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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=davidjohnson1451@comcast.net
href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net">David Johnson</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=sonjaengelhardt69@gmail.com
href="mailto:sonjaengelhardt69@gmail.com">Sonja Engelhardt</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 01, 2013 5:56 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fw: Fw: "Obama Care" - no health care at all?</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Sonja,</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I posted your e-mail to the Illinois Single Payer
( Medicare for All ) coalition list-serve this afternoon and I already got a
response from Dr. Anne Scheetz.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>She would like to use your story ( without your
name if you wish ) as a testimonial on her website.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>See below.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=annescheetz@gmail.com href="mailto:annescheetz@gmail.com">Anne Scheetz</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=davidjohnson1451@comcast.net
href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net">David Johnson</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=sonja.rotenberg@gmail.com
href="mailto:sonja.rotenberg@gmail.com">Sonja single Payer Rotenberg</A> ; <A
title=halelandes@yahoo.com href="mailto:halelandes@yahoo.com">Hale IBEW
Landes</A> ; <A title=dlj725@hughes.net href="mailto:dlj725@hughes.net">David
Johnson</A> ; <A title=pdachicago@gmail.com
href="mailto:pdachicago@gmail.com">Bill single payer Bianchi</A> ; <A
title=jrrhodes60@gmail.com href="mailto:jrrhodes60@gmail.com">Jim Single Payer
Rhodes</A> ; <A title=jojoryan56@yahoo.com
href="mailto:jojoryan56@yahoo.com">Johanna single payer Ryan</A> ; <A
title=drgronemeyer@msn.com href="mailto:drgronemeyer@msn.com">pamella single
payer gronemeyer</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 01, 2013 4:12 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: Fw: "Obama Care" - no health care at all?</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>David, if you would be so kind as to forward this email to your
friend, I would appreciate it. Thanks! Anne<BR><BR>Sonja, <BR><BR>Many thanks
for putting your frustration with your job into words, and doing it so
eloquently.<BR><BR>I would like very much to publish on the Illinois
Single-Payer Coalition <A href="http://ilsinglepayer.org/">website </A>an
excerpt about your experience with Medicaid, because you explain so clearly what
is happening in your office; and this is something most people don't know
anything about. Those who do know don't speak out.<BR><BR>We do not have to use
your name. I can start the article with an editor's note that says it's taken
from an email from someone who works in a dental office in CA--I don't think
anyone would be able to identify you. I would send the final version to you for
approval before posting it.<BR><BR>If you would like to have your name on the
article, that would be fine also.<BR><BR>If you are willing to consider this
under any circumstances, please send me an email.<BR><BR>People all over the
country, in dentists' offices and many other kinds of health care facilities,
are having the same problems you are having. No doubt some have dealt with their
circumstances by ceasing to care; but I know that many still care a
lot.<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR><BR>Anne Scheetz<BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 3:51 PM, David Johnson <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net"
target=_blank>davidjohnson1451@comcast.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote><U></U>
<DIV bgcolor="#ffffff">
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><B>From a friend of ours who is originally from Germany
and has lived in the U.S. for about ten years. She currently works in a dental
office in Oakland California</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4"><B>From:</B> <A
title=davidjohnson1451@comcast.net href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net"
target=_blank>David Johnson</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=davidjohnson1451@comcast.net
href="mailto:davidjohnson1451@comcast.net" target=_blank>David Johnson</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 29, 2013 8:52 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> "Obama Care" - no health care at all?</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=sonjaengelhardt69@gmail.com
href="mailto:sonjaengelhardt69@gmail.com" target=_blank>Sonja Engelhardt</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 29, 2013 5:56 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> "Obama Care" - no health care at all?</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN> </SPAN>I got so frustrated at work today I had to
get this off my chest...<BR><BR>
<DIV>
<DIV>
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR>There is only one correct letter in the so-called "Obama Care" -
which was supposed to bring great improvements to the horrible (and almost
completely) privatized US health care system which leaves 45 million uninsured
and lets the rest of the population go bankrupt in case they get sick -
because the private insurance companies are never going to pay for your
(entire) health care costs anyway.<BR><BR></DIV>So the only one correct letter
in "Obama Care" is the letter "o" - like in "no"... because there is no health
care system in the US and there will never be any in the US as long as it is
organized for profit only.<BR><BR></DIV>The "great new health care reform"
under Obama, (and he is even proud of the name they gave to it, "Obama Care",)
is a total disaster at this point. <BR><BR>And that has nothing to do with the
Republicans fighting it in the senate against the Democrats, it is just a
disaster because of exactly what Obama did.</DIV>The health care reform, Obama
proposed and which will take effect on Jan. 1 2014, will allow more people to
get on Medicaid (the health care system for the poor in the US). It also
"allows" (well, it actually "forces") more people to get private insurance -
by telling the insurance companies and the employers that health care needs to
be provided to everybody, and pre-existing conditions should be disregarded.
That might sound good at first, but it is not, really.<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>(In the past health care companies could deny coverage if a patient had a
pre-existing condition - which means, if you really need health insurance you
wouldn't get it, which makes sense if you look at it from the point of view of
making money as a health insurance company - you want to collect
money but you don't want to spend it, right?) </DIV>
<DIV>The health care system in the US is still based on profit, nothing
changed about this. So, to what could these great improvements lead to. </DIV>
<DIV>Well, let's see...<BR><BR></DIV>For some people it seemed as if
"ObamaCare" was an improvement.<BR>There are several big problems involved:
<BR><BR>1) Medicaid patients are already unable to find a doctor right now,
most of the times, (because the state pays such a low fee for services
provided, and payments get denied a lot of times and it is sometimes
impossible to get treatment pre-authorized - and most treatments need to be
pre-authorized). medicaid fees have never increased since ca. 10 years, but
were even reduced a couple of years ago, because of a lack of funds - since
all the tax money in the US goes into the military, not into schools or health
care... <BR><BR>But, as everybody knows, all other costs go up (rents for
medical offices, supplies, maybe even wages etc.) So any Doctor, who has some
kind of business sense, is not going to take any Medicaid patients. That's why
"Obama Care" doesn't matter. <BR><BR>You can put all the people you want on a
non-existing system. That doesn't mean anybody is getting any services ("Obama
Care" alllows more patients to be seen and paid for, supposingly, by the
state- but if you can't find a doctor, you can't find a doctor...And if your
services are denied they are denied.). So you might as well call it: "Obama
Care, No Health Care Anywhere".<BR><BR></DIV>2) Then other (private) health
insurance companies are forced to take any patients. That might sound nice,
but, the companies will take their extra costs out on to their other
customers. It was reported already in the US news that private insurance
companies will increase the fees for another 30 percent. I just got an
increase about 25 %. And I have like 10,000 or 20,000 Dollar deductible
already (I try not to think about it too much because it totally stresses me
out and I really can't afford a heart attack at this point.) I earn ca. 400.00
Dollars a week. I don't have a union or any benefits.<BR><BR></DIV>3) In
regards to Medicaid I also noticed, and it totally frustrated me today at
work, that all services are denied right now. <BR><BR>I work for a dentist who
mainly sees Medicaid patients. It is very hard and a lot of paper work to get
treatment pre-authorized. It always was a problem, but recently it got
much worse to get anything approved by Medicaid - the state program for the
poor. <BR><BR>Medicaid cut services previously. There is basically no dental
care there anymore for Medicaid patients who are not in a nursing home (But
when you are in a nursing home, the state, Medicaid, has much more reasons to
deny treatment - stating, for example, that "the health conditions of the
patient precludes the requested services"). I talk about these problems with
my co-workers a lot, and they all agree that actually the people who really
need the services can't get it anymore and the ones who might still be able to
get dental services (the nursing home patients - the only ones in the US who
can still get dental services) will be the easiest one to have it
denied.<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I have a Medicaid Provider Handbook. We have more than 600 denial
codes.<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Medicaid also never upgrades requested services. They just deny services.
Even if we provide x-rays and ask for a filling (for which Medicaid pays 38.00
Dollars) they denied it a lot of times and say that more surfaces needed a
filling. Why can't they just upgrade? Then we have to re-submit a new
treatment plan. It takes a while and we are not getting paid for that,
(actually it costs money to do so!)<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>The new health care overhaul in the US, the "Obama Care" is not going
to help. It is going to make things worse. I can feel it, I experience it at
my job already right now. The whole system and the whole "Obama Care" is a
fake and a lie. <BR><BR>We never got so many denials before (when we ask the
state to pre-authorize treatment) at the dental office I work in. Social
workers from nursing home facilities are calling me and asking for help, but I
don't know what to tell them...<BR><BR>I am very sure that the extreme
increase in denials has to do with "Obama Care" - more people might be getting
on Medicaid, eventually, in the future, but the state is not going to have
more money... So services are just going to be cut further... And it is
already as bad as it could be right now. The fees Medicaid pays are ridiculous
already. That's why nobody takes Medicaid patients.<BR><BR></DIV>We had a
patient calling our office. She asked if my boss could recommend another
dentist who takes Medicaid. He said, no, he doesn't know anybody. They would
have to go to the town's public hospital (Highland Hospital). But there, they
have to see every patient anyway. They always had to. Even before "Obama
Care". It doesn't matter if patients are on Medicaid or not. They have to see
you even if you don't have any health insurance at all (that's the law). So
nothing changed, and nothing is going to change. It is only getting
worse.<BR><BR>They just made a very good documentary, (called "Emergency
Room") about just this hospital (Highland Hospital in Oakland, California,
nearby where I live), and I haven't seen it because I think it will be too
depressing for me right now, but my co-worker told me that they have the scene
in there of this women who comes in really sick and they just let her sit
there. And then she just dies. In the hospital. She was looking for help and
they were letting her die. (I am not blaming the workers, I feel bad about my
own job every day!)<BR><BR></DIV>Profit and health care just don't match.
That's why the so called "Obama Care" is never going to work. It'll make
things even worse.<BR><BR></DIV>Obama is a big disappointment for me (and I
never even had illusions in the first place!)<BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sonja Engelhardt</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Oakland California</FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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clear=all><BR>-- <BR>Anne Scheetz, MD, FACP<BR>Chicago IL<BR>773-486-6276<BR><A
href="mailto:annescheetz@gmail.com"
target=_blank>annescheetz@gmail.com</A><BR>Organizer, Physicians for a National
Health Program (PNHP), Illinois Chapter <A href="http://www.pnhp.org"
target=_blank>www.pnhp.org</A><BR>Organizer, Illinois Single-Payer Coalition
(ISPC) <A href="http://ilsinglepayercoalition.org"
target=_blank>ilsinglepayer.org</A><BR>Secretary, ISPC People with Disabilities
Committee<BR>Corresponding Secretary, ISPC Chicago<BR>Hope is the belief in the
plausibility of the possible, as opposed to the necessity of the
probable.--Maimonides<BR></BODY></HTML>