tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8180764321069319458.post3059881597815942533..comments2024-01-07T07:40:29.133-05:00Comments on The WMRA Blog: Jessica Penner is a PoetMost of Martha Woodroof in one placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14628461346931946238noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8180764321069319458.post-14976305000976166582009-10-01T19:51:28.532-04:002009-10-01T19:51:28.532-04:00Martha, thank you for providing a place for Jessic...Martha, thank you for providing a place for Jessica to tell her story. I have been praying for many years that her upbeat narrative would be shared with the wider world.<br /><br />Jessica's MomAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8180764321069319458.post-14488419745789826682009-10-01T14:05:47.129-04:002009-10-01T14:05:47.129-04:00Anon -- In a single payer system government would ...Anon -- In a single payer system government would be the only funder, but it would not make decisions about your medical care. DOCTORS would do that. I don't know about the proposed public option at issue now for the U.S's health care system, but one thing is for certain: people wishing to deal with private sector insurance companies would be permitted to do so. The public option would only provide a much needed "choice" for the tens of millions of people in this country who cannot otherwise afford health care and who, when faced with a life-threatening disease, have no one with whom to negotiate health care options.dogwooddiaristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14620645607630640331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8180764321069319458.post-91823058895324210772009-10-01T13:06:21.504-04:002009-10-01T13:06:21.504-04:00I work alongside Jessica every day, but I never kn...I work alongside Jessica every day, but I never knew her amazing story or what a great poet she is. Very inspiring! And she truly has a very sunny, upbeat personality. <br /><br />I too have been denied medical coverage for what appeared to be emergency, life-threatening brain and blood-clot issues. Precisely because we have a free-market health-care system, I was able to appeal and negotiate my way through both urgent medical scenarios. Sure, it took many tears and time I wasn't sure I had to live. But I think perhaps I wouldn't be alive today if the very same decisions had been in the hands of the enormous, faceless monster of government bureaucracy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8180764321069319458.post-40485922977246408852009-10-01T09:37:20.347-04:002009-10-01T09:37:20.347-04:00Ah! Great stuff, Jessica. It's not the newly...Ah! Great stuff, Jessica. It's not the newly cold weather that's given me goosebumps just now. <br /><br />Thank you very much for your story, too. The acts of insurance companies are, yes, mind-boggling as you generously characterize them, but they are also enraging. The fact of the first coverage denial, despite your application being signed off on by every expert in the field, is horrifying. One has got to wonder if the reviewers didn't hope that nature would decide the outcome of your health before your appeal got through -- your appeal that they couldn't have but known at the outset would have to be successful. In so many cases, and thankfully not yours, time has got to be of the essence. TALK ABOUT DEATH PANELS. They are the insurance companies. I simply don't understand how this country can want to entrust the health of its citizenry to big, faceless corporations.dogwooddiaristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14620645607630640331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8180764321069319458.post-66422615907531142442009-10-01T08:13:25.424-04:002009-10-01T08:13:25.424-04:00Thank you, Jessica, for your story. I think fondly...Thank you, Jessica, for your story. I think fondly of the poetry class we took together - high on EMU's hill. And thank you, Martha, for making space for Jessica's story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com