[Vision2020] Something you need to know

Wed May 2 11:44:10 PDT 2012

Thanks Sue & Donovan for bringing up this important topic.  It’s been so long now since I worked in either the social services or health fields that my knowledge isn’t current & I’ve not kept up on the details of newer changes as much as I should have, so I’m glad both of you have shared current perspectives about the prescription drug challenges faced by the elderly & differently abled in our communities.

Back in the day, though, and I can’t imagine it’s much different now, it wasn’t at all uncommon for doctors to prescribe needed medications my nursing & group home residents could not afford.  In those instances, the patients simply do without . . . there’s no Prescription Drug Fairy I know of who goes around handing out meds to those who cannot afford them.  I think PAPs are a wonderful thing, but I wonder how many people in long term care facilities, the vast majority of which are understaffed, have access through effective advocacy?

A few years back when stories were all over the news about our elderly taking bus trips to Canada to purchase their needed medications for affordable prices, I was horrified about the need for such extreme measures, as was anyone with a beating heart, but what really got me was thinking about our elderly & differently abled folks in care facilities who didn’t have that option.

For me, there’s something terribly, terribly wrong with our country when so many people – even those with insurance – don’t have access to necessary affordable health care, and that includes access to affordable prescription drugs, but by God, we’re gonna continue to give unconscionable tax breaks to very wealthy and to Big Business.  Those so-called “job creators” have done a perfectly miserable job in recent years.  Instead of continuing to reward them for doing such a rotten job at creating US jobs, let’s take those perks away . . . maybe that will motivate them to start being productive again.  Isn’t that the argument the GOP & TPers use to justify cutting from those with the most need?  Hit them in the wallets – that will get them off their lazy arses.

Saundra

Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.

~ Edmund Burke

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Sue Hovey
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 11:18 AM
To: Tom Hansen; Donovan Arnold
Cc: Moscow Vision2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Something you need to know

Hey there.  HIPPA is about more than losing ones job.  Folks who work in the medical community are not only violating the law but violating the ethics of their chosen profession when they discuss medical conditions of their patients.  Donovan, you are right to withhold that information, but what you have written is important nonetheless.  I am my daughter’s guardian so I can release her information, and I can tell you, despite the fact she is on Medicaid and to this point has received most of her medications at no cost or with a small co-pay, she has a pharmaceutical drug bill every month.  I worry each time I open the envelope she’ll have lost something else.  She is uninsurable... and in the past year she has lost state support for counseling, vision, hearing aids, dental (yes, it has been restored but I can’t find a local dentist who will accept it,) and we have now been told she will be losing support for job coaching which has kept her employed for the past fifteen years.  Our three legislators fought a valiant fight for her during the past session when her budget was cut by more than 30%, and were told she wouldn’t be losing any more benefits.  That is proving to be not true.  

Register as a Republican?  Not now, not ever.  

Sue H. 

From: Tom Hansen <mailto:thansen at moscow.com>  

Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 7:45 AM

To: Donovan Arnold <mailto:donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>  

Cc: Moscow Vision2020 <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>  

Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Something you need to know

Let me see if I have this right . . .

I am being deceitful and critically crippling my integrity by voting Republican in this year's primary.  But you (Donovan Arnold) are sanctified for not reporting to proper authorities, or at least the media, that you have been instructed to withhold medications from residents of hospices, nursing homes, and assisted-care facilities BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID OF LOSING YOUR JOB ? ?

Here is my suggestion:  Grow an EFFING pair ! !

Jeesh!

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?

If not now, when?"

- Unknown

On May 1, 2012, at 7:25, Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

I see it everyday at my job. We are told to HOLD medications for that reason. But sorry, HIPPA prevents me from sharing personal information about any person. Ask any person that assists in medication distribution at a nursing or assisted living facility. Or you can call a big pharmacy and ask a pharmacist if they ever cut medications off from people that have fallen behind on payments or their insurance agencies stop paying them. 

Donovan Arnold

From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
To: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> 
Cc: Moscow Vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 8:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Something you need to know

Mr. Arnold - 

Do you have ANY evidence to support your claim? 

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?

If not now, when?"

- Unknown

On May 1, 2012, at 6:43, Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

I just thought I would let you all know, if you didn't know already, that people living in nursing and assisted living homes are cut off from medications they need to live or have a normal life because they don't have the money to pay. It is really f**king barbaric. But are government allows it. To me there could be nothing Christian about a country that cuts off medications needed by little 90 year old ladies and men that costs only a few cents to manufacture. Don't count on having your needs met when you are old and unable to take care of yourself anymore if our health care system doesn't change drastically and soon. There is a good possibility that you will be treated as trash once your productive years are gone and you don't put crisp $100 bills in some greedy bastard's pockets. 

Donovan Arnold

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