Because I live below the poverty level, I get Food Stamps (SNAP). I also get Medicaid. Back in 2011, I started getting Medicaid. It seemed pretty good, because I had also been getting indigent care from two doctors and a hospital. Those folks could bill Medicaid for some procedures, I thought. Upon further research in 2013, I found that Medicaid was different whether one was a man or a woman. If I was a single woman with dependent children, Medicaid would cover just about everything. By being a man, the only thing I could get for free was a vasectomy. That just didn't make sense. A woman with a bunch of kids could get everything. They would pay for a man not to have children. I didn't take the free offer.
A provision in the Affordable Care Act would give the states the option to take an expansion to Medicaid which would help people like me get quality care. Yes, it would cost the states money to opt into the program, but it would help so many residents to get healthcare that they couldn't afford. It was estimated that up to 500,000 people or more would have been helped. Our governor decided not to do the Expansion. So, in January 2014, I was asked to participate in a rally at the State House to oppose her decision. People came from all over the state to protest and beg the governor to reconsider.
I spoke at a press conference that was held inside the State House near the governor's office. "Enough Is Enough" was the slogan of that day. There were TV stations from around the state there, as well as some national outlets. I was interviewed by the Charleston newspaper. I told the reporter that I was 60 years old and couldn't get Medicare for 5 more years. I told him that I just prayed that I wouldn't get a catastrophic illness until then, because I couldn't afford it. I could get a free vasectomy.
We went out on a stage behind the State House for the rally. There was a group that brought a casket and set it in front of the stage to symbolize all those people who could die without the Expansion. I had prepared a speech that I thought would be quite powerful, but I wasn't asked to speak. Too bad. I would have brought that crowd to a frenzy. It was called "I'm Tired". Basically, it had to do with me being tired of politicians not doing stuff for the State, but rather for only certain constituents. It would have been a barnburner. January in Columbia can get pretty cold. I had on four layers of clothes. The wind coming around that stage was brutal.
After the rally, we went to a holding room at the Treasurer's office. PBS was there to interview some of us who had been to the press conference. Time was tight, so they only got a couple of people on camera. The PBS reporter said that she wanted to interview me later and wanted to do so at my apartment. I gave her and her cameraman the directions, and they said they would be there later in the afternoon.
Late that afternoon, the two folks from PBS showed up. The cameraman was based in DC, and the reporter was from Denver. She wanted to interview me about the lack of Medicaid Expansion in SC, and how it has directly affected me. Because of my Beatles memorabilia in my apartment, I asked the cameraman not to shoot that, because I didn't want to advertise what I had. I also told him that there were rules about shooting the outside of the apartments for privacy reasons. MIRCI is very clear in the lease about that. He agreed to those requests. I moved some things around in my apartment to get a clear shot of me. We talked for almost two hours. At one point, they wanted me to go to my refrigerator and take out a TV dinner and go to the microwave to cook. It had to do with not being able to eat healthy. It took a couple of tries to get the thing right.
As they were leaving, the reporter told me that it would be on the PBS News Hour in a couple of weeks. I walked them out to their car. The cameraman wanted a shot of me going to my apartment, so I headed back inside. I turned around and saw them leave. He didn't film me going back in. I guess they wanted to go. But, I wasn't boring. A couple of weeks later, I received an email from the reporter. It was going to be on that night. I watched intently. My picture was shown from being on stage at the rally. And then came the interview. They were in my apartment for two hours. The interview lasted about a minute, which included my walk from the refrigerator to the microwave. But, I did get on PBS. And, the governor refused our plea to take the Medicaid Expansion that would helps thousands of our citizens. Thankfully, I didn't have a catastrophic illness before getting Medicare. Only by the grace of God.
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