I am very sorry for the long post yet I need to hear your thoughts. Please read the following and give me your advice. I'm not sure where to send this or, please, help me tweek it, it involves our children afterall. Thank You!
Healthcare for our children!
I believe I have a possible solution for our children of divorced or single family households Healthcare Problem.
And as Glen Beck would say..Let me tell you how I got there.
I was divorced a few years ago with four children to support. During this time my ex-husband was not working, my employer did not offer health benefits, and by the way, still doesn’t. As a working mother I did have to depend on Medicaid for the children. I thank God it was there.
Now during this time I had absolutely no problems with Medicaid covering their routine medical, dental, optical, and emergency visits. After approximently 1 year their father got a job with insurance. That’s when my problems started.
According to the state of Ohio I, the non-custodial parent is responsible for the first $100.00 per year per child , co-pays, prescriptions, and the like. I would fulfill my obligation yet their father would not. Resulting in the children being denied regular exams and even ER follow-up care until he paid his portion that was not covered by the insurance. Not to mention on numerous occasions he would refuse to give me any insurance information because he didn’t want me to take them to the doctors and cause more bills. At this point I shouldn’t have to mention the embarrassment and headaches this caused for us.
I am not offered medical benefits at work so switching them to me and asking for more child support to compensate is not an option.
I know that there are other custodial parents as well as myself in this situation that can move our grievances to the court, however that takes time and would be more expensive than just paying the bill ourselves so they, our children, can receive the care they need. We as custodial parents can ask the courts after the fact for reimbursement. But why take up the courts time and spend more money trying to get blood out of a turnip? We need the money to support our children and the court needs their time prosecuting murders, rapists, and the like.
My possible solution? Now please keep in mind I am not a Politian or an accountant. I do not have any scientific data or studies. I am just a parent looking for a better way to be a responsible parent.
Let’s just say John and Jane Doe divorce with children. Jane is the custodial parent. John is ordered to pay $100.00 a week in child support and to provide health care for his children. His private insurance company charges an extra $50.00 a month per child (there’s four) for coverage. Therefore John pays approximately $637.00 a month including healthcare.
Now of course, I know from personal experience, there will be glitches. Co-pays, prescriptions, and deductibles that will go unpaid and will result in refusal of non-emergency care.
(These figures are rounded out)
The point:
John is ordered to pay $100.00 a week in support he is also ordered to pay an additional $50.00 a week for medical benefits. The local child support enforcement agency deducts $150.00 from John’s pay as ordered by the court. The agency sends the custodial parent $94.00 and $50.00 to the states medical program. The state covers the children for their medical, dental, and optical care within the same guidelines as they due now for any other child on Medicaid.
Result:
The children of divorced or single parent households receive the care they need.
The non-custodial parent would be fulfilling their obligation to provide medical care their children.
The custodial parent is fulfilling their $100.00 an obligation for medical care.
The State receives the money to pay for it.
Now I do know this idea would not be a cure for our children’s healthcare crisis. It could very well be a stepping stone. It could be a win-win situation; our children would get the glasses they need to see the chalkboard. The non-custodial parent would be fulfilling their obligation, and the custodial parents would not have to find a new doctor, pharmacist, or optician every few months because of unpaid bills that they can’t cover. Or because the other parent refused to give them the medical card.
I don’t know if this idea has been looked into before or any outcomes it may have had. But I believe it’s worth a shot.
Iatrogenesis for kids?
Jesus didn't need pills and witchdoctors for health or moneychanger copays nor a broken record playing via radio waves to tell him how to think.
I think he did alright for himself. Homemade bread, Mrs. Paul's fish sticks, wine, some good conversation with friends like Judas, some productive/playful exercise with his sidekick Babe...all u need.
posted by charlatan on Jan 28, 2008 at 08:10:00 am #