The same two themes of last night popped up this night, as well: children staying home from school a few days so taxpayers save money and disabled being blocked from care by insipid rules.
And, like last night, these two themes came up while hitting oh-so-few doors. I didn't count, but if I hit more than four, it wasn't by much.
SAVE SCHOOLS FROM FURLOUGH AUSTERITY
That perceived rich school district may not be so rich, after all.
The mighty Canyons School District is under the same duress of budget as others.
Witness this recent move: The district will send all the students home for an extra five days next year to save money, as personnel will not be paid for those days. One doesn't have to pay teachers for time they are not working.
Nor administrators. The administrators are taking it on the chin, themselves, including themselves in the new cost-saving, five-day furlough.
All the above according to a teacher whose door I knocked.
"I don't know where it (more money for education) is going to come from, or how you're going to get it. I just know there needs to be a way," she said.
PROOF OF SiCKO BEFORE MY EYES
"SiCKO," I was told, would be an eye-opening experience for me to view.
The person who suggested I watch Michael Moore's documentary then presented her mother-in-law as living proof of what the movie contends: that our health system comes woefully short of caring for those it should.
"We're spending billions of dollars overseas and we have people over here dying simply because they cannot afford health care," Melissa said.
She then called her mother-in-law, Mary Messner, to the door, and Mary told her own story. Mary worked for the state for 22 faithful years. Then, the state outsourced her job, and she got laid off, and she lost her insurance.
And, along came emphysema. (It may have been something she had already, but I believe it came after she lost her job.) Diagnosed with that, and without insurance, Mary turned to Medicare for help.
And was told she wasn't old enough, but, if she waited two years, they would give it to her, anyway.
Now, however do you put medical problems on hold for two years? When you need care, you need care, not two years later.
Mary cashed in her retirement and scrambled to find another job, and for awhile had one, and also received help from IHC's financial assistance.
But, a large enough share of the bills went on her credit card.
This past December, her problems got worse. She was diagnosed with cancer.
Now, it's not that Mary hasn't received medical attention. "I've gotten all the medical help I need. They have not rejected me," she said.
But, the bills piled up. "My credit card got maxed out," she said. "It got to where my payments were $180, $190 and I didn't have the money to pay for it."
And, what became of the two years Medicare required her to wait before it would help her? It was up this month, and she is finally on that program.
Mary is not a person who can't see abuses. She spoke of seeing people with cell phones and getting their nails done, and wondering, "How do they get Medicaid?"
While at the door, I told Melissa I believe in exchange for welfare, people should be allowed to work. Now just how would that be possible for Mary? Melissa wondered, noting she got so weak from the four-hour chemo treatments that just talking to people drained her. "You can't expect someone to work after four hours of that," she said. People that should be working, should be working. But some cannot work at all.
So, what to do when a person can do no work at all. We would not want to deny them the care they need. So, there are times they simply cannot work. In some of those situations, however, they will be able to work after they recover and are in better health.
Other times, can't is can't.
Now, you ask, however can a person be expected to work off medical bills, insomuch as they easily spiral into the tens of thousands of dollars. No, I don't believe they should be expected to work off the expenses dollar for dollar. But, I do believe, when it is possible, they should do some work.
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