Trillions for the Pentagon and Wall Street. Meanwhile....

Florida couple divorces after nearly 50 years to get cancer care for wife.

ERICA BROUGH/STAR-BANNER Rudy Friece had to divorce his wife of 48 years, Emily Friece, who has now passed away, so that she could get Medicaid for her chemotherapy treatments, which wouldn't be provided to her if she remained married.

From the Ocala Star Banner:

Medical costs force couples to divorce

Nearly 50 years later, following two children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, the couple divorced, for no other reason than that they couldn't afford the costs of Emily's weekly $2,800 chemotherapy treatments for terminal bone cancer.

After learning from a friend that by dissolving their marriage Emily could qualify for Medicaid, the couple walked into a drugstore, picked up a guidebook on dissolutions and then marched into an Ohio courthouse in February 2005, their $75 divorce petition in hand.

"He (the judge) told us, ‘This was the first. I've never given anyone a dissolution that had been married this long,' " Rudy Friece recalled.

Heartless Florida policies: Disabled Floridians Losing Services Under New Guidelines

In 2007 ,the budget-strapped Legislature voted to cut benefits to people with disabilities who get Medicaid money to pay for housing, job training, therapy and transportation. In the next two months, the state agency that manages the payments will begin rolling out the cuts.

The 31,000 people statewide who now receive an uncapped amount of money each year will be grouped into four categories, each with a different limit. That means some people will get less money.

State officials say the cuts are necessary in these tough economic times. They also say, however, that capping the payments will enable the state to serve more people.

..."The indigent-care plan, in which 19,020 Polk residents were enrolled during this fiscal year, must shrink to about 3,000 people to make up a deficit expected to be $14 million to $15 million, Assistant County Manager Lea Ann Thomas said.

..."Think about a woman with heart problems and insulin-dependent diabetes learning she can't stay on the plan even though her income is at, or close to, 100 percent of the poverty guidelines. Or a man who had heart attacks and has severe lung disease being told that the plan, which got him medication and doctor care, no longer is open to him. The man has been trying unsuccessfully for disability, said a friend who e-mailed asking where else he could go.

makes me want to puke! I am past the point of concern. If you're not pissed you're not paying attention.

vomit. This is ridiculous.

Why don't we - as a movement - turn our attention to media blitzing everyone and turning the FGF into THE healthcare package for the First Responders. We need to get more people involved - as a 'capitalistic society', we as the people can help the FGF achieve this if we really believe!!

Regards,
Mark in Philly
http://www.FealGoodFoundation.com

Thanks for raising awareness of this news story, it's sickenening and sad to repeatedly hear this kind of thing time and time again though. I put it up on youtube, perhaps it will help raise more awareness of the plight of first responders. Now more than ever is the time to work at raising any general 9/11 awareness.