My plan if I ever get cancer or another life threatening illness

[gaspee]

Commit a victimless crime - like dealing pot or something. Nice mandatory minimum sentence, our women's prison here in RI isn't actually too bad - and hey, I'm *already* a lesbian, LOL! Maybe I should look into federal crimes that have cushy minimum security sentences. Tax evasion anyone?

That's my long-term health care plan, at almost 40, I need to think of one. The 200 bucks a week I make as an independent contract delivery person isn't even clse enough to get me health insurance under any currently proposed plan.

For the high blood pressure and bad teeth, I'll take my uninsured chances on the outside, but if I get something life-threatening, I have a plan! Woo-hoo! Prison.

[MercutioATC]

1. Some people do exactly that.

I used to work in law enforcement. Every fall, there were a couple of people who would get arrested for something that would get them a 90-day sentence so they had food and a warm place to sleep for the winter.

[Jersey Devil]

8. Yep, there were a few poor homless who threw bricks through court windows

in Paterson, NJ for a few years in the dead cold of winter to find a place to stay.

[BuelahWitch]

18. They did that during the Depression too

Charlie Chaplin pokes fun at it in "Modern Times." The Tramp finds life is better in prison, so when he gets out on good behavior he does his best to get back in again.

[MercutioATC]

19. My mother grew up in Paterson

...back when it was a working-class Italian/Jewish neighborhood.

[bvar22]

25. WOW, Pangs of nostalgia.

I remember when there was a Working Class.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. I worked in corrections, also,

and saw that here, as well, especially during the winter.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Health care maybe, but this doesn't look like a lot of fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrslL7Rec6w&feature=Play...

And that lame-ass video didn't even take more than an hour or two out of that woman's day, I don't think.

[gaspee]

7. Ooohh, I'll have to watch that!

There might be a previously unseen flaw in my plan.

I don't get bored, ever, so that's one up for me.

I guess the decision is what's worse... humiliation or death from a treatable illness.

[rockymountaindem]

9. Well, let me know what you think

Although if you're that worried, maybe emigration to someplace like Belize might be a better option than strip searches, 8x8 cells and no underwear (which made me say, "seriously?").

[gaspee]

13. Three of my four

grandparents died of cancer - two in their fifties, so I am starting to get worried. I would sure jump at the chance of a public option that's affordable to people like me (though I'm rooting for medicare for all even though it won't happen.)

[Wapsie B]

3. Just wait, rwingers have been salivating over creating some sort of devil's island for prisoners.

[DesertFlower]

4. it's sad that prison is an alternative.

at $200 a week you might eligible for medicaid. here in arizona you have to make less than $840 a month.

[gaspee]

10. I make just over

I actually make 240 a week - I was rounding - so I'm not eligible. I share expenses with my elderly mother and learning disabled brother, so I actually live a pretty decent lifestyle since I don't need much and back when I did make a LOT of money (over a decade ago) I paid off my parent's house.

I just don't make nearly enough to afford healthcare.

I've been trying to get into the free clinic, but I never win the lottery even though I go every month.

Maybe I should try to turn straight and find a man to support me (that was a joke. I'd rather go to prison, LOL!)

[DesertFlower]

16. that really sucks.

you're a good person who obviously did the right thing all her life. that's wonderful that you paid off your parents house.

i became disabled with severe chronic fatigue syndrome almost 20 years ago. after 1-1/2 years of fighting with social security i was awarded disability which entitled me to medicare. fortunately i have a husband with a good job and i chose to stay with his company health insurance. i would have not been able to live on the disability alone. i met a few women (both gay and straight) who were disabled. they had to find roomates and live in cheap apartments to get by.

my best friend also has CFS and is gay, but she's fortunate. her SO has a good job and pays the mortgage and most of the bills.

[grasswire]

5. yeah but they might send you out of state

You could go to one of those hotter states where things are just a little more lax, ya know? Many prisons move people elsewhere.

[JDPriestly]

6. You need to write to Obama about your plan.

Everyone who cannot afford the mandated insurance premiums should write that. I think you would be covered by subsidies and therefore able to afford health care under Obama's proposal. But then, who knows? We don't have any numbers or even a solid proposal that we can respond to. We are all just out here in limbo.

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. +1

Another talking point. I agree with this. Send it to your Rep and Senators as well.

[abluelady]

11. I'm Going to Send All My Bills to My Republican Congressman

And let him deal with it! I think I'll actually write his name as the person responsible for the bills on those endless forms that have to be filled out.

[gaspee]

15. Now there's an idea

The entire delegation from my state is D, but my particular congresscritter, Langevin, is a DINO and will vote for a plan without a public option. Unfortunately, we do that Congressman/Senator for life thing up here in the Northeast.

My delegation is

Kennedy
Langevin
Whitehouse
Reed

All in all, a good delegation, but I'd get rid of Langevin, if I could.

[abluelady]

20. You Are Sooooo Lucky

We have few Dems in my state and of those we have only two are "really good" guys. I have the bad luck to be represented by Eric Cantor. But I have to say I'll take a D over an R any day of the week.

[Barack_America]

14. Honey, there's an easier way.

Marry a Canadian woman.

I just married a Canadian man. We happen to have health insurance now and I happen to love him very much, but I'd be lying through my teeth if I said the back-up health benefits hadn't occurred to me.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Looking for love Canadians might have a good thing going now.

They have a hell of a lot to offer compared to what we have lately.

[Feron]

17. I recall reading a story where a man did just that.

The details are sketchy, but I think that he had cancer and was uninsured.
I forget the crime, but I think it was a half-hearted bank robbery attempt in order to get arrested.

[The_Commonist]

22. My plan, in a similar situation...

...is to die.
Pretty simple plan, really.

[winyanstaz]

23. my plan is to go totally organic and use Issiac's tea....

since it has such a great track record of curing cancers..why not? It's got to be better than chemo.

[bitchkitty]

24. I do have a serious illness.

But a day on the sidewalk, cold but free, is better than a day in prison.

My plan is simple - try to live on what I get from disability, and smoke a lot of pot to ease my pain. So far, it seems to be working!

[Saphire]

27. I'm with you. However, I have also considered being commited to a

mental hospital.....I'm sure the beds are better.

[pitohui]

28. stupid plan, lots of prisoners (esp. female prisoners) don't receive treatment in prison

you need to look into this more deeply, i will never forget a nation expose i read where two female prisoners were denied treatment for BREAST CANCER

health care in female prisoners is notorious for how bad it is -- you don't get any preventive care, your cancer could be well advanced before you receive any treatment in prison, rather than just being accused of malingering

that is not a long term health plan, that is a plan for suicide by cop and by embarrassment to any family who cares about you

[Ms. Toad]

29. At that income level, you would be eligible for

a full subsidy under any of the bills I've reviewed. They go to 300-400% of poverty level - with full subsidy up to 300% in most of them. I believe $240 a week puts you under the poverty level (for 2008 it was $11,000 and change)

[NNN0LHI]

30. I remember people throwing a brick through plate glass windows every fall

Then they would just stand there and wait to be arrested. That was usually enough to get them six months of three hots and a cot at the local crowbar hotel to make it through the brutal winters here.

Very common. I remember people doing this since I was a little kid around these parts.

Don

[applegrove]

31. Sounds like a plan. But I would hope for you a health care reform bill passes instead.

Vibes to your health.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

32. Honestly, I told my spouse I'd intentionally get caught robbing the local bank.

I told him, at least I'd get health care in prison, My spouse laughed.

Nowadays, I figure I'd just pass.

I've worked so damn hard to get what little my spouse and I possess. Either crime or health bills would take all that away.

I'd elect to die, quite frankly, and pass on losing what little we possess. After all, life isn't forever,...what little we can leave behind means a lot.

Is that bad?