• ickplant@lemmy.worldOP
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    5 days ago

    It’s not about “sacrificing comfort.” It’s about literal survival for a lot of people.

    PERSONAL STORIES:

    Example #1: My nephew needed a heart transplant within days of being born. He is on very expensive drugs for the rest of his life. The only reason his family can afford it is because his dad’s work pays for really good insurance. His dad is basically a prisoner at work.

    Example #2: I have bipolar disorder. My one medicine is $1,500 a month without insurance. I get suicidal without it. The only reason we can afford to pay is because of my husband’s job and related insurance. He is basically a prisoner at work.

    OTHER STORIES - JUST INSULIN:

    • Alec Smith (Age 26, Minnesota, 2017): After turning 26, Alec aged out of his mother’s insurance plan. His monthly insulin costs were estimated at $1,300, prompting him to ration his medication. He was found dead in his apartment from diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) shortly after.

    • Josh Wilkerson (Age 27, Virginia, 2019): After aging out of his stepfather’s insurance, Josh could not afford the $1,200/month cost for his prescription insulin. He switched to a cheaper over-the-counter version, which was less effective and led to fatal complications.

    • Jesse Sheerer-Radcliffe (Age 21, Minnesota, 2019): Jesse died after rationing his insulin due to the high cost, a case his father highlighted as a “ridiculous”, preventable loss.

    • Antavia Lee Worsham (Age 22, Ohio, 2017): Antavia struggled to afford her $1,000/month insulin costs and supplies after turning 18 and losing state coverage, resulting in her death from DKA.

    • Shane Patrick Boyle (Age 48, Arkansas, 2017): A comic book writer who struggled with costs, Shane was $50 short on a GoFundMe campaign for his insulin and died from DKA just days after his mother passed away.

    • Monique Gabriel Moses (Age 26, 2017): After losing her job and insurance, Monique rationed her insulin to make it last, resulting in her death.

    • Jesse Lutgen (Age 32, 2018): After losing his full-time job and insurance, Jesse rationed his insulin, which was later determined to be from a “black market” supply of left-over insulin from a deceased friend.

    Source: https://rightcarealliance.org/activities/insulin/

    • Jhex@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Ok so you’ll just hang on to that scrap until they inevitably come for you later on… good plan

      • erin@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        5 days ago

        It’s so easy to say things like this when you aren’t living the situation. What would you have them do? Die for no reason? There isn’t some organized revolution to go join.

        • Jhex@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          I have already explained myself plenty… a few hours a week organizing is more than any of them do

          But sure, jump to the absolute extreme of “dying for no reason” so your victim complex is scratched a bit

          • ickplant@lemmy.worldOP
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            5 days ago

            You come off as someone with zero empathy for fellow human beings, especially if they happen to be born in the USA. You do you, I guess.

          • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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            5 days ago

            I have already explained myself plenty

            I missed that part. From here it seems that armchair of yours is kinda comfy. No-no, you sit; tell Americans again how protesting in America should be just like your country. Tell us again of the revolution.

          • erin@piefed.blahaj.zone
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            5 days ago

            Do you know that none of them organize? Have you considered that the slightest mention of union or strike in many places leads to immediate termination, especially in at-will employment states? Loss of a job means loss of healthcare which means death. I’m not trying to play the victim. I am fortunate to be able to organize with local leftist organizations and my healthcare is secure. Most Americans are not so lucky. It’s not some absolute extreme, it happens to people we know and love.

            It’s so easy to make the assertions you do. I’d like to see you choose those actions over your child’s medication. We don’t get a social safety net. If we’re fired, it could mean we go into lifelong debt, homelessness, or simply die. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Those who can should organize. Those who cannot should care for their family and immediate community.

            • Jhex@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              Do you know that none of them organize?

              I do know… hence my bitching

              Have you considered that the slightest mention of union or strike in many places leads to immediate termination, especially in at-will employment states? Loss of a job means loss of healthcare which means death.

              Already covered… they should not have accepted those conditions but they did… just as they accepting these new, lower conditions. As time goes by it will only get harder.

              Case in point, 11 million of their fellow Americans lost access to health care a few months ago… so yes I understand they must risk something, but they will lose everything anyway if they just sit and wait.

              So, exaggerating as everyone is doing here, if you are kidnapped and the kidnapper assures you there is zero chance he will let you live. Do you fight back? or wait in case the kidnapper changes his mind?

              It’s so easy to make the assertions you do…

              Again, you are just waiting for your turn to slaughter

                • Jhex@lemmy.world
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                  5 days ago

                  you are the one living in a hellhole and refusing to even recognize it… I wouldn’t laugh so much but I commend you for your humour

                  • erin@piefed.blahaj.zone
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                    4 days ago

                    You… think I don’t recognize it? What? I’m a leftist queer woman living in a declining dystopia. I’m laughing at the fact that you think we can just say no to terms that every job has in many areas, especially hourly ones. They keep you working 39.5 hours a week and never let you go “full time” so they don’t have to give benefits, or classify you as a contractor, and your only option is paying a portion of your salary for the opportunity to have healthcare you could otherwise never afford. I was forced to stay in a hellhole job for years because I was broke, had nowhere else to go, no better opportunities, had every job application denied because they’re mostly fake postings to make the facade of growth hold in our failing economy, all because if I didn’t stay in my job I would no longer be able to afford health insurance for a life changing surgery I would otherwise never afford. I couldn’t just tell them “no, I won’t accept those unfair terms,” BECAUSE THEY’RE THE ONLY OPTION. We don’t have comprehensive labor laws! Most of us live in wage slavery! Any talk of union or strike would mean the immediate loss of employment, and yet I still organized behind their backs.

                    I laugh because someone is looking at a victim of an oppressive regime and saying “not good enough.” I laugh because otherwise I’d cry. Recognize your fucking privilege and leave the cynicism at the door. I’m doing everything I can, just like most of us. Even the complacent ones are victims of oligarch controlled media brainwashing, and a culture of exceptionalism and nationalism that keeps us trapped in a bucket of boiling water and thanking the cook for the opportunity.

                    I’m scared, I’m angry, and I’m frustrated looking at a culture that thinks a “blue wave” in the midterms will change everything, when our system is irreparably broken. I want to see a general strike. Any attempts to organize one will fail and have failed, because people cannot afford unemployment. All I can do is organize and educate and hope we get some change around healthcare and labor laws before it gets too much for me and I leave.