capri0mni: A black Skull & Crossbones with the Online Disability Pride Flag as a background (Default)
[personal profile] capri0mni
This is a "chat" I posted to my Tumblr, today. And I'm posting it now, in response to This story segment from [personal profile] dialecticdreamer, and the ensuing discussion.




Disabled Person: I need a wheelchair.

Wheelchair Manufacturer: We won't sell you one unless Medicare will pay for it*

Disabled Person: I need a wheelchair.

Medicare: Can you walk 20 feet?

Disabled Person: It's 40 feet from my front door to my bedroom...

Medicare: Can you walk 20 feet?

Disabled Person: I can, but it's excruciatingly painful, my balance is terrible, and I risk falling at every step.

Medicare: Then No.

Disabled Person: Why not?

Medicare: We're running out of money. The Baby Boomers are getting old and sick. And the Gen X'ers and Millennials are not reproducing. Very sorry. Have a nice day.

800K Gen-X & Millennial "Dreamers": Hey! we're paying into Social Security!

Medicare: You don't count.

110K Refugee Applicants: We want to come into your country, and contribute to your economy, including helping to pay for Social Security. Please let us in?

Federal Government: No!

Disabled Person: I still need a wheelchair.

Medicare: Very sorry. Absolutely nothing we can do.

Disabled Person: ...

"Dreamers": ...

Refugees: ...

Medicare: Buh-bye! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.



*Footnote: Even if you are wealthy enough to purchase a wheelchair out-of-pocket, many suppliers still require proof of insurance. And even private insurers copy Medicare's policies when it comes medical equipment and mobility aids.

Date: 2017-09-15 05:25 pm (UTC)
redsixwing: Gul Madred from ST:TNG in front of four lights. Text: There is no war in Ba Sing Se. (ba sing se)
From: [personal profile] redsixwing
*graaaaaaah*

Date: 2017-09-15 07:37 pm (UTC)
redsixwing: A red knotwork emblem. (gos head)
From: [personal profile] redsixwing
No, I don't think so either.

Oh, and Efficiency! ... uh, for whom, IDK. Not anyone the program's supposed to serve, that's for sure.

I don't really have a good "feeling fighty" icon on this account. (That's probably not a bad thing.)

Date: 2017-09-15 08:59 pm (UTC)
redsixwing: A red knotwork emblem. (Default)
From: [personal profile] redsixwing
... YUP.

Date: 2017-09-16 01:29 am (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman
Actually... I think that keeping marginalised people inside the lines, is only really the 'side benefit'... [for those that think the sick, poor and disadvantaged 'deserve' their problems.]

The real plan probably works like this:
Step 1. stop paying out by making it nearly impossible to claim.
Step 2. loot medicare & social welfare for pork barrel projects and other more 'worthy' causes.
Step 3. justify steps 1 & 2 by saying there's fewer 'real' claimants, and the money is just sitting there.

But then..I'm a cynic who believes that the people in power are amoral sociopaths with no regard or understanding for human suffering and are only in it to line their own pockets, so what do I know?!
Edited Date: 2017-09-16 01:30 am (UTC)

Date: 2017-09-15 05:52 pm (UTC)
davidgillon: A pair of crutches, hanging from coat hooks, reflected in a mirror (Default)
From: [personal profile] davidgillon
That's even more broken than here in the UK, didn't think that was possible!

Date: 2017-09-15 09:50 pm (UTC)
davidgillon: A pair of crutches, hanging from coat hooks, reflected in a mirror (Default)
From: [personal profile] davidgillon
I've got a bunch of friends stuck in the 'need a powerchair but can technically stand so aren't eligible for one' Catch-22, but we at least don't have that won't sell you one insurance Catch-22 to close off the alternate route.

Date: 2017-09-15 10:23 pm (UTC)
jesse_the_k: Slings & Arrows' Anna says: "I'll smack you so hard your cousin will fall down!" (Anna smacks hard)
From: [personal profile] jesse_the_k
Oh fuck yes! Thank you for pinpointing this error.

Date: 2017-09-15 06:03 pm (UTC)
conuly: (Default)
From: [personal profile] conuly
20 feet is such an arbitrarily low number. FFS.

Date: 2017-09-16 02:25 am (UTC)
conuly: (Default)
From: [personal profile] conuly
Disability fraud? Is there some black market in wheelchairs I don't know about? (Well, I mean, I guess there might be, but only because they're so damn hard to obtain!)

Date: 2017-09-16 07:02 pm (UTC)
conuly: (Default)
From: [personal profile] conuly
Seriously.

Also: Mind if I link to it?

Date: 2017-09-16 07:17 pm (UTC)
conuly: (Default)
From: [personal profile] conuly
Will do, the :)

Well...

Date: 2017-09-15 08:00 pm (UTC)
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
From: [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
I don't feel compelled to respect crazy people.

This explains all the plans I have seen online for making wheelchairs out of bicycle parts. Because you can GET those.

Re: Well...

Date: 2017-09-15 10:17 pm (UTC)
pebblerocker: A worried orange dragon, holding an umbrella, gazes at the sky. (Default)
From: [personal profile] pebblerocker
Why did nobody ever tell me this important fact about the history of bicycles?!?

Don't tell me, I can guess...

So able-bodied people were risking their necks on penny-farthings, or pushing their velocipedes along with their feet, until a disabled man sorted things out. That is excellent.

Date: 2017-09-16 01:32 am (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman
and Medicare is fully funded for the next ~25 years, or so I'm lead to believe.

Gee.. I wonder why people keep saying it's broke. Could it be so they can justify not paying out?

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