Something that really p….s me off is people with a minor disability who just go and sit in the corner and complain that they can’t do anything. I met a young woman at the prosthetist’s who was having a fitting after she had her leg amputated below the knee. She was complaining all the time about how her life was over and she was going to be dependent on other people for everything for the rest of her life. I mean, really? OK, maybe she had other underlying health issues but you get my drift. Some of the people I’ve met here are facing major health issues but they keep on fighting because that’s what you do. Just because you’re disabled or have another health problem doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. There are many people who have faced physical and mental challenges and but haven’t let it stop them. For example: Franklin Delano Roosevelt - no further presentation necessary Helen Keller - totally blind and deaf from early childhood became a world famous lecturer, author, disability rights advocate and political activist Douglas Bader - English flyer who lost both legs, one above and the other below the knee and went on to become an ace fighter pilot in WW2 Stephen Hawking - famous scientist Andrea Bocelli - world famous singer who is totally blind Louis Braille - inventor of Braille the reading and writing system for the visually impaired Need some inspiration? Then how about these two? Mandy Horvath, who in 2014 at the age of 21 had both legs severed above the knee by a train. After fighting alcohol abuse she turned her life around and in July this year she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania which is Africa’s highest mountain at 5,895 feet above sea level. Rustam Nabiev, a 28 year old former Russian soldier who lost both legs above the knee when a building collapsed. He climbed Mount Manaslu in Nepal which at 26,781 feet above sea level is the world’s eighth highest mountain.
You know what a major part of the problem is..............money! A lot of times it takes money to make a person feel "good". If a person can hardly afford heart medicine, that might be a good reason for depression. IOW, Bibbi, not everyone can have the really nice "get up and go" that you have. You are highly commended for this, but many others just can't see themselves being like you. Really too bad, but, that's just the way it is.
@Cody Fousnaugh Being able to afford medicine might be an issue for some in the USA, but in our state run health system - with all its shortcomings - that's not the case. Thanks for your kind comments.
Not "might be an issue" in the USA, it most definitely is. Together, my wife and I pay over $600 a month for all of our medical insurance.
I think you're missing the point of the thread, which is that some people decide their disability does not define them but choose to live a productive life and overcome it. Others are content to sit back and blubber over their misfortune, which is totally understandable. Most of us will never know how we'd react to a disability because we've been lucky.
So just to clear things up for me. Does that mean that you get all medicines and any hospital treatment including surgery "free" once you pay that?
When you can Bibbi, tell us more about your state run health system. Yours certainly seems to have obvious advantages but you mentioned disadvantages too. Here it can get very expensive and many are priced out of the market. If you are very low income you get health care help for free or next to nothing, but the middle class who struggle to make ends meet pay full price. The issue here always comes up about increased taxes. In fact though, I think the medical industry has a stranglehold on health care by means of donations to the re-election campaigns of our "public servant" politicians. I'm a senior on Medicare on the other hand, and my health care only costs $38 per month through the health care system I belong to.
Well no, in a way. We have a deductible we have to pay before anything starts paying. Since we are both Diabetic 2, we get a free eye exam each year. Our 3rd Covid 19 vaccine/booster and Senior Double-Dose Flu vaccine will be totally covered by our main medical aka Medicare. Even after we pay the deductible, we still have some to pay for any surgery we have. Currently, most of my medical is taken care of by the VA Medical System and costs me nothing. A month ago, I received "very high-tech" hearing aids from the VA and, so far, no bill for them. But, they do come from a very prestigious hearing aid company that must of a government contract with the VA.
@Cody Fousnaugh Is VA Veteran's Association? @Ed Wilson I'll try and explain but it will be a lengthy answer so please bear with me.
Yes. VA Medical is from the Veteran's Administration, not Association. I get the medical from being in the U.S. Navy during Viet Nam. I enlisted to avoid the Draft/Army. I've only had one surgery done at a VA Hospital and that was in 1988. My hip replacement was done thru my company insurance in 2005, as well as my left shoulder (rotator cuff) surgery in 2007. My right shoulder (rotator cuff) surgery was done thru Medicare as was my Cataract Surgery (both eyes) in 2018.
I should have added that we have co-pays where we pay part of the medical costs up to a certain limit like hospital stays for instance.
I agree with you. What really gets me- mainly because I'm smackdab in the middle of it- is what's now called 'substance use disorder' and 'chronic substance abuse.' There's actually a housing program initially called Shelter Plus Care and now called Housing First that allows tenants to use illegal drugs and not be evicted. And that's even worse than considering it a 'disability' that entitles actively-using addicts to all kinds of benefits.