’t have to accept me. My husband has to miss full days of work to make sure I can see the doctors I need to stay alive, to avoid blindness and to maintain a semblance of quality of life.
You lied. You said that people travel over state lines for care because of the Affordable Care Act. That is so very untrue sir. My family travels over state lines because you lie to our doctors and make them feel just in their prejudice against my poverty. I am forced to go to Colorado because there, the doctors know that Medicaid is profitable for them, and they treat me with Wyoming’s Medicaid dollars just fine. They get paid, they have fine offices with nice decor, well vacationed doctors and nurses with nice homes.
You should know that this Wyoming citizen, at least, sits in tears wondering what your Hippocratic oath meant to you this morning. Your lies, your policies and your politics literally make me sick – and I think that you know that this is the result for poor people in your state. What kind of doctor are you? What kind of Representative are you? I’ll tell you what kind – a disgraceful lying kind. You must profit greatly from your behavior, I have no idea how else you might justify it.
5:08 pm
If you think John Barrasso’s lies about Obama Care are over the top. Well, his life in general is a lie. He is gay. Many people in Casper, Wyoming, where he lives know this. He had gay lovers for many years, took them on trips with him, trips that he planned with travel agencies in Casper…Almost always took a handsome man with him on those trips. Then he “married” a woman to hide it all and make it look good so he could become a Senator from Wyoming and act all conservative and live a life of lies…
4:44 pm
Hmm What’s wrong with this picture? Here’s what:
Illinois just drastically reduced it’s Medicaid expenditures: No more dental care (ok, so we hafta gum our food now, s’ok, I LIKE eating oatmeal. All the time.) See
http://www.carmitimes.com/topstories/x1884281142/Generous-no-more-Illinois-cuts-Medicaid-spending?zc_p=1
for more illuminating info.
Patients aren’t seeing doctors because they don’t get reimbursed? Almost. Doctors here in Illinois are declining to accept Medicaid patients because it’s a slow-pay state, and Medicaid don’t pay very much at all at-tall.
Where does that leave my extremely disabled, homebound, TBI (tramatic-brain-injured) partner, who has Continous, Unrelenting leg pain? Same place as she was when she came back to Illinois several years ago: nowhere. Botox injections and Lidoderm patches probably would help.. IF we could find a doctor who would a) SEE her and b) write a scrip.. but that is, in two words, imp-possible.
You should be very thankful that at least You can travel to Colorado to get treatment, eh?! Interstate travel for my partner is not even an option, riding in a car on Chicago’s bumppppppy street causes her More pain; planes are not viable, either.
Sorry, you don’t get my sympathy vote.
On the other hand, perhaps my partner and I should consider moving to Colorado, thanks for the heads-up!
.
Would your blue-collar husband perhaps be able to make more working there?
I WILL agree that doctors are often prone to exactly what you describe.. they have exTREME prejudice against those who are mpoverished. I think it’s an ego issue… due to salary inflation, methinks.
The problem is not Medicaid. The problem is not Obamacare, which I do not feel is a good idea. The problem is.. doctors simply charge too much for their services. We should write to them as well! They, and other professionals, see themselves as a separate-but-unequal class of folk.. who have grown accustomed to outrageous salaries. Yeppers, this includes lawyers and many (I’m ready for the flack) union folk [yes, Virgina, I belong to a large national union; I'm on the very bottom of the totem pole, though, not in management] as well as administrative folk at colleges and universities.. the list goes on and on. Too many people making too much money for doing too little. S’all a biiiig game. Problem is it’s been getting worse over the last mmm 50-or-so years, and the government.. pardon me, OUR government… doesn’t police itself in this regard at all, take a look at the 50 trillion in debt we owe.
What’s needed, and what we won’t get, is drastic, systemic change. IF we knew where the money was REALLY going perhaps we could turn off the spigot and stop the profuse bleeding. Check out the Reader’s Digest ‘That’s Outrageous!’ column, that should make you even more irritated; it sure ticks ME off.
But…. governmental LYING? It’s a art-form. Give them credit for raising it to such a wel-practiced discipline. The only way they’ll change is if they wind up in your (and me and my partner’s) shoes. I betcha that’ll happen sooner than later, so hang in there.
Peace.
ps I’m disabled as well, though I’m fortunate to have worked long enough to have Medicare rather than Medicaid.