Medicaid Policy Bulletin: Fill & Download for Free

The way Medicare is set up and based on my experience from 2014 with my Mother who had a broken femur, my Mother was given 21 days in rehab to get better from her broken femur. After that we were supposed to pay. Even though my Mother had both Medicare and MediCAL, MediCAL (aka MediCAID), had some weird rule where a person had to pay a certain amount before MediCAID would pay anything.What we weren’t told was that if she showed no improvement, she could be turned out after just a few days! I don’t know if that is true but I have heard that is happening nowadays. My mother was so motivated to get better that she improved her walking with a walker everyday. Once she was up to I think it was 150 feet in each direction she was deemed healed and sent home after 17 days.I went twice a day to her rehab facility. It was fortunate I did that because I discovered by accident they were using an incorrect meal assessment calculation. I would call to ask how much she ate of her meal and would be told 55%, What I found out was they were simply adding all the percentages together of different parts of her meal, but not dividing the total different sections.So, according to the policy of the Rehab facility, If a person ate 10% of their main course, 20% percent of their desert, 10% of their fruit, and 15% of their salad, they would tell me she ate 55% percent of her meal, when the correct math reveals that she only ate about 10% to 12% of her meal! Once I discovered this fictional narrative, I made sure I was always there for her meals so I could encourage and assist her in eating. It usually took between 30 minutes to an hour before she ate her food.I should also mention that even with my placing BIG, PRINTED NOTES on my Mother’s bulletin board located right by her bed, I had to directly instruct the help to keep a pillow between Mom’s legs when turning her on her side several times over the first couple of days. If I had not been there it’s possible my Mother’s femur, which now had a titanium rod in it, might not have not healed properly and she could have ended up not being able to walk.It turns out the main nurse assigned to my Mother seemed to grow fond of my Mother and her initial oversights had more to do with having to manage 12 beds than not caring. Once she saw me there everyday and saw my Mother getting better she seemed to become more involved in her care.I am guessing Nurses have to try and divide up their energy between those who can get better and those may not get better and that must be a very difficult ethical task to deal with on an ongoing basis.

If you are curious there is a great episode of Last Week Tonight that addressed this. When DS was instituted it cut the poverty rate in half. Under president Maduro, he decided to mass produce hundreds of millions of dollars resulting in a rapid devaluation of currency that as a result Venezuelans call it, “The Maduro Diet.” As usual, Republicans fail to see the difference between correlation and causation. It had NOTHING to do with expropriation of state resources. In fact, time and again nationalizing resources for the collective good reduces the costs for consumers, and benefits the workers as it cuts out the profit motive and those who run, operate, and receive massive profits from it. But lets not even focus on that, have you ever heard of a place called Bolivia?I get that Republicans love to discount countries with less then 1% poverty rate(compared to 12% in the United States) and a far superior level of economic equality(GINI coefficienct scores) by saying they don’t count as capitalist. So lets start with a self described democratic socialist place in Latin America known as Bolivia. Since Democratic Socialism was instituted in Bolivia, they have cut extreme poverty in half and have the fastest growing GDP in Latin America. They went from one of the poorest countries on earth to being a place which is trending out of the category of third world countries altogether.Bolivia’s Remarkable Socialist Success Story (Bolivia’s Remarkable Socialist Success Story)andhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/socialism-doesnt-work-an-emerging-middle-class-of-bolivians-would-beg-to-differ/2019/10/08/3b1cb3ae-e6f6-11e9-b0a6-3d03721b85ef_story.htmlare two articles out of many that tell the storyso lets focus on the first articlethat's right preach on….so now lets review what the dictionary definition of socialism is….Definition of socialism | Dictionary.com Is The World’s Favorite Online Dictionary (Definition of socialism | Dictionary.com)I want you to take a good look at bulletin #3 because right here you see part of the confusion. *In marxist theory* in other words there is a big difference between social democracies, democratic socialism, and marxist-lenninist socialism. As you can clearly see, republicans are conflating socialism in democracies to totalitarian regimes while insisting that socialism can only exist in brutal fascist regimes. They seek to discount the many successful attempts to implement socialism that put America to shame in their efficacy by claiming that those countries are simply not socialist. So lets review the dictionary definition and see what counts as “a system of social organization that advocates vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.”based on this definition, any policy whereby a country/state regulates and controls its capital through social programs and business contains aspects of socialism. All over the world, countries already have a fusion of free market capitalism and socialism. For example:Medicare-for-all/universal healthcare IS SOCIALISM. In fact it is accurately refereed to as “Socialized Medicine”A Minimum wage whereby the government requires all companies to pay set wages IS SOCIALISMA comprehensive welfare state IS SOCIALISMA unionized work force as dictated by the government IS SOCIALISMMedicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Welfare IS SOCIALISMin fact, FDR’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty which established the social safety net IS SOCIALISM and during these times the American poverty rate was at record highs in our history. So what happened? SOCIALISM WORKED. they called FDR a socialist because HE WAS A SOCIALIST. This was the time at which America was a Social Democracy. Because yes, YOU CAN HAVE SOCIALISM AT THE SAME TIME AS CAPITALISM, IT HAPPENS ALL OVER THE WORLD TO THIS VERY DAY.Nordic model - Wikipedia (Nordic model - Wikipedia)Lets go back to Dictionary.com Is The World’s Favorite Online Dictionary Is The World’s Favorite Online Dictionary (Dictionary.com Is The World’s Favorite Online Dictionary) to confirm.THIS IS WHAT THEY REFER TO AS THE CULTURAL DEFINITION OF SOCIALISM“some socialists tolerate capitalism, as long as the government maintains the dominant influence over the economy, others insist on an abolition of private enterprise. All communists are socialists, but not all socialists are communists.”so lets focus then specifically on social democracies. Definition of social democracy | Dictionary.com Is The World’s Favorite Online Dictionary (Definition of social democracy | Dictionary.com)Republicans just love to discount Nordic countries saying that these aren’t socialist countries. “Sweden isn’t socialist” they claim but the “proud capitalist” Liz Warren is a socialist because she is advocating for socialized medicine. Sorry folks, but you can’t have it both ways.Swedish Social Democratic Party - Wikipedia (Swedish Social Democratic Party - Wikipedia)and want to know what else?The Republican handouts to farmers who have been devastated by Trumps trade war with China IS SOCIALISMRepublican bills bailing out failing coal companies in deep red states IS SOCIALISMhand outs, bail outs, and tax exemptions for large corporations IS SOCIALISMbecause apparently, REPUBLICANS LOVE SOCIALISM.

Google “Volunteer Cancer Patient Support” for such organizations in your area. Here in the Chicago area, there’s a network called Imerman Angels that matches patients with volunteer mentors who’ve been through treatment for the same diagnosis. But it also accepts volunteers who just want to help, whether by lending a sympathetic ear, running errands, transporting patients to & from treatments (chemo, radiation, doctors’s appointments, etc.) Check your local chapters of Gilda’s Club and the American Cancer Society, as well as cancer centers at local hospitals—often, there are bulletin boards where volunteers can be matched with patients seeking everyday services.Almost every major metro area has a multidisciplinary Cancer Wellness Center: complementary therapies (yoga, mindfulness, Qi Gong, aromatherapy), nutrition, practical advice like travel strategies and “life hacks.” Attend some of these, or look for sessions for caregivers & friends. WhatNext.com - Get firsthand insights to cancer treatments. is a website for all types of cancers, with threads for friends & volunteers.And if you have skills in hair/wigs and makeup, offer to do in-person hands-on tutorials for those whose appearance has been impacted by chemo, radiation, or surgery. So many ACS “Look Good, Feel Better” programs use items donated by cosmetics companies—these items are usually discontinued or past pull date, and many if not most contain ingredients that are suspected or even confirmed carcinogens. Demo what you can do—and direct patients to sources of carcinogen-free makeup and skincare (e.g., WellPeople, BeneFit, Philosophy, Drunk Elephant, UrbanDecay, BareMinerals, Jane Iredale, etc.—when in doubt, if Whole Foods carries it, it’s safe).Lobby anyone involved with healthcare—especially insurance—policy to support the needs of cancer patients. For instance, the Lymphedema Treatment Act, which has bipartisan sponsorship in the House & Senate, is stalled in committee. It would mandate Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance coverage for treatment wear (e.g., compression garments, pumps, etc.) and therapy. Fight like hell to keep pre-existing condition coverage mandates from being cut or repealed, as well as preventing lifetime caps for coverage from being reinstated. If you have a legislator (state, Congressional, local) who is a cancer patient or survivor or who is involved in the fight for cancer patients’ rights, then support their efforts and reelection with every fiber of your being. Share this stuff on your social media feeds.Best way to start, though, is to ask a cancer patient—especially one you know—what their concerns are and what they want and don’t want non-patients to ask or tell them. Ask what they need and how society can be more accommodating.