moreorlesme:

rallyforbernie:

This is what Republicans try to demonize for political gain. Think about it.

“Death Panel” is an easy manipulation. Know why? Because death is FUCKING SCARY! For everyone involved – patient and family.

Know what else? Hospice care is FREE for Medicare and Medicaid patients. And it’s typically covered by private insurance at a high percentage (and realistically, if you qualify for hospice care, you’ve likely already met your deductible).

Here are some (American) hospice facts:

– hospice care is for anyone who receives a prognosis of six months of life or fewer.

– hospice care isn’t just for cancer or dementia patients. Any life-ending diagnosis qualifies for hospice care.

– hospice care isn’t just for elderly. Again, anyone who has a life expectancy of six months or fewer should quality for hospice care.

– every licensed hospice provider is required by federal law to use a team approach. The team includes the medical director (who is an MD), nurses (RNs and LPNs), CNAs, social workers (MSWs), chaplains, and volunteers. These people are death experts.

– the RN case managers see everything. EVERYTHING. Every imaginable living condition, every insane family dynamic, and every conceivable physical condition. They know wounds. They know symptoms. They know pain. Can’t poop? Ask a hospice nurse. I guarantee they’ll have a dozen recommendations, including their own secret recipe for a “brown bomb” or “crappuccino” or “loosey goosey”. They all taste like garbage, but YOU WILL POOP!

– hospice CNAs are maybe the most gentle people on the planet. They care for a patient like they’re caring for their own grandparent. They’ll wipe your butt and wash your armpits. They’ll hold your hand and cry with you. They’ll sing to you or paint your nails or trim your ear hair and they’ll do all of it without an ounce of judgement.

– hospice social workers know death. Lots of families hear social worker and think family drama. That’s not what hospice social workers do. (Though they do that too, when necessary.) They help with anything not directly medical. Moving the patient from the hospital to home? The social worker can help with logistics. Questions about money? The social worker probably knows, or knows where to send you for answers. Need help with a living will or DNR? Ask the social worker. Terrified about what the final moments might be like? The social worker can walk you through what to expect.

– a patient or family can choose hospice care at any point, whether immediately after receiving a diagnosis or within hours of death. Obviously, the longer the hospice team is involved, the better they can guide the patient and family along the journey.

– hospice care can be revoked at any time, should the patient or family choose to seek active treatment or discontinue the care. Hospice care can be reinstated as well – it’s typically just a matter of paperwork.

– here’s what Medicare and Medicaid cover for free

the team home visits (home is considered wherever the patient currently lives, whether it’s the hospital, a long-term care facility, or their actual family home)

the medications needed to treat the symptoms of the qualifying diagnosis, plus the pain management meds and anything else the medical director prescribes

supplies – bed pads, diapers, gloves, bandages, etc

equipment – hospital bed, oxygen, lifts, etc

room and board isn’t covered if a patient is in a facility – that cost falls to the family.

Choosing hospice care isn’t giving up. It isn’t a death panel. It isn’t euthanasia. Choosing hospice care is acknowledging the reality that time is limited and that the patient deserves expert, specialized end-of-life care.

Hospice care is a choice. It’s not that surprising that Republicans are anti-choice.

Rebloging for the American followers.

odinsblog:

resistdrumpf:

Enrollment for 2018 Affordable Care Act (ACA / Obamacare) starts November 1 and ends December 15. Trump (what an asshole) reduced the ADVERTISING funds by 90% to announce when people can enroll. Spread the word.

And to make registration even more difficult, Trump will also be shutting down the ACA registration website on Sundays “for maintenance” during peak registration times. Plan ahead. Get registered.

boogiewoogiebuglegal:

Boosting the signal….!

idiopathicsmile:

Hey there!

Are you an American? Do you have a sec to stand up for the millions of poor people, disabled people, people with pre-existing conditions and freelancers who rely on the ACA to keep them, y’know, not-broke and not-dead? (Hi!)

Do you live in Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee or West Virginia?

Congrats: you have a Republican Senator who has publicly expressed some concern about repealing the ACA without a replacement plan! If you haven’t already, this is your reminder to give their offices a call and help them make up their minds!

Alaska – Lisa Murkowski:

(202)-224-6665

Arizona – John McCain:

(202) 224-2235

Arizona –

Jeff Flake:

(202) 224-4521

Kentucky – Rand Paul:

202-224-4343

Louisiana – Bill Cassidy:

(202) 224-5824

Maine – Susan Collins:

(202) 224-2523

Nevada – Dean Heller:

202-224-6244

Ohio – Rob Portman:

(202) 224-3353

Pennsylvania – Pat Toomey:

(202) 224-4254

Tennessee – Bob Corker:

(202) 224-3344

Tennessee

–

Lamar Alexander:

(202) 224-4944

West Virginia – Shelley Moore Capito:

202-224-6472

Sample call script:
“My name is [YOUR NAME]. I’m a constituent calling to thank [YOUR SENATOR’S NAME] for having the integrity and foresight to see how disastrous it would be to [YOUR STATE] and to the rest of America if Congress votes to repeal the ACA without first agreeing on a solid replacement plan. Not only would it jeopardize the health and economic security of millions of Americans, it would also place a tremendous financial strain on our hospitals and our entire healthcare system, costing potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs. As you know, in [YOUR STATE], we [SOMETHING PERSONAL ABOUT HEALTH CONCERNS SPECIFIC TO YOUR STATE; YOU MIGHT WANNA DO A 30-SECOND GOOGLE. IF NOTHING ELSE SURFACES, JUST SAY YOUR STATE BELIEVES IN SOME POSITIVE CHARACTER TRAIT THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH KEEPING HEALTHCARE AFFORDABLE FOR AMERICANS, LIKE “LOOKING OUT FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR” OR SOMETHING.] As a voter, this is a vital issue to me, and I will be paying close attention to how [SENATOR’S NAME] votes.”

Call today if you haven’t already, and bug your local friends/family to call, too!

We only need to flip three senators, so it’s not impossible. Do this before this Friday, the 27th.

I’m sorry to ask this of you–I know there’s a lot of these things going around right now–but I depend on the ACA for my healthcare and I’m pretty damn terrified.

You can still sign up for Obamacare.

teratomarty:

teratomarty:

All the links from the White House website are gone, but the Affordable Care Act is still in effect, and you can sign up for health insurance until January 31.

Trump and his cronies may want to kill it, but that takes time (especially now that key players are waffling and the insurance industry have noticed that it will rain chaos down upon them). So sign yourself up. Get in a free checkup, a round of antibiotics, a birth control implant, while you have the chance.

If anyone needs help applying, ping me.

Todavía puede inscribirle en Obamacare. Si necesita auyuda, pídame.

Would you all mind boosting this? I don’t usually ask, but Obamacare is a big deal for me. I haven’t had to dose anyone with veterinary antibiotics in years, and I really want to keep it that way.

insanityallegra:

disease-danger-darkness-silence:

Y’all might remember that I had you guys sending postcards to Gus and Charlie, because Gus was fighting cancer, and losing kind of badly. Gus was 7 years old when he died on September 29th, just prior to what would have been his 8th birthday.

My friend Sasha held her son as he died and then carried him to a hospital, so that at some point in the future no parent will have to deal with this. In his death, Gus may have provided answers to the questions his incredibly rare and deadly form of cancer brings to the table.

Gus was only able to make to almost-but-not-quite 8 years old because of the ACA. He was able to experience things and live as full a life as possible and learn about dinosaurs and go to school (he was diagnosed young, prior to even entering school) and make friends – because of the ACA. His mother and father were only able to afford a service and cremation because his ACA-compliant insurance paid the bulk of the bill. They were only able to continue financially caring for their youngest son Charlie (who just turned 7 years old…yesterday, I think) and keep themselves in food and housing rather than going bankrupt…because of the fucking Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

With her permission, I have posted this here, because I want people to know exactly how badly Republicans will be screwing children, and their grieving parents, over if they repeal the ACA.

For Gus, who never made it to 8; for Sasha and her husband, who lost their son; for Charlie, who lost his brother –

For all of the other parents and lost children who are and were in the same boat –

We can’t let Republicans do this. We need to step up to the plate. Because they – Sasha and Gus and everyone like them – can’t.

Spread this

thebibliosphere:

comtessedebussy:

will-work-for-spoons:

quietborderlineinfo:

motivation-gems:

dysfunctionalqueer:

dynastylnoire:

feministingforchange:

iatrogenic:

jovialdictator:

this is why its depressing to work in a pharmacy.

I was definitely a profit killer when I worked in a pharmacy (which honestly was my favorite job in the entire world, but it was short-lived and nowadays you can’t work at a pharmacy like that, it’s all tied in with corporate retail and no one should ever trust me with a cash register ever). It was not, however, actually a profit killer for the pharmacy, just for the drug companies, so no one cared. These days I do medical billing, which means I actually bill OUT from hospitals so I’m mostly spending my professional time taking money away from insurance companies.

I will now impart all of my profit killing resources onto you, in case you don’t know them. I think most of you know them, now. But just in case you don’t.

THIS IS US-CENTRIC. I’M SORRY.

1. GoodRx – this thing has an app now, so you can look up the best places to get your expensive medicines at the lowest possible prices without insurance on the go, and you no longer have to print coupons because you can just hand over your phone or tablet. Times have changed for the better with GoodRx. Definitely use it before trying to fill your scrip, because it will tell you the best place to go. (You can do that on the website, too.)

2. NeedyMeds – Needymeds is basically the clearinghouse of drug payment assistance. They have their own discount cards, but also connections to many patient assistance programs run by drug companies themselves. They are good assistance programs, too.

3. Ask your county – This is not a link. This is a pro tip. Most county social services will have pharmacy discount programs for people with no and/or shitty pharmaceutical coverage. You can often just find them hanging around at social services offices; you can just pick one up and walk off with it.

4. Ordering online – There are a few safe online pharmacies. I keep a little database in a text file on my computer. Most of them are courtesy of CFS forums, my mother or voidbat, so a lot of that is a hat tip to other people, but if you’re in need of a place to get a drug without a prescription … first I’ll make sure you 100% know what you’re doing for safety reasons and then I’m happy to turn over a link.

5. Healthfinder – A government resource that helps find patient assistance programs in your area. This might also point out the convenient county card thing. RxHope is something a lot of people get pointed to via Healthfinder that’s a good program.

6. Mental Health America – Keeps a list of their best PAPs for psychiatric medications, which can be some of the most expensive and a lot of pharmacy plans don’t cover them at all.

This is so important ppl.

Signal boost the shit out of it!

Booooooooooooooooooost

Good Rx Saved my family a hundred dollars a month while I was getting signed up for CHIP
seriously it’s a life savor especially for ridiculously expensive drugs like abilify

Useful info, friends! 😉

Since many of our followers are on medications, I feel like this would be an important resource.
-Luna

Also! Some drug companies have patient assistance programs where they send you the drug for FREE if you are uninsured, or if your insurance doesn’t cover that drug.

Do a Google search for “patient assistant programs” + (your med), or search the manufacturers website. Sometimes the info is online; other times you have to call.

Even some of the big name pharma companies have this. It’s certainly not all companies, or all meds, but it is worth a shot.

Before Obamacare, I lost insurance and couldn’t pay for my mood stabilizers (kiiiiinda important to have those when you’re bipolar.) I was on generic Lamictal, but I went to the official Lamictal website, filled out a form with a valid prescription, and they mailed my meds to me every month for free.

If you know anything about bipolar disease, you know that that was a literal life saver. Patient assistance programs ftw!

This is so important given the recent vote to repeal Obamacare. And the cartoon above is so on point They’re literally voting to kill people. Literally.

Some of my meds are no longer going to be partially covered by my ridiculously expensive private insurance. I just used the GoodRX website to look it up, and I can either spend $40 at Target to pay for one of them out of pocket–per month–, or I can get it at Sams Club for $4. No that is not a typo. The drug I need to take every single day to keep my allergies from spiraling out of control (yay auto-immune bullshit) is literally ten times cheaper at Sams Club. Holy shit.