Health Care the GOP Family Values Way
Don Grant is a Baby Boomer, nearly fifty years old, struggling to meet his monthly mortgage while paying off his daughter’s $100,000 in student loans. Last year, like so many other Americans, he lost his job, going months before finding work for less pay at a firm that sell foreclosures.
A month later, to add insult to injury, he found himself being sued by a Delaware County nursing home where his mother – with whom he had been estranged since childhood, having been raised by his grandparents – had racked up a $8,000 bill she refused to pay, the latest of a long string of debts racking up many thousands of dollars Diana Fichera has refused to pay. Under an archaic law dating back to Elizabethan England, the law can force adult children to pay for their parents’ medical care, even if they have the money and simply refuse to pay. Diana Fichera, who with a $1,434 monthly pension in addition a second pension and Social Security benefits, is better off financially than either her son or his half-sister, also dragged into the lawsuit. But pensions and Social Security are exempt from being garnished for debts – so the nursing home’s lawyers went after the children. Don Grant couldn’t afford even the $400 for a lawyer, so tried to represent himself against the full battery of the Blue Bell legal firm. Not surprisingly, he lost.
So now he is faced with a stark choice: Go into even further debt to pay his irresponsible mother’s medical bills, or ignore it, risking total financial collapse. "If I go to buy a car, it's going to affect my credit," he says. "If we try to sell the house, it will come up."
A growing number of major law firms in Pennsylvania are specializing in representing nursing homes and hospitals, filing suits against adult children even if the children live out of state and even if it's been years since they had contact with their parents. Diana Fichera is simply an uncaring deadbeat who, with the help of these ‘creative’ lawyers, has found a legal loophole allowing her to foist her financial responsibilities onto her helpless children.
But it’s not just unscrupulous parents – Andrea August of Norristown, Pennsylvania was stunned when a nursing home sued her for more than $300,000 in unpaid bills for her late father’s care as well as her mother’s, who suffers from dementia. August and her husband work two jobs each just to live paycheck to paycheck along with their two children. August never had power of attorney over her parent’s assets, and had believed the nursing home had already worked out how her parent’s bills would be paid, unaware the elderly couple were not covered by Medicaid. August certainly loved her parents and did what she could, but footing their enormous medical bills was completely out of her reach.
No doubt there are many other elderly and ill parents of adult children, like Andrea August’s, who genuinely cannot pay for medical care, or even negotiate any possible arrangement for care if suffering from dementia.
And according to Neil E. Hendershot, a Harrisburg lawyer and legal blogger, thirty more states have legislation on the books that can make adult children responsible for their parent’s medical costs, regardless of the financial burden, it’s not just Pennsylvanians who need to worry about this. Part of the problem lies in another federal law, passed in 2005 - the Deficit Reduction Act - making it even more difficult for nursing home patients to obtain Medicaid coverage for their care. Yup, let’s reduce the deficit by reducing already inadequate health care for the neediest, most vulnerable – and least able to complain about it.
Given the state of the health care and insurance crisis in America, isn’t it nice to know that rather than doing everything in their power pass legislation to give every American affordable health coverage, we have all those tireless politicians dedicated to break Obama at Waterloo? Who needs single-payer health care, or any public health care, when we have such handy laws to force blameless victims into deeper financial distress?
Ah, yes. Health care. The compassionate conservative style.
Sure right
in this country. Where did this info come from? If you do not contract to be responsible for another's debts, you aren't. That is what Medicaid is for.
States with filial responsibility laws are: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Link to list of applicable statutes.
A state legislator introduced a similar bill here in Florida a couple of years ago, but it failed. Thankfully, huh, can you imagine?
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
You write, "Not unsurprisingly, he lost."
I think you meant "Not surprisingly, he lost." Your two negatives would make it a positive that would say it was a surprise that he lost. But it wasn't.
(:>)
Diana Fichera, who with a $1,434 monthly pension in addition a second pension and Social Security benefits, is better off financially than either her son or his half-sister, also dragged into the lawsuit.
Dragged WHAT into the lawsuit? Herself? Her son? Her money? Was SHE dragged in?
Really, why is there no editor on this site to check for these things? What are the writers doing, relying on SpellCheck, for gods' sakes?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
I think most of us understand that the half-sister was dragged into the lawsuit.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
So sorry. Everyone on the C&L writing staff does the best they can under incredible time pressures. A kindly note pointing out errors is greatly appreciated. Flogging someone in public, however, speaks more about you than of me.
I would not want someone coming in and editing my post-it's rude to edit someone's post, without their permission.
I don't come here expecting to read comments intended to diss others; stay on topic, and leave the editing to the OP. Snarkiness (SpellCheck that...)is so counter-productive.
If President Obama wants to get the media onboard with his healthcare ideas, it's really very simple: rather than filling reporters' empty heads with facts and figures and ideas, which of course results in them writing about the Gates case and nothing else, President Obama should dress up in a surgeon's outfit, help perform an operation on national TV, then declare, scalpel in hand, that it's MISSION ACCOMPLISHED on healthcare! Provided he looks enough like George Clooney circa "E.R.", the media should swoon accordingly and give him nothing but effusive praise and positive coverage. Presto! Healthcare for everyone!
...Ignore the debt.
...no big deal! ...our govt continues to operate even though it's trillions in the hole even though it's becoming increasingly clear that it/we won't be able to ever pay it off.
I wouldnt worry at all. America doesnt have debtor prisons anymore...and who gives a shit about credit ratings anyway...(not me)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Jesus, this bs about making adult children pay for their parents nursing care even when the parent has the money is just wrong for so many reasons. Especially when the mother has not been a mother to the adult child in like forever.
Right now Glenn Beck is on tv trying to really stir things up. He is saying that Obama is against reparations because he doesn't feel that they go far enough to give black people what they deserve. He's playing bits and pieces of Obama's speeches to prove his point. And worst of all he's insinuating that health care reform is just to help black people. I guess Glenn won't be happy until his tea baggers go totally bat shit crazy and people get hurt.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Glen Beck act as if he couldn't possible get hurt.
perhaps so, except he could shoot himself in the crotch with his concealed pistol... and that would hurt like the dickens.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
totally bat shit crazy and people get hurt"
Hasn't this already been happening?
Hey, why can't that guy sue his mother for the money she owes the facility. If the burden to pay is now on him, why can't he sue her to get his money back?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"pensions and Social Security are exempt from being garnished for debts"
When one think about that, it is a blatant injustice. Why should pensions be protected while wages are not? It is reverse discrimination based on age, pure and simple.
It cannot be true.
First of all Corporations have no right, or mind, to contract as they are legal fictions. And if they didn't deliver what they promise also that's breach of contract.
and their only responsibility is to make profits for their shareholders. This is a fact. Look it up.
I can't get decent healthcare now...but jut wait 'til my kids stick me in the home...then I'll let them be my insurance. That'll show 'em!
Thanks to the shortsidedness and greed of those in power, more and more people are faced with nightmares not of their own making. Our Repubican friends wouldn't know a family value if it came up and smacked them in the groin...
"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
Hunter S. Thompson
Since it's all in the family, why not get the daughter with the $100,000 paid for education to kick in a little? Surely she must be bringing in the money. Why can't SHE pay Grandma's bill (probably Grandma is broke), and where is the compassion for Grandma?
Oh. yes. Under 50? This guy is NOT a "boomer". The youngest "Boomers" are over 50 now.
Did you read the article? The Grandma has MORE MONEY that her son. She's just one of those despicable persons who can't be bothered to pay what she owe. I live in Philly and remember this case pretty well; the rap sheet of this grandma for unpaid debts is miles long and date back as far as the records go.
The idea of asking her granddaughter to cover her irresponsibility is mind-boggling. But it is in line with the way this society has behaved in the last 40 years; spend, spend, spend more and present the bill to the newborn. No wonder we're in such deep shit now.
I know what I would do if I was the son...she would pay, trust me on that. There is no place she could hide, no corner where she'd be anonymous.
Only for crimes. Never mind. I have to go bang my head on a wall.
Of course you get a rap sheet for unpaid debts.
It's called "contempt of court".
When you get sued and the judgement goes against you, you're ordered by the court to pay that amount. If you fail to pay it, you're found in contempt. Otherwise, exactly what do you think the point of suing someone is?
The best part is that kind of contempt works an awful lot like a debtors prison. You can be locked up until you pay it. Of course, it's difficult to raise the cash while you're locked up.
So to answer your questions: Yes, you can be forced to pay something you didn't agree to. Even outside the context being talked about here that's possible in multiple ways. (A well known example is a spouse agreeing to something.)
Even if all this weren't the case, now that a judgement has gone against him, his wages will be garnished and/or a lien put on his property.
First of all, what makes you think the sister has the money? Because she went to college? Are you shitting me? Having a college diploma is no guarantee of income, or even a freaking JOB. Do you have any idea how many college-educated people are out of work?
And also, WRONG on the boomers. The generation defined that way has its latest edge at 1962 or so.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
seen the cut off line as high as 1964
My dad, a WWII vet, had a daughter in 1970, is she considered a boomer?
Didn't the baby boom begin in 1946?
..the Health Care debacle will be a Waterloo...for them..
Dump your mother in a nursing home because you can't stand her and then never visit for 20 years and go to court to try NOT to pay her bills when all along you're rich enough to toss $100 GRAND to your kid to go to school.
Family values. Then you whine about the debt but don't ask the kid. Like the kid is not part of the family. Or the mother.
Look, buster, it doesn't matter whether or not you got along with your mother. It is wrong to dump her into a nursing home and split, and continue to nurse your ball of hate against her for decades. You deserve the same in return when you are old.
Just call it Karma.
He didn't give his daughter 100 grand, that money was a student loan that he is trying to help his daughter pay back. He didn't "dump" his mother in a nursing home. "... his mother – with whom he had been estranged since childhood,..." She was never really a mother to him. For whatever reason they were not together since his childhood so she never played the part of a mother to him. Family values go both ways.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Grant did not 'dump' his mother in a nursing home. She ran up a $8,000 bill for post-operative care, then left without paying. And Grant isn't 'rich' enough to pay $100,000 to put his kid through university - that was a student LOAN, they borrowed the money.
As for not visiting his mother, she didn't even bother raising him, his grandparents did. She abrogated any expectation of 'family rights' a long, long time ago.
Nonny, the steam must have been coming out your ears at the same time it was coming out of mine.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
You really have no idea what you're talking about, dude. Spoken like someone who's never faced this situation.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Yellowbird, did you even read the article before you posted? You are saying the exact opposite of what was written.
Try reading the article. The daughter went to school on BORROWED money just like 80 - 90 percent of Americans. $100,000 is just an average amount for a 4 year degree anymore.
to send him a copy of the contract between Don and his Kids and the nursing home. They probably won't find it . . likely because it never existed.
It doesn't sound like a contract is necessary, they can just go after the kids (I'm supposing next of kin) to pay the patients bills.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
that Nursing Home has no leg to stand on.
From the post: "Under an archaic law dating back to Elizabethan England, the law can force adult children to pay for their parents’ medical care, even if they have the money and simply refuse to pay."
I don't see anything about a contract involved in any way. It's a law that the kids have to pay for parents' medical care.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
LOL if only people knew.
That might've been the best $400 he ever borrowed. I'm no fan of lawyers but if you go into that courtroom without protection, you're probably gonna get reamed.
I agree. But the thing is could he have found someone to loan it to him?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I have seen too many horrible sights in nursing homes and decided long ago that if it ever came to that for me, I would drag myself into the woods on hands and knees if necessary and give myself up to the elements!
it's deplorable unless you can afford an upper scale Nursing Home Community your screwed.
I'd rather die in the Unabomber shack in the middle of the woods than in a nursing home. They are the most depressing places in the world. I avoid them like the plague.
Once, back in the day, my home health agency boss called me early one Sunday morning all in a dither. "I desperately need for you to go to Such and Such nursing home and do a blood sugar test and maybe give some insulin....you're my only hope Obe Wan Kenobe...".
So reluctantly I went. From the moment I opened the door the stench of urine and feces hit me in the face. I looked off to my left to the dining room and all these sad looking poor old souls just sat in their wheelchairs. Alone. Everyone there was so alone.
I finally found my patient and dispatched with my work and she started PLEADING with me to get her out of there. "My daughter sold my house, moved to Hawaii and dumped me here! They won't let me use a phone or anything! Please help me! No one here will help me!" I spoke with the supervisor and she blew me off telling me I'd have to call back in the morning and speak to the Social Services supervisor. I walked out and never looked back.
As a nurse, I would hope that a Single Payer health program would straighten out all these dysfunctional, many criminally run businesses. I could tell you all nursing home stories that would make you physically ill.
As to this quagmire, all the posts here read like a freakin' soap opera.
First of all, I figured when we threw off the "King" that we also got rid of any "Elizabethian Laws".
This is all just one more example of why we need "Cradle to Grave" Single Payer health care. If we did these type conversations wouldn't ever have to happen.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
It's high time his educated daughter start paying on the student loan herself. She has her credentials, now get to it.
If they did . . did the bank actually have hard currency to back up the loan they gave her? If not that would be fraud and she technically wouldn't owe them anything.
Consider the job market for a moment, is it possible the daughter cannot get a job?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
...find a job at this time. However; is that supposed to last forever? And, when does a person leave the nest and assume one's own responsibilities? Isn't she an adult now? If times are hard and all one can find is lowly work, it is still work and I assume if daddy's paying the bill, then she still lives at home. I buy no excuses. I have a college degree. I have a shitty low paying job. I get it done or else my ass is on the street. I have sympathy for the dad. Daughter, get off your ass and get to it even if you can only bring in nickels. They do add up to dollars, even if only a few, but it is better than a kick in the ass.
And we know that she does not already have a shitty job doing the best she can? If her dad can help her out so she doesn't get behind in her loan payments until the job situation gets better I think that's money better spent than paying the hospital bills of a woman who apparently never gave a damn about her son.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Because a college education guarantees you a job. What decade are you living in, again?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
phhht!
You said above that you have a college degree, yet you can't tell the difference between 'your' and 'you're'? "Phhht!", indeed, you presumptuous knob-end.
... on your planet. I have a Master's degree, currently doing a PhD. At the end of it, there's every good chance I'm going to be a highly-educated unemployed person.
News flash - the economy SUCKS! Big time! Everyone is hurting, from the guy who sweeps the floors in movie theatres to airline pilots to doctors and lawyers and butchers and bakers and candlestick makers. EVERYONE is in the crapper. Got it?
The idea that now his daughter has a bright shiny new degree she's going to waltz out into the world and land a fantastic job is so...
... Generation Me think.
I make no such assumptions. My ass is against the wall and I have NO FUCKING SAFETY NET! Indians/Mexicans get the shaft. I'm struggling too. Sorry, no excuses. I didn't say she had to have a bright shiny new high powered "Look at ME!" job, now did I?! I simply said she needs to get off her ass and do something to contribute. Her family is sinking. Why is the onus of all responsibility on the father's shoulders? I don't give a shit if she's got to work with the mechanical bear at a pizza parlor. It beats moping and excuse making. Apparently for some of you, this poverty, no opportunity thing is something new! Welcome to the club. How does it feel?
How do you know the daughter isn't already working at some shit detail job?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... about the daughter not working or not helping out her family as much as she can. Seems ol' cheesy here is just pissed off at the world in general and needs a straw man to punch.
Too bad there's just not enough straw.
The article doesn't say. It does imply that the onus of the loan is on daddy's shoulders. I base my argument on that stated fact.
It simply said he was trying to help her with her loan. I did not see where the onus was on the dad's shoulders.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
And the daughter may be unable to pay due to unemployment, underemployment.
The choice is to pay or further wreck his and his daughter's credit.
I'd rather see him try to help out his daughter than see him be forced to pay his estranged mothers bills.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
n/t
I'm underemployed, receive section 8 housing and live hand to mouth and I manage, barely , to get it done. I didn't say it wasn't hard or that it was easy.
And all I'm saying is that we don't know that she isn't already trying to help out with some sort of hand to mouth job.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"Don Grant is a Baby Boomer, nearly fifty years old, struggling to meet his monthly mortgage while paying off his daughter’s $100,000 in student loans."
Note that it states that HE is struggling to meet the mortgage (and here's the important part) "while paying off his daughter's loans." It states that he is doing it, and no mention about any contributions by any other family member.
I agree it'd be best if she took a job of any kind...of course since it isn't mentioned in the article that she doesn't have one, I'm not sure why you assumed that.
Sure work of any kind is better than no work at all...But how long do you think you'd have to work at McDonalds or Wal-Mart at minimum wage and screwy hours to pay off $100k?
$7 an hour@40 hours a week (unlikely) with no time off ends up being about $14560 a year. So 7 years to pay it off. As long as she doesn't eat, help with any bills, pay taxes, own a car, or use public transportation.
... journalists always get it 100% accurate. Just ask anyone at FOX...
Old Tom thinks Don Grant should have been socking money away rather than bothering to help his daughter repay her student loans. Not a very good parent in my opinion. Daughter built $100k in debt for school....she should've planned for repayment.
As for the mother's debt, Old Tom thinks Don should be off the hook, there.
Frankly, I'm beginning to believe the best way to resolve some of these monster corporation/creditor issues is simply to bankrupt them by refusing to pay. Chaos, yes, but good-bye Godjira!
I doubt when the daughter was in school that she could imagine when she got out she would be facing one of the worst job markets in years.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... a marvel? Wasn't one of our main contenders for the Presidency less than a year ago telling us how good the economy was, we had nothing to worry about?
Surprising to me how many people have crystal balls that can tell them what the future is going to be like and plan accordingly. Anyone want to tell me where I can get one, too?
Nonny if the banking oligarchy wasn't getting the taxpayer to bend over and backstop the ridiculous amounts of school loans you have they wouldn't exist.
This girl's 100K in school loans are as much of a oligarchal fiction as the $500,000 starter home.
If you graduate during a downturn, you move back in with your parents. And if not, a roommate and a small apartment are perfectly affordable (and appropriate) for life in your 20's with a lower wage job.
Overseas they finance higher education, but they also (horrors) ration it. Only in America can you borrow $100K for a degree in English literature....
As I said below, education loans are yet another oligarchical ponzi scheme ....
After reading this, I feel very sorry for the average hardworking tax-paying citizen of the USA. How any of you can achieve the 'American Dream' with your honesty and integrity intact, in what has become a depressingly (and ever increasingly) hostile society, seems like an impossible dream to me.
Life may be far from perfect in the UK, but at least we are spared the nightmare scenario that has befallen Don Grant. The poor guy has my sincere and deepest sympathy.
Mine too. The guy sounds like a decent guy who got caught up in the trap of some ancient law.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
n/t
for the American Dream, we failed to read and comprehend the fine print containing all the legalese. Turns out they upgraded us to nightmare a couple decades ago and nobody noticed . . right away.
But, but, in the UK aren't you in lines that go around the block, aren't people dying in the waiting rooms, isn't it quasi impossible to get any advanced treatment...?
I mean, it must be true. James Inhofe himself (along with numerous other Republicans) have said so.
This doesn't pass the smell test; so I dug a little more. I was surprised to find out that it was true that this avenue was being used, but it's also true that:
"Kennedy said that for most of his cases, he uses filial support lawsuits to persuade adult children to do the paperwork necessary to establish Medicaid eligibility for their parents. Most of the time, he said, the children being sued agree to help and aren't stuck paying their parents' bills. "
Don Grant and his sister knew their mother was a train wreck when it came to any form of adult responsibility. It sounds as though a phone call and a few forms would have prevented this from spiraling out of control. Or maybe the nursing home WAS assured those forms would be filled out before they admitted Mr. Grant's mother and sent after letter after phone call after letter, trying to get Don and his sister to come in and fill them out.
These situations, BTW, aren't going to be mitigated by nationalized health insurance. Eligibility still will have to be established or the gov't will not reimburse the nursing home.
If he did this in NYS, he and his client could be fined for filing frivolous lawsuits. Another example of a weasel who gives lawyers bad names.
Why couldn't the mother fill out her own Medicaid forms?
For the same reason she has hundred of liens filed against her and abandoned her children. She's a developmentally arrested train wreck. And, as I said, the nursing home can't jam the pen into her hands and force her to sign. We do want there to be some balance of power between individuals and the nursing home right?
When you read these articles (or blog posts) every player is monsterfied or mousified. I get sick of it, it's just another form of infotainment that polarizes people.
Soap opera drivel or the truth. Hmmm. The nursing home could apply to surrogate's court to have a guardian appointed for her. They could get the Department of Social Services involved, and it would not cost the nursing home a dime.
Signed into law Feb. 2006, also contains a provision that creates a penalty that is much more severe than before for people who "appear" to give away or transfer their assets to qualify for federal benefits.
Under the old law, the penalty period—the time frame that the senior is ineligible for federal nursing home benefits—began to run when the assets were transferred. Now, the penalty period doesn’t even begin to run until the senior has run out of assets and is in need of a nursing home. This means that substantial numbers of seniors who, intentionally or unintentionally, transferred assets in a way the government finds was inappropriate, will be left with no assets, no benefits, and in immediate need of nursing home care.
It also made changes to the "Homestead Exemption".
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=%E2%80%9CFilial+Resp...
Yes, the Baby Boom started 9 months after WWII. That means the OLDEST Boomers are 63, not 61 (2009 - 1946 = 63). Conversely the youngest (if born in 1964 - the longest interpretation of Boomers) would be 45.
Back on topic, I've dealt with a few relatives regarding nursing care. It varies from state to state. As noted previously, 19 states do legalize fillial recovery. Wisconsin (where I live) is not one of them, though they have a separate law (Title 19) regarding Medicaid/nursing home cost recovery. So yeah, it could be that the grandmother makes too much to qualify for Pennsylvania Medicaid, yet the corporations can't go after her pension/SS payments so they go after the kids. The laws can get quite Byzantine.
30 states have filial interests. Try the link above at 18:11 for an interesting discussion involving, among other things, why the right wingers would want to invoke this very old and outdated concept. Perhaps they can bring back slavery to get rid of BHO.
Medicare and Medicaid are primarily concerned with the illegal transfer of assets by the owners to their children, etc., to prevent proceeds from such a transfer being used to contribute to the care of the elderly owners. Fraud, in other words.
Once my parents get really old, I'm sending them back to South East Asia.
oh wait, they're not from SE Asia.
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
It is false that Social Security cannot be garnished. I know this for a fact because my SS WAS garnished. Since I was forced to retire early, due to a debilitating stroke, SS is my only income. Nonetheless, in 2005, the IRS garnished my SS. For trumped up charges of back income tax. I was able to get them off my back, but ONLY by PROVING I couldn't survive without my full SS income.
This is something I am sure about.
Generally, Social Security benefits are exempt from execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, or from the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law. The following are exceptions and subject to garnishment:
(1) to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to make levies for the collection of delinquent Federal taxes and under certain circumstances delinquent child support payments; and
(2) to garnishment or similar legal process brought by an individual to enforce a child support or alimony obligation.
See Section 207 of Social Security Act.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
I do not know why it is so hard for President Obama to understand that our Healthcare system in the United States just needs tweaking. If clear directives are delineated by the President to health insurance carriers, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors to promote fairness with charges, I believe all people in the United States would benefit.
Insurance in MN is supposed to be non profit and they make a profit regardless. It's against the law and they make a profit even when the middle class is struggling to make it. I work in a clinic and I see more and more people walking in with no insurance. Even if we make sure every child has health care it's still a disaster waiting to happen. One parent becomes hospitalized and you have bankruptcy. Have one parent diagnosed with diabetes. How about high blood pressure. These are two common issues. Do you ignore them. These take monitoring. How about if the mother is diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. I was while I was on COBRA. That stank but without it, my family would have been bankrupt. And I didn't even need Chemo. You think the foreclosure thing is a disaster watch the health care issue without reform.
It's not simple but it has to be solved. There has to be reform and there has to be health care for everyone.
Jeanne
Not to mention Family values... what the heck happens to the relationship of siblings when some can pay and others can't ... and the resentment that will cause... why this whole mess, is just win, win, win.. isn't it?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
province of Canada, nursing home care for the elderly and chronically disabled is considered part of the health care system. Residents' bills are covered by our medicare at no cost to the individual or family. This is a part of the "piece of crap" system that the ignorant redneck republican from Texas said of our system.
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