Had a little fun. Well, not really, but it did feel good.

[PatrickforB]

Just took my wife in to the health care 'provider.' According to our insurance plan, what we did today was not completely covered by my already crippling financial copay. So I had to take out a loan. Yay! 'Murika really grate, now, eh?

In the meantime, my HMO, which shall remain nameless - sort of like the Mouth of Sauron - has made my wife wait FIVE MONTHS to even see a surgeon about a torn rotator cuff. Five months. Every morning she wakes up weeping from the pain. Finally, next week, we'll get to see the surgeon, and then probably have to wait another five months for surgery.

So, feeling more than just a bit angry, I called my Congressman, Ken Buck, who is a proud member of the so-called 'freedom caucus.'

I explained my slow and grinding trauma to his staffer, because it is pretty hard to be a caregiver, and my wife's situation and how she has driddle squat for a quality of life, and then asked him what the Republican party has done to materially benefit me or my family since the 1970s when Dick Nixon created the EPA. Yeah, we had a couple of stimulus checks, but that money already is gone to the HMO.

Then, we talked about how my Republican county commissioners have politicized COVID and in spite of the CDC's recommendation that students mask in school, they have actually issued a written communique asking the school district NOT to have kids mask. Why? For our freedom, of course!

The conversation moved to healthcare - I did mention having to take out the loan and asked him why I am even faced with that situation. Following this, I spoke about how the US is the only country in the world that has healthcare debt and healthcare bankruptcies. Why is that, I asked? And why has the age of Medicare eligibility not been reduced to age 55? Those things, I said, would have materially benefitted me and my family FAR MORE than the 2017 tax cut, which was the height of fiscal irresponsibility.

We then went on to discuss how individual taxpayers such as him (the staffer) and I pay in 86% of the government's tax revenue, and corporations only 6.8% at this time, because of that tax cut. Why, I asked, wouldn't it be better policy to raise the corporate tax rate back to 1970 levels?

After that, we had a nice talk about student debt and I asked why my kids had to pack in so much debt, and why Congress didn't act to make college more affordable to all kids.

Finally I asked what is wrong with the Republican party right now. Why have they politicized the pandemic and the vaccine, and why are they letting people die just to make Biden look bad so they can win the next election? And why are people who are arguably traitors, like Boebert, Greene, Hawley, Cruz, Kosar, McCarthy and others still in Congress after the failed coup attempt January 6.

I think it was good for him to hear that. He told me that Buck represents the values of the people who live out on the eastern plains and votes his values. I replied that he doesn't represent me and his values are not in tune with urban people, who tend to be a bit left of center, and I said that there are many of us who feel this way, in fact a majority of Americans.

So there you have it. I think it was good for him to hear about what our experience is actually like on the ground. Because if Buck got 2 or 3 thousand calls like this, it might wake him up. And venting to a person who is on the staff of one of these right wing nut jobs felt damned good. I try to call Buck's office monthly like this.

Rant over...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Yours is a righteous rant! Good for you, saying what you did. It was good for him to hear it, too.

I hope he passes it on to his boss!

[The Magistrate]

2. You Know, Sir, When That 'My Constituent's Values' Line Is Trotted Out

I would be partial to a reply along the lines of 'What an insult to the voters of East Texas, why do you think so little of them as to call them cruel, foolish traitors?'

[MLAA]

3. Well done!

[wryter2000]

4. And if the hospital is full

That will further delay your wife's surgery. I had to wait for months to get a hip replacement because at first, they weren't doing elective surgeries and then, I wan't going to the hospital until I was fully vaccinated. Under normal circumstances, I would probably have had to wait 4 weeks or so.

[leftieNanner]

6. My surgery that was finally scheduled for last week after 3 years of problems

was cancelled because our local hospitals are overrun with Covid cases - INCLUDING HOSPITAL STAFF!! My county is only 46% vaccinated. We have both the Trumpie folks and the woo-woo naturopath kind. Great.

I'm pissed.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. "why my kids had to pack in so much debt ... why Congress didn't act to make college more affordable

College administration and senior faculty are making too much money for them to do that.

[GulfCoast66]

17. That a right wing taking point. Not true at all. College professors have always been well paid.

At my state school when I attended the state kicked over 50% of the cost. Along with the federal stuff and such I paid $600 a semester. At a class 5 research Land Grant University. Today the state pays roughly 20%. Students make up the rest. Thousands a semester.

Oh, and I went to university right before the state went Republican. They hate universities except the football program. Because universities open your mind up to new ideas and teach real history. Anathema to republicans.

My father was a PhD college administrator. He made over 80K in the 80’s. And that pay was reflected by all the staff. Yet I paid 600 a semester. If anything it’s the luxury dorms kids get now that drive up costs. We had tiny rooms with communal bathrooms and showers. 2 people per room. No kid would do that today. And their parents would object. Not all, of course. But enough.

[FakeNoose]

7. Wow good job! I can't believe he didn't hang up on you

In fact, it's amazing that you even got a live person to talk to. You even got to have some back-and-forth conversation and that's hard to believe.

This was a very productive phone call.

[electric_blue68]

8. Heh... slow vent! So sorry your wife is in such a painful...

aggravated by big delays situation.

I caused myself a stupid freak accident that ended up with me ripping my RC in my dominant left arm. It was a total shock at 38 to have my first really major injury short of some really nasty sprained ankle injuries (same ankle) over a few previous decades.

But her's sounds more complicated!
#Anatomical description#
.
.
.
.
Maybe just how they ripped, internal bone scaring causing pressure, pain etc.
My bone scarring only caused/s mild to moderate pain only under very specific conditions of how I use my arm in a very certain way of which I can avoid a a lot of the time.
Hers sounds way more pervasive. 😔
#
.
.
.
✔️
I had a super sling, rehab, etc over time ( 8+ months) got 96% better. I could have had elective surgery to give me that other 4% but I didn't.

The best for a way better outcome, and sooner somehow than later.

[Mr.Bill]

9. I would highly recommend that if you want your Congressman

to help you, you should set up an in-person meeting with him. Make sure no one else is there and bring cash. 30-50,000 should be enough to nudge him in the right direction, or at least be a down payment. Small unmarked bills are prefered.

Seriously, I have never been able to speak to a live human being at my Congressman's office. I Emal them and they respond with an Email explaining how to send money to them.

[crimycarny]

10. Torn rotator cuff is SO painful!

First of all, good for you for being so prepared with valid questions AND for taking the time to call your Congressman. These days it's easy to fall into apathy (I'm guilty of this and fight it all the time).

In regards to your wife's torn rotator cuff, my sister dealt with that and would be in tears due to the pain, especially at night when it's impossible to find a comfortable position to sleep. Unfortunately, it took a couple of doctors before she was finally diagnosed correctly. One doctor accused her of lying and wanting pain meds (which she didn't even want).

The doctor who correctly diagnosed her also told her to "hang" from her arms daily for 5 minutes to stretch her shoulder (this was after surgery of course). He said 90% of shoulder issues could be prevented if people did this every day. So she had a chin-up type bar put in her bedroom door and she holds on and then hangs her whole body weight from it every day. (She had to build up to the 5 minutes). She said it helped a ton for her recovery.

[BigmanPigman]

11. Well done! I'm impressed.

[Thunderbeast]

12. And here is the likely result...

Staffer has a call register with a list of defined issues, and an assessment of the caller 's predisposition.

On that grid, your patient staffer checked the box that said "Democrat". He then checked the box marked "Complaint".

On the menu, he probably checked something about "Obamacare".

The last box was labeled: "Solicit Donation"...which was unchecked.

THAT is a as close to "contacting your congressmen" you will ever get.

Unless you mail a large check to Mr. Buck's campaign, he will care not a whit what you think.

THAT is America!

[rurallib]

14. pretty close to what I was going to post

While some staffers will talk to a voter and some cut them off, the whole call (or so I have been told) is tallied on a card or paper and at the end of the day things are added up and entered into a spread sheet.

About 15 years ago, we used to actually be able to engage congress critters at their 'town hall' type events. Back then hardly anyone would show up. Now when they happen they are usually packed and half the crowd is hostile. That seemed to start with the goofy tea party idiots

[mountain grammy]

13. Good job.. Buck is awful

but Boebert is worse, and if the redistricting map stays as it is, she could be my rep.

I've been wanting to leave, now seems like a good time. Think I'll go help duhneece down in New Mexico.

[czarjak]

15. When Buck isn't the worst of the least, we're screwed. Imperviousness is a b;+c#.

[csziggy]

16. Great rant - and well done!

As for your wife's rotator cuff - been there, done that. With no insurance at all at that time. If she can prop herself up to sleep, or sleep in a recliner, it helps with the pain. Cold packs also help, particularly once she gets the surgery. Make your own - 3 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol. If you use 3 cups water & 1 cup rubbing alcohol, put into gallon ziplock, double bag with the zips opposite each other, lay flat to freeze. They will stay flexible and can be molded around the joint to give some relief for the pain. They stay cold a long time - but put a towel between skin and the cold pack.

Mine was torn when a colt reared on Halloween 1993. I could not lift my elbow. Didn't go to the doctor until January. After various efforts to avoid surgery it finally happened late June 1994. My parents stepped up and paid for it. There was a lot more damage than the MRI showed so the operation took three times as long as original estimate, had to give up on laparoscopic method. Went through healing for three months, three months physical therapy, and finally had my arm back 99.99% as good as new about a year after the original injury.

And yes, I did sleep in a recliner all those months - it really helped with the pain.

[pansypoo53219]

18. BUTBUTBUT WAITING ONLY HAPPENS IN CANADA!!!!!!

insurance medication BS.