Kansas proves why conservatives should never run anything ever.

[orogenicman]

When I applied for Kansas Medicaid this year, like I sometimes have to do out of necessity for increased medical bills-- I literally had a Medicaid Rep call me and try to talk me out of getting it "because Medicare takes care of most all of my medical expenses". When I declined his non offer, he cited a $2500 spend down every six months that I must meet in order to get simple Medicaid benefits like rides to my appointments (I have seizures off and on) and the grocery store. He said its that way for even the elderly and others. I could hardly believe it. Now, I've reached that spend down and still they refuse to acknowledge it. I'm behind on my treatments and was hospitalized recently, having spent my last ten bucks on a taxi so as to not incur an ambulance bill on top of it all. When I asked the Medicaid Rep why no one at Medicaid answered the phone, he said that there were changes two years ago that pretty much made their processing time faster, but no one answers the phone--you just have to come in. Then I asked why they had an address for an office on their website that was no longer existant.
I.. still don't have transportation. In tears, when I asked the Rep what I should do for transportation he asked me if I go to church to ask them for help. Or red cross, who I do not qualify for. Or a disabled bus service that has literally am inch of paperwork for you to fill out and a medical evaluation you must attend.
I'm too ill to fight or play 'find the SRS office in a taxi'. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

My sister, who has just graduated nursing school and pays back more money than was spent supporting her and her children during school, ended up living off of ramen noodles all of last year because the only food benefits she could get for her and two kids is $35. My food benefit is a whopping $15. That's a month.

Not to mention the inhumane electric company spike in January that came out of nOwhere for all of Wichita. All's told my friend with a house had a double bill, and mine was quadrupled in the apartment. Therefore my sister and I bundled up Feb-April and went without A/C all summer. We aren't the only ones.

After being released from the hospital barely able to make the trip home (I was released still anemic), I was notified that there's a 2-3 yr long waiting list for home health aid. So pretty much, to sum it up, the hospitals here laid off some 20k health workers and no one is getting the care they need. But Kansas was one of those states that refused Obama's federal aid program and calls other states moochers.

I fully expect that there will be at the very least, elderly deaths and child starvation (WIC was completely cut altogether) as a consequence of the lack of care in this state.

Kansas is fucked.

You have my sympathy. It took me four years to get my disability, and that ultimately involved being in a medical bed at a homeless shelter, having lost everything I spent a lifetime accumulating, including my marriage. And people say this is the greatest country in the world. If it is, then we are all fucked.