It is a completely heartbreaking story; and I hate the system that we have in place now that made the father feel desperate enough to commit a robbery.
It hits close to home to me.
My daughter has leukemia. I took 12 weeks off unpaid. Or 6 weeks FMLA (which was barely anything) and 6 weeks unpaid. I HAD to go back to work at 12 weeks because I would lose insurance coverage if I didn't. My daughter and my husband are under my insurance. I also know with her diagnosis, mentally with everything else thrown on top of you, insurance problems and coverages were a whole different game as well. We had so many forms to fill out, from social workers, medical research studies, admission forms, etc, and in those weeks of a diagnosis like that you mentally shut down. You can't handle one more business phone call, text, alert, etc. So I can see how insurance coverage in itself is a nightmare, and if it did need to be renewed, how it could have easily been slipped through or forgotten---trust me, I was there. I think in those first 12 weeks, all of our bills were late and we had to call up every company and explain why. Mentally you just aren't there.
Ideally, I would have loved to home with her longer. Per our teaching contract, I couldn't take sick days (even though I had them to use) because I wasn't sick---she was---and sick days are for you only. So it was unpaid, and with the insurance issue I had to work. We were lucky that we had Grandparents close by and an in home baby sitter, who had three kids (and the doctors approved her going there because if we had 4 kids at home, it would have been the same thing).
There just has to be a better system, way for insurance. A better way instead of all the red tape, etc. Streamlined; so that when people are in the midst of devastating news, it is one less thing they have to worry about instead of 10 extra things on top of everything else.
Sending you and R tons of hugs (as you know I always am). This right here shows the need for health insurance that isn't privatized and isn't tied to employment. The last thing you needed to deal with after that devastating news was the insurance nightmare surrounding it.
Even in Canada, your insurance is tied to your job. Canada pays for your medical appts and your hospital visits but all the drugs you get at home are your problem. Those costs add up. Not to the extent of having to cover everything but the systems are not perfect.
Sending you and R tons of hugs (as you know I always am). This right here shows the need for health insurance that isn't privatized and isn't tied to employment. The last thing you needed to deal with after that devastating news was the insurance nightmare surrounding it.
Even in Canada, your insurance is tied to your job. Canada pays for your medical appts and your hospital visits but all the drugs you get at home are your problem. Those costs add up. Not to the extent of having to cover everything but the systems are not perfect.
That's still significantly better than the system here where better paid employees generally also pay less out of pocket and have far better coverage. And where having a serious illness can mean a job loss which would then cause you to lose your insurance entirely. Not saying the Canadian system is perfect, but it's a whole hell of a lot better than our system that rewards the haves and further screws the have-nots.
How awful that he actually felt so desperate he robbed a bank to save his daughter. Our system is broken and I hope that sometime in my lifetime it can be fixed.
I would hope this would help propel people to really think about what they would do if in the same situation. But, unfortunately after reading at the link, an article was put out that noted he was found with a new Gucci bag and Nikes in his car and people seem to be clinging to that.
I guess I don't know where this little girl's medical care trumps my husband's right not to be terrorized at work.
This is pissing me off big-time, so I'm seeing myself out before I really go off.
I was a bank teller for a bit, so I do understand the fear there. We spent a full day of training learning what to do and what not to do in the event we were robbed and the stats surrounding armed robbery were terrifying (I was at Citibank and anyone I met who had been with the bank over a year had experienced at least o e robbery)
I can still understand the desperation this father felt to do that. And am angry at living in a system where that seems like the only viable option. it's more proof that we need a universal system to ensure that even if there's a job loss or other major life event someone won't have to take drastic measures to get life-saving care.
There is a Wells Fargo in my city that has been robbed 3 times in the last couple of years. The last time the robber escaped on a bicycle and "disappeared" into the bike trail system nearby that runs along the river. Let me just add that the bike trail just runs along the river. I do not at all understand how he "disappeared" in it. They have had to renovate the bank to add super thick safety glass protecting the tellers. It seems crazy to think that glass isn't in every bank.
I was a bank teller for a bit, so I do understand the fear there. We spent a full day of training learning what to do and what not to do in the event we were robbed and the stats surrounding armed robbery were terrifying (I was at Citibank and anyone I met who had been with the bank over a year had experienced at least o e robbery)
I can still understand the desperation this father felt to do that. And am angry at living in a system where that seems like the only viable option. it's more proof that we need a universal system to ensure that even if there's a job loss or other major life event someone won't have to take drastic measures to get life-saving care.
There is a Wells Fargo in my city that has been robbed 3 times in the last couple of years. The last time the robber escaped on a bicycle and "disappeared" into the bike trail system nearby that runs along the river. Let me just add that the bike trail just runs along the river. I do not at all understand how he "disappeared" in it. They have had to renovate the bank to add super thick safety glass protecting the tellers. It seems crazy to think that glass isn't in every bank.
Yeah, the disappearing sounds bizarre. I can understand how someone can get a quick getaway into the NYC subway system (I was working in lower Manhattan), but by bike? That's so odd.
When I was at citi they didn't have glass for all tellers in every branch. It was explained to us that they only do it in high risk areas or branches that have had multiple robberies. I don't remember the reasoning completely, but there was something about it feeling unwelcoming to customers and it being very expensive to put in (pretty sure the unwelcoming to customers was mostly to gloss over not wanting spend more than necessary). So they only did it in locations they felt warranted it. Apparently the stats for someone actually being hurt in a robbery are insanely low as long as the robber is given money. We were told to give money, start with lowest denominations first because the robber will get impatient and often will leave before you get to the $20s, let alone $50s or $100s, but if they do that lives are more important than money.
The little girl will still get chemo though right? I mean they will get billed for it and probably have to declare bankruptcy but it's not like they can deny her treatment.
If the answer is yes they can, just don't respond.
In many states a child is eligible for state health insurance, so even if her parents don't qualify for Medicaid ro have private insurance she can likely be covered if they jump through the right hoops.
My sister is a pediatric oncologist and they run into problems sometimes with non insured undocumented kids. The kids get chemo because it's considered emergent, but as soon as they're stable they lose coverage for follow up. For example, a child needed a port removed but they couldn't do it normally as an outpatient procedure but instead had to wait until he got admitted inpatient for something else. The doctors spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to plan his care so that he got everything he needed the most while he was considered an emergency.