POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: Miss Philicia on March 09, 2010, 09:35:38 am
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What a great idea from one (if not the) most conservative states in the nation. Keep in mind that while South Carolina ranks 24th in population, it ranks 8th in number of newly diagnosed HIV cases, mostly hitting young black gay/bisexual men.
source (http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12094177)
The South Carolina House voted Thursday to cut all HIV/AIDS funding from the budget, a funding issue that could affect thousands of South Carolinians.
The South Carolina HIV/AIDS Care Crisis Task Force reports there are more than 14,000 people living in the state who have tested positive for HIV or AIDS. About 3,000 people rely on government funds for medications.
. . . Dr. Bambi Gaddist of the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Care Crisis Task Force says when state funding began in 2006, more than 600 people were on a waiting list for medicine. Four of those people died.
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Well I thought MISSOURI was the hate state !
This is very bad news !
Carl
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I wonder/worry how many other states will follow suite. I would think stuff like this would cause more people to not want to get tested, thus aiding the increase of infections and putting an even greater need on government programs. What idiiots.
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I've come to realize that things are done very differently here outside of Rock Hill SC (just south of Charlotte NC) than back in Canton OH. Although Canton itself had a population as large as the whole county here in SC, Canton had no ASO; but due to the larger amount of people up in that area (and the decline of the steel and car industries), Ohio's social services are much better run. Up there, I filled out one form and saw one case worker to access both the food stamp and Medicaid programs. In OH, I received nearly the full federal amount of food stamps (approx $176 per mo) and was covered by OH Medicaid for prescriptions, doctors, hospitals, dental, and eye care.
However in SC, there are three identical forms and two case workers, who are located in separate buildings 10 miles apart, to provide only a partial amount of benefits. SC also uses their own formula to determine food stamp eligibility so that recipients here get only half the amount allowed by the federal formula. SC Medicaid does not provide dental or eye care for those over 21. In SC, I only receive $90 in food stamps and thanks only to the ASO covering the cost or paying the spend down amounts that SC does not cover, I have access to dental, eye care and prescriptions.
I sure would hate to have to move back to cold and snowy Ohio; but I have discussed this option with my family here and my friends up there. Obviously with the issues in the difference between the states, if I wasn't living with family, I would have already had to move back - if not for health care then for food! When push comes to shove if this ASO were to collapse (like the one in Charlotte recently did) and SC is unable (or simply doesn't want to, as this legislation shows) to provide decent health care for me, then I may have to move back north to preserve my health care, my health, and my life.
It seems, since they do take care of their sick and needy, that the Ohio Yankees aren't such bad people after all ;) ;D; but I do have to wonder what happened to all that Southern "christian charity" that they used to talk about :-[ when I lived here in the Carolinas as a kid 25 yrs ago.
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It seems, since they do take care of their sick and needy, that the Ohio Yankees aren't such bad people after all ;) ;D; but I do have to wonder what happened to all that Southern "christian charity" that they used to talk about :-[ when I lived here in the Carolinas as a kid 25 yrs ago.
PLEASE don't lump us in with SC! I say that jokingly... kinda of. In NC, it hasn't gotten that bad yet... at least locally. Maybe a lot of it depends on the local ASO's, etc. I have heard that there might be another waiting list for ADAP in NC, but I haven't verified it. I do know that people personally who have had good luck with getting ADAP very quickly. I hope that SC gets it's crap together soon... unlike last time when people died while on waiting lists.
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What a great idea from one (if not the) most conservative states in the nation. Keep in mind that while South Carolina ranks 24th in population, it ranks 8th in number of newly diagnosed HIV cases, mostly hitting young black gay/bisexual men.
source (http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12094177)
I hope Georgia doesn't follow suit.
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I hope Georgia doesn't follow suit.
Actually I found it rather notable that the other recent thread about current ADAP waiting lists was chock full of southern states. I can't remember if Georgia was on there though.
Must be a cultural thing. Not a single northeastern state was on there, but we're just evil socialists up here!
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That is VERY Bad News for SC ??? Well here in New Mexico, and I'm sure Mark can chime-in-here, if your already signed-up, and in the system you really don't have to worry much about not getting what you qualify for, now with the current state-of-affairs, and being newly infected, you might want to worry a little about what money is left to cover HIV+ programs, as our State is now in dire need, and still cannot even pass the State-Budget, so that makes things VERY iffy at best, when Medicaid, ADAP and a lot of other programs will be almost cut-in-half, and that's not very good news at all :-\ waiting lists for ADAP somehow sounds VERY barbaric to me, where is the love? this is America, how can THIS SHIT HAPPEN ???
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That is VERY Bad News for SC ??? Well here in New Mexico, and I'm sure Mark can chime-in-here, if your already signed-up, and in the system you really don't have to worry much about not getting what you qualify for, now with the current state-of-affairs, and being newly infected, you might want to worry a little about what money is left to cover HIV+ programs, as our State is now in dire need, and still cannot even pass the State-Budget, so that makes things VERY iffy at best, when Medicaid, ADAP and a lot of other programs will be almost cut-in-half, and that's not very good news at all :-\ waiting lists for ADAP somehow sounds VERY barbaric to me, where is the love? this is America, how can THIS SHIT HAPPEN ???
Sadly, this shit happens because not enough Americans view health care, as a right, rather than a privilege. There are so many Americans, who have health insurance, and somehow they look down on those who don't have it, but their attitude is I have mine, so who really cares. After moving to Montreal, I would share US horror stories (my own) about getting access, etc., and people were absolutely dumbfounded. They could not grasp the concept, that all Americans did not care if their fellow citizens had health care and until they do, this shit will just keep on happening.
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PLEASE don't lump us in with SC! I say that jokingly... kinda of. In NC, it hasn't gotten that bad yet... at least locally. Maybe a lot of it depends on the local ASO's, etc. I have heard that there might be another waiting list for ADAP in NC, but I haven't verified it. I do know that people personally who have had good luck with getting ADAP very quickly. I hope that SC gets it's crap together soon... unlike last time when people died while on waiting lists.
Actually NC's ADAP capped enrollment on Jan. 26th (http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/01/26/v-print/304202/hiv-program-caps-enrollment.html) and you have 120 people on a waiting list (http://goqnotes.com/5740/aids-funding-cuts-protested/) as of the end of February.
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So I visited the South Carolina legislature's website, to see if I could fathom why the lower house has proposed this baffling cut. The media source linked to in OP doesn't give any reasons.
I found the relevant entry in the appropriations bill and it's true, ADAP funding of 2.4 million has been cut.
What I cannot find is any discussion in the proceedings of the house of why this is being done. In fact a search of the most recent journals of the SC House of Representatives reveals no references to ADAP at all, meaning that no speeches have been made regarding this.
Yet.
At the very least one would expect that someone in the SC political system would offer an explanation for why this cut is necessary for the good governance of the state.
MtD
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This is the same type of SHIT that went on back in the early 90s were it was cheaper to just let sick people with HIV to just DIE a slow and painful death...if this is the current direction of our current
state of affairs, THIS same SHIT could happen all over the US in just about every State.....and that's a very scary thought this type of mind-set coming from our elected State officials ??? HELLO!!! people still DIE of AIDS without the needed meds to sustain there life, I wonder how these elected ASSHOLES sleep at night ???
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This is the same type of SHIT that went on back in the early 90s were it was cheaper to just let sick people with HIV to just DIE a slow and painful death...if this is the current direction of our current
state of affairs, THIS same SHIT could happen all over the US in just about every State.....and that's a very scary thought this type of mind-set coming from our elected State officials ??? HELLO!!! people still DIE of AIDS without the needed meds to sustain there life, I wonder how these elected ASSHOLES sleep at night ???
Their diabolically-evil asses sleep very well. Remember when the government was supposed to represent the people?
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I would stop paying my taxes and use the money to pay for meds and I wouldn't feel bad/guilty about it either.
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I would stop paying my taxes and use the money to pay for meds and I wouldn't feel bad/guilty about it either.
You wouldn't have to use the money to pay for meds. You could use it to pay for your lawyer when you're hauled up before the Beak for tax avoidance.
On the upside, you get free healthcare in the pokey.
MtD
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You wouldn't have to use the money to pay for meds. You could use it to pay for your lawyer when you're hauled up before the Beak for tax avoidance.
On the upside, you get free healthcare in the pokey.
MtD
It's true, I wonder how many of these politicans understand that quitting your meds cold turkey means you will develop resistances so that you can't reinstate those meds at a later date. My guess is none of them.
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PLEASE don't lump us in with SC! I say that jokingly... kinda of
trust me I understand ;) I proudly hail from Charlotte and have to admit that I never dreamed that I'd be living in -ack!- South Carolina. :D But one brother and my mom (whom I'm living with) crossed the state line to avoid the incredibly high taxes in Charlotte/Mecklenburg county. SO I say the "carolinas" to preserve my dignity (sheesh, I am not "from" SC LOL) and since I live so close to the state line. I can literaly throw a rock over my neighbor's house and have it land it NC. ;D To get to my house, you turn left at the state line. :o To get to my SC county library, I have to cross the state line twice; and the NC library is actually closer! ;)
Actually NC's ADAP capped enrollment on Jan. 26th (http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/01/26/v-print/304202/hiv-program-caps-enrollment.html) and you have 120 people on a waiting list (http://goqnotes.com/5740/aids-funding-cuts-protested/) as of the end of February.
Just before last Christmas (and right after I moved to SC), Metrolina Aids Project (http://goqnotes.com/4018/metrolina-aids-project-comes-to-an-end/), the main ASO serving Charlotte/Meck, imploded from graft and corruption similar to the recent Washington DC mess. North Carolina HIV+ citizens have actually been sent across state lines to the ASO (Catawba Care Coalitation - that's my new and first ASO ever. Yeah!) that serves York, Lancaster and Chester counties) to receive services. (Great. >:( less resources for me now in SC ;) as the clinic treats people from NC while SC cuts funding ::))
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You wouldn't have to use the money to pay for meds. You could use it to pay for your lawyer when you're hauled up before the Beak for tax avoidance.
paying taxes? Buying meds?? pleasantly LOL :D. I'm not homeless, but Social Security disability benefits are pretty slim. ;) I've been so far below the proverty line (thank you hiv >:( for helping that to happen) for over 10 years, I haven't had to pay any taxes. (just sales tax on stuff). The meds I'm on run about $2400 a month, which is over 3 times my disability income. :o
But listen! So far the safety net has all held together, and I'm still here and alive to prove it; but it's a tenuous net at best. ;) ;D
This is the same type of SHIT that went on back in the early 90s were it was cheaper to just let sick people with HIV to just DIE a slow and painful death...THIS same SHIT could happen all over the US in just about every State.....and that's a very scary thought .. people still DIE of AIDS without the needed meds to sustain there life
It's true, I wonder how many of these politicans understand that quitting your meds cold turkey means you will develop resistances so that you can't reinstate those meds at a later date.
To be honest with all the crap I've been through with HIV, this touches on the part where I feel it all gets out of my hands and where I begin to worry. Worrying about the med side effects; worrying about resistance, worrying about losing and burying partners; worrying about every "regular" illness. I've reached a calm and centered place with all those issues as I had no choice but to tackle and to handle those issues. (well, there is that other choice; but my sense of self-preservation just hasn't allowed me to give up and choose death) Topping all those worries though has always been, what if I'm no longer able to get meds? ???
I have purposefully gone off meds three times back in the 90s because the meds weren't very good back then. Having already faced up to my own mortality with bouts of PCP and pneumonia, I chose to make a quality of life decision about going off meds. (Having literally thrown up nearly every day while on some meds, I have decided that I would rather stop the meds and die than puke that much ever again! Because barfing that much is no quality of life at all.) Every time I went off meds, I began to feel better and better for quite some time. Well, not "some time" but for an exact amount of time. Within 8 months each time I have suddenly gone from feeling good to having increasing more troublesome health problems. At 9 months every time, I was back in a hospital suddenly quite near death.
So I worry about funding, not so much for my doctors, labs, etc.; but funding for my meds! Right now I'm very lucky on several issues. I have Medicare, at least basic state Medicaid, have been on disability since 00, and my health in just the last few years has finally taken a turn for the better after nearly twenty years of medications. However, out against me is that fact that I just changed from one state to another state with different systems. (You know I used up nearly a 3-month supply of stashed meds in that changeover or that would have been almost a quarter of a year that I would have gone without meds. I'll admit that I'm already stashing some meds here and there, just in case.)
Thinking about this, it's all kind of ironic, isn't it? There are some newbies who are all concerned about starting meds, while here I am on the other side, all concerned about being able to stay on the meds. The big difference is that I've seen what not being on meds will do to you (having PCP, or the deaths of both my partners). I grudgingly go through all the rigmarole to apply, receive and continue these benefits (for which I paid in the system for many years to receive), because I don't think that's all that much effort to put into receiving these wonderful life-sustaining medications. However, every time I hear about how, through no fault of my own, I might lose my access to these meds, well that's when having HIV (which untreated leads to death) really gets me worried nowadays.
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is it legal to take away state supported health care?
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paying taxes? Buying meds?? pleasantly LOL :D. I'm not homeless, but Social Security disability benefits are pretty slim. ;) I've been so far below the poverty line (thank you hiv >:( for helping that to happen) for over 10 years, I haven't had to pay any taxes. (just sales tax on stuff). The meds I'm on run about $2400 a month, which is over 3 times my disability income. :o
I hear ya... I'm in the same boat...
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I'm still trying to figure out why people willingly live in SC. I wonder if we can find the receipt and return it. It's still good right? Maybe if we hose it down a wipe it dry it won't look used.
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I'm still trying to figure out why people willingly live in SC. I wonder if we can find the receipt and return it. It's still good right? Maybe if we hose it down a wipe it dry it won't look used.
Form what I read SC and Montana are the only States with a waiting lists for ADAP It use to be a lot worse when more States had waiting lists to get AIDS medications........Mike, I hear Ya buddy, if you make less than 2,500 a month in any state in the US, you don't pay any Federal Taxes, if your on SSDI Disability, I sure don't ;D now as for State Taxes, that depends on your income level requirements for your State Tax board, but, I don't pay any State Taxes, cause in my State, I don't make enough to pay any :D
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you make less than 2,500
heck, what does $1k a month look like?!?! ::) :D
It was almost a year ago that my ssD check, after a "repayment" that took 3 years, when back up a full 1/3 from $500 to $700 a month. I've been living like a king ;D this past year with 1/3 increase in my income. Quitting smoking just over a year, a month and a couple weeks ago has saved me a bundle too!
Ah, but I fondly remember back to the days in the 80s, with my little pop-n-pop pet shop, when I paid out buckets of money in taxes. ::) :D
Kaiser http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=552&cat=11 says that there are 472 people in these states( Wyoming, Utah, Tennessee, South Dakota, North Carolina, Nebraska, Montana, Kentucky, Iowa, Idaho, Arkansas) on ADAP waiting list as of feb 2010. Oops! here's the http://www.nastad.org/InFocus/InfocusResultsDetails.aspx?infocus_id=314 link to the march 5th report. it's up to 622 people in ten states now.
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Actually I found it rather notable that the other recent thread about current ADAP waiting lists was chock full of southern states. I can't remember if Georgia was on there though.
Must be a cultural thing. Not a single northeastern state was on there, but we're just evil socialists up here!
Don't forget those good Christians in the south also have the highest divorce rates and highest teen pregnancy rates.
Denb45, I thought we here in KY had the longest ADAP waiting list. Has something changed?
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Don't forget those good Christians in the south also have the highest divorce rates and highest teen pregnancy rates.
Y' know, if they really want to protect the sanctity of marriage they should outlaw divorce, not gay-marriage!
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Denb45, I thought we here in KY had the longest ADAP waiting list. Has something changed?
time has changed LOL it's been another month and things are steadily getting worse
Kentucky is #1; but NC is coming up a very close second.
Kentucky: 172
North Carolina: 168
Tennessee: 110
Utah: 69
Iowa: 55
South Dakota: 26
Arkansas: 18
Idaho: 17
Montana: 14
Wyoming: 13
as of March 5th, 2010, there are 622 Americans waiting to get meds :'(
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ADAPs with Other Cost-containment Strategies
(instituted since April 1, 2009)
Arizona: reduced formulary
Arkansas: reduced formulary, lowered financial eligibility to 200% of FPL
Colorado: reduced formulary
Hawaii: individuals with CD4>350 not currently on ARV therapy are not being enrolled**
Iowa: reduced formulary
Kentucky: reduced formulary
Missouri: reduced formulary
Nebraska: reduced formulary
North Carolina: reduced formulary, lowered financial eligibility (final FPL still being considered)
North Dakota: cap on Fuzeon
Utah: reduced formulary, lowered financial eligibility to 250% of FPL
Washington: client cost sharing, reduced formulary (for uninsured clients only)
ADAPs Considering New/Additional Cost-containment Measures
(before March 31, 2011)
Arizona: waiting list
Hawaii: waiting list
Illinois: waiting list, reduced formulary, lowered financial eligibility, capped enrollment, monthly
expenditure cap
Kentucky: reduced formulary
Louisiana: capped enrollment
North Carolina: additional reduction to financial eligibility
North Dakota: waiting list, reduced formulary, capped enrollment, annual expenditure cap
Oregon: waiting list, reduced formulary
South Carolina: waiting list****
South Dakota: reduced formulary
Wyoming: lowered financial eligibility, annual expenditure cap
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Waiting lists, meds, labs. Brothers and Sisters, that stuff is irrelevant.
What's going on here is politics and it follows there must be a reason for these cuts. The question remains, why did the SC House Ways and Means Committee recommend that ADAP be cut?
MtD
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The question remains, why did the SC House Ways and Means Committee recommend that ADAP be cut?
MtD
Because their white constituents complained that because their cancer drugs aren't paid for there's no reason for tax payers to pay for HIV meds for po' black folk.
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Because their white constituents complained that because their cancer drugs aren't paid for there's no reason for tax payers to pay for HIV meds for po' black folk.
. . . and there's an election due for the General Assembly in November this year, right?
MtD
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. . . and there's an election due for the General Assembly in November this year, right?
MtD
Now, I surely hope that you're not suggesting something as crass as pandering?
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I think everyone should have access to healthcare and get their cancer drugs. I've heard this argument before about HIV and how it is the only disease the government funds. I would say society has a good reason to pay for HIV meds-- it reduces the chances of this virus from spreading totally out of control with infection rates like we see in Africa. HIV/AIDS hits poorer people harder, too.
I would agree with those people who think their cancer drugs should be covered. No one should be worried about how they are going to pay for treatment with terminal illnesses--terminal if left untreated. They can do this by pushing for healthcare reform and not taking away treatment from HIVers.
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Because their white constituents complained that because their cancer drugs aren't paid for there's no reason for tax payers to pay for HIV meds for po' black folk.
Tit forTat .....it sure sounds like it to me.....who is more deserving, and we all know who ISN'T ???
let grandma & grand pa DIE, and let the little boy & girl with AIDS DIE, it's cheaper that way, and it's God will according to them, but hey WTF do they know :(
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What's going on here is politics and it follows there must be a reason for these cuts. The question remains, why did the SC House Ways and Means Committee recommend that ADAP be cut?
It took me some searching but I found you the reasons in this article
http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html
The [tax] breaks come as human services programs are being slashed. Legislators have been besieged with calls from disabled residents and their advocates after Cooper's committee approved a $5 billion spending plan last week that would end programs for nearly 26,000 people getting help from the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs.
"We keep passing all this corporate welfare," said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, an Orangeburg Democrat who voted against the measure. "What about the welfare of the citizens of our state?"
State Rep. Joe Neal, D-Hopkins, reminded House members that the lobby Wednesday was packed with people with disabilities asking that their programs be spared cuts. "They have every right to be concerned because it ain't over," Neal said.
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Those families are not the only ones losing health care help. The budget committee cut $10.7 million from Medicaid by imposing a three-drug prescription cap in a program for adults that now allows up to 10 drugs. The panel also eliminated the $2.4 million the state spends on AIDS drug treatments that now serve about 2,055 people monthly and slashed $35 million from the Department of Mental Health's $161 million budget.
for a bunch of tax breaks and lowered revenues the state is just going to start letting all the lame, infirm, sick, and diseased just die off cause it's not cost-effective for the people that are going to get the tax breaks
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for a bunch of tax breaks and lowered revenues the state is just going to start letting all the lame, infirm, sick, and diseased just die off cause it's not cost-effective for the people that are going to get the tax breaks
IN the Name of the Almighty Tax-Break, I thought we lived in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, this isn't a 3rd world country, but, It's Gods Will.... ya know.............BULL SHIT! :-X
interesting article by the way Thanks Mikey for the research, it still makes my MAD tho :-\
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http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html (http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html)
Cheers Mikie. That makes more sense.
So the cuts are part of a wider austerity programme being implemented by the state to reduce outlays. And naturally cuts to services for the disabled, AIDS afflicted and mentally ill cause the least agony for legislators in this election year.
MtD
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http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html (http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html)
Cheers Mikie. That makes more sense.
So the cuts are part of a wider austerity programme being implemented by the state to reduce outlays. And naturally cuts to services for the disabled, AIDS afflicted and mentally ill cause the least agony for legislators in this election year.
MtD
Yeah , but, what they fail to realize is that some of us sick & po-folks still vote, so if they want to commit political suicide, by all means ,I won't stop them, just the voters will when it's time for re-election
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I would make it very clear that you're going to do your best to educate the electorate as to what their lawmakers are doing and how you will personally see to it that no one you know and no one you can ever talk to will vote for them ever again.
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I think they count on many ill and poor people not voting. I think many of these groups feel disenfranchised. Then there are those who vote against their own interests. I was just debating with a family member who doesn't have a lot of money and has medical issues herself and her kids as well. She always votes conservative. She was complaining how she has pains in her liver (probably gallbladder) but can't get it seen about. She couldn't even get a prescription filled for a nausea med. We gave her the money for it. She votes against her own interests. Dems are by no means perfect, but I know they try to do good things to help people. The conservative dems are a whole different story.
It burns me up to know we will have spent at least $2 Trillion in Iraq but have ADAP waiting lists.
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It burns me up to know we will have spent at least $2 Trillion in Iraq but have ADAP waiting lists.
Well, people waiting on ADAP aren't usually big owners of pure petroleum, so they are worthless to those who run the government.
I think France has the right idea: A government should be scared of it's citizens, not the other way around.
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If this happend in AZ, I would be forced to move (If I could find a state without a waiting list)
What has this country become? I do not recognize it anymore. If this health care bill does not pass, we are ALL fucked. Without a kiss first
Pass the lube please...
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Does someone have the information on what the next step is for the thousands in South Carolina who get their HAART with state monies???
Are there county funds or national funds that might kick in???
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Does someone have the information on what the next step is for the thousands in South Carolina who get their HAART with state monies???
Are there county funds or national funds that might kick in???
I thought ADAP was federally granted money but I guess I was wrong.
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I thought ADAP was federally granted money but I guess I was wrong.
It's a mix of federal and state.
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All the people on HAART should go to the state capital when its in session with blowup posters of their prescriptions. Half of them can march with prescriptions. Half with skull and cross bones placards. Then they should post it all to the White House.
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I think they count on many ill and poor people not voting. I think many of these groups feel disenfranchised. Then there are those who vote against their own interests. I was just debating with a family member who doesn't have a lot of money and has medical issues herself and her kids as well. She always votes conservative. She was complaining how she has pains in her liver (probably gallbladder) but can't get it seen about. She couldn't even get a prescription filled for a nausea med. We gave her the money for it. She votes against her own interests. Dems are by no means perfect, but I know they try to do good things to help people. The conservative dems are a whole different story.
It burns me up to know we will have spent at least $2 Trillion in Iraq but have ADAP waiting lists.
Well..............LOL I don't really trust any Politician's anyway, what I've found out is that almost all of them are only out for themselves, and don't really care about the people at all ??? not all of them are no-good, but a lot of them are NO-GOOD, and they will sell-out to any special-interest-group that has the most money, it's the sad truth, and that is what's REALLY going on in every State, County, City, and, all of the Federal Government here in the US, and "it's not gonna stop" cause we all know that they are all a part of this problem, and almost NONE of them are part of the solution, that $2 Trillion in Iraq, and all other WARS, could be better served over here in the US, to FIX a lot of things that need to be FIXED ::)
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Then there are those who vote against their own interests. I was just debating with a family member who doesn't have a lot of money and has medical issues herself and her kids as well. She always votes conservative. She was complaining how she has pains in her liver (probably gallbladder) but can't get it seen about. She couldn't even get a prescription filled for a nausea med. We gave her the money for it. She votes against her own interests.
The majority of 'poor' or lower middle class folks in this state vote Repugnican...against their own interests. I will go to my grave trying to understand why.....
As Joe said, until Americans value health care as a right and not a privilege, nothing will change too much. So many of the clowns at those health care 'town meetings' were carrying their "ObamaCare" hate signs, and yet are recipients of Medicare.....
The 'dumbing down' of America -- it's great for the politicians, but not so hot for the rest of us.
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The majority of 'poor' or lower middle class folks in this state vote Repugnican...against their own interests. I will go to my grave trying to understand why.....The 'dumbing down' of America -- it's great for the politicians, but not so hot for the rest of us.
Same is true here in Georgia - these people make a great case for the logical extermination of the species.
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I really feel for you people, for there are different ways to do a lynching.
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IN the Name of the Almighty Tax-Break, I thought we lived in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, this isn't a 3rd world country...
What has this country become? I do not recognize it anymore.
Guys, where did you get the rosy view of the US in first instance? I've certainly never seen any evidence for optimism about the place.
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Guys, where did you get the rosy view of the US in first instance? I've certainly never seen any evidence for optimism about the place.
Actually, you are right. People have such a bright & shiny ideological image of what this country is supposed to represent, but they ignore all of the greed, bigotry & cruelty that have made it what it is. Hell, most people don't even know that there were concentration-camps in this country for it's Japanese citizens.
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Hell, most people don't even know that there were concentration-camps in this country for it's Japanese citizens.
Sad, but we didn't have a choice at the time. Hell we wanted peace with Japan, they were the one's slaughtering women and children over in China during their quest for expanded imperialism while the world ignored it. Then they had the audacity to send us an invitation to the war.
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Sad, but we didn't have a choice at the time. Hell we wanted peace with Japan, they were the one's slaughtering women and children over in China during their quest for expanded imperialism while the world ignored it. Then they had the audacity to send us an invitation to the war.
The ones imprisoned in the camps WERE U.S. CITIZENS. How was this their fault at all?
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He didn't say they weren't.
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He didn't say they weren't.
Punishing innocent people (with torture and murder) to "get even" for something done 1/2 way around the world is, well... just morally and ethically WRONG.
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The ones imprisoned in the camps WERE U.S. CITIZENS. How was this their fault at all?
Like I said, what choice did we have? Espionage was running rampant at the time, then add in the whole their not blue eyed thinking that dominated thoughts. I'm just glad we didn't do something far worse to further tarnish our roads of gold we have here.
Every country was built on the backs of the poor and oppressed... including Lord's (I'm assuming) merry England.
Our country is great, it's our government that's fucked up... as a good Georgian you shouldn't confuse the two son! ;)
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Our country is great, it's our government that's fucked up... as a good Georgian you shouldn't confuse the two son! ;)
OK, I'll agree with you there - I love the forests, mountains and streams of this land. I love the nature attached to this land. However, everything the humans have done to it seems to be a direct product of their own greed, bigotry, self-interest & cruelty.
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Guys, where did you get the rosy view of the US in first instance? I've certainly never seen any evidence for optimism about the place.
Have you EVER posted anything positive, or at least neutral, about the US? ::) Isn't the fact that we elected a president that appears to be African-American "evidence for optimism"? It sure sounds like you've had some really bad experiences here.
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OK, I'll agree with you there - I love the forests, mountains and streams of this land. I love the nature attached to this land. However, everything the humans have done to it seems to be a direct product of their own greed, bigotry, self-interest & cruelty.
I can agree that many things done in America, over our history, have been shameful and I like to think that as a nation, we became just a little wiser, because of them. The greed and cruelty that you speak of, has existed for thousands of years and no one country is above their reach. So I agree that a lot of bad things happen in America, but you seem to refuse to see the beauty that surrounds you. I believe that most people are of decent character and if given the chance, they will do the right thing. Sure, some of them don't, but what about all those millions that do?
I always spent my holidays in soup kitchens, serving anyone who needed a meal. To see the utter horror of how they lived and having that juxtaposed against this holiday feast we were serving, made me feel, that somehow we really are not that different. I refuse to be cynic and if you want to see horror, hiding behind the next tree, then fine, but please do not paint America as one color. Through the decades I have witnessed countless acts of selflessness by Americans, both at home and abroad. Yes we make mistakes, we are only human and if you can't make an adjustment for that reality, then you will never see any of the real America. It's there, in each of us, if only you cared to look for it.
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I can agree that many things done in America, over our history, have been shameful and I like to think that as a nation, we became just a little wiser, because of them. The greed and cruelty that you speak of, has existed for thousands of years and no one country is above their reach. So I agree that a lot of bad things happen in America, but you seem to refuse to see the beauty that surrounds you. I believe that most people are of decent character and if given the chance, they will do the right thing. Sure, some of them don't, but what about all those millions that do?
I always spent my holidays in soup kitchens, serving anyone who needed a meal. To see the utter horror of how they lived and having that juxtaposed against this holiday feast we were serving, made me feel, that somehow we really are not that different. I refuse to be cynic and if you want to see horror, hiding behind the next tree, then fine, but please do not paint America as one color. Through the decades I have witnessed countless acts of selflessness by Americans, both at home and abroad. Yes we make mistakes, we are only human and if you can't make an adjustment for that reality, then you will never see any of the real America. It's there, in each of us, if only you cared to look for it.
There is beauty AND horror in all of humanity...Yeah, I'll agree with that. But, by and large, since we're both human-beings, this self-analysis is tantamount to little more than mental-masturbation, if not outright self-compliment/insult.
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But, by and large, since we're both human-beings, this self-analysis is tantamount to little more than mental-masturbation, if not outright self-compliment/insult.
How so? Enquiring minds would like to know.
MtD
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Isn't the fact that we elected a president that appears to be African-American "evidence for optimism"?
OK, I don't see how that matters one way or the other... Besides, the position of president is merely a figurehead position.. A distraction for the people and a scapegoat for their problems, if you will. While I hated Bush as much as the next Demopublican/Republicrat, it was the ones in his administration and those in Congress & the Senate who were causing the REAL problems. Obama knew going into office that he wasn't going to get to cause any REAL change, but the appearance of it was necessary so that the citizens wouldn't get so irate they started a revolution.
Either sock-puppet A or sock-puppet B, you decide... and pretend while you're at it that your vote counts (many forget that we have a wonderful electoral-college system which gives "representatives" the right to bypass your vote). Election-results can be, and are, rigged.
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How so? Enquiring minds would like to know.
MtD
Well, since all of us here are human-beings then going on about the beauty/ugliness of the human-race isn't exactly objective, now is it?
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There is beauty AND horror in all of humanity...Yeah, I'll agree with that. But, by and large, since we're both human-beings, this self-analysis is tantamount to little more than mental-masturbation, if not outright self-compliment/insult.
Wow, just wow. You are possibly the most negative person I have ever met. It seems that no matter what anyone says, you only see in one color; black. How sad for you. I don't need convincing that America is a great country, nor do I care what you think about it, because nothing can be said to help you see any color, other than black.
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I like pie.
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Wow, just wow. You are possibly the most negative person I have ever met. It seems that no matter what anyone says, you only see in one color; black.
Not true. I see all colors in the spectrum - but I just don't wear rose-tinted glasses to do so!
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Well, since all of us here are human-beings then going on about the beauty/ugliness of the human-race isn't exactly objective, now is it?
This doesn't make any sense. Do you think before you post these snappy bon mots?
MtD
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Have you EVER posted anything positive, or at least neutral, about the US? ::) Isn't the fact that we elected a president that appears to be African-American "evidence for optimism"? It sure sounds like you've had some really bad experiences here.
Hey LordBerners.........is that why you choose NOT to live or work in the US, but yet YOU want all of the benefits that you cannot get elsewhere........God Bless America, I was born here, and I happen to like it here very much, I'm sorry you don't, so I say to you, AGAIN.......God Bless America :D
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I like pie.
*said with extreme lisp and sucking drool back* "I like THE WIZARD OF OZ..... I like the Tin Man."
ROFLMAO
Miss P, you're alright.
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This doesn't make any sense. Do you think before you post these snappy bon mots?
MtD
Think about it and you'll see what I mean: A species making observations about itself isn't going to be objective.
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Think about it and you'll see what I mean: A species making observations about itself isn't going to be objective.
*facepalm*
MtD
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Depends upon which species you are referring to. Surely you are not suggesting, that we are incapable of objective observations, about being human, because we are human. I see no logic to that theory, because history shows that often humans, can be objective and take corrective action where possible. But I don't think you want to discuss any theories, I think you just like to be contrary and by being vague and talking in generalities, you present nothing of interest.
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Depends upon which species you are referring to. Surely you are not suggesting, that we are incapable of objective observations, about being human, because we are human. I see no logic to that theory, because history shows that often humans, can be objective and take corrective action where possible. But I don't think you want to discuss any theories, I think you just like to be contrary and by being vague and talking in generalities, you present nothing of interest.
Human history (recorded by humans) shows humans can be objective.. Examine that statement and you'll see the ridiculousness of it......And you're being dismissive rather than engage in intellectual discourse. It's OK, obviously this hit some kind of weird "button" with ya... *smooch* Don't stress it, hon'.
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S.C. House cuts HIV/AIDS funding
Move comes after similar action by N.C. officials
http://goqnotes.com/5880/s-c-house-cuts-hivaids-funding/
Whaddayouknow, David? ::) NC cuts funds about a week sooner
AIDS funding cuts protested
As HIV rates skyrocket, groups combine resources to engage community, legislators
http://goqnotes.com/5740/aids-funding-cuts-protested/
Recently, new figures on HIV infection rates were released in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. In the county, newly reported HIV/AIDS cases in 2007 were charted in 44.9 out of every 100,000 persons, constituting a 54 percent jump since 1999. Statistics collected by state officials for the same year indicated a rate of 52.8 per 100,000 people.
Mecklenburg County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts has said the numbers are alarming, and rank Charlotte along with major metropolises like New York and Los Angeles.
The CDC estimates the number of reported AIDS (not including HIV) cases in 2007 were rated at 15 per 100,000 people in Los Angeles County and 15.7 per 100,000 people in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord metropolitan area.
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Man, this is some deep stuff. Anyone heard from Dennis? He was suppose to ask the Dalai Lama about David Carradine's death for me.
Human history (recorded by humans) shows humans can be objective.. Examine that statement and you'll see the ridiculousness of it......And you're being dismissive rather than engage in intellectual discourse. It's OK, obviously this hit some kind of weird "button" with ya... *smooch* Don't stress it, hon'.
(http://rattails.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/faceplant.jpg)
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S.C. House cuts HIV/AIDS funding
Move comes after similar action by N.C. officials
http://goqnotes.com/5880/s-c-house-cuts-hivaids-funding/
Whaddayouknow, David? ::) NC cuts funds about a week sooner
AIDS funding cuts protested
As HIV rates skyrocket, groups combine resources to engage community, legislators
http://goqnotes.com/5740/aids-funding-cuts-protested/
Now we can go back to bashing the good ole US of A's... be objective though, our government is trying to run a shady business.
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A few notes on some of your questions.
South Carolina, along with Georgia, Penn., and Arizona were caught not using all their funding under Ryan White for true allowable line items, and some were outright stealing it for other purposes. Add to that, SC and Arizona, simply lost $2million each to incompetence.
ADAP to the best of my knowledge, requires no funding match for the states, but does for a very small portion of the RW in whole. You all know of course, ADAP is the drug side of RW, but all comes out of HHS. The current contract is for three years I think, and comes due next year.
Don't slap me, but none of my sources can be identified, because they roam the halls of Congress and HHS, and work for our AIDS Advocates in D.C. Love to give you all refrenced proof, but you must take my word for it from a 45 minute conversation with their Congressional Advocate. I would never expose him/her on the net, without express permission.
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South Carolina, along with Georgia, Penn., and Arizona were caught not using all their funding under Ryan White for true allowable line items, and some were outright stealing it for other purposes. Add to that, SC and Arizona, simply lost $2million each to incompetence.
That's business as usual for Georgia... This is the same state that "dips" into the money for the Hope grant (a scholarship fund set up by the Lottery commission that was supposed to guarantee any citizen born here to a college education), and has employees for GPB (Georgia's PBS affiliate) and local NPR"dip" into the federal funds they receive (and according to a former employee, use it for cocaine for office parties... This is why they are constantly running a pledge-drive practically year-round - they have to make-up the difference). When I hear about corruption in Georgia, I'm NOT surprised.
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That's business as usual for Georgia... This is the same state that "dips" into the money for the Hope grant (a scholarship fund set up by the Lottery commission that was supposed to guarantee any citizen born here to a college education), and has employees for GPB (Georgia's PBS affiliate) and local NPR"dip" into the federal funds they receive (and according to a former employee, use it for cocaine for office parties... This is why they are constantly running a pledge-drive practically year-round - they have to make-up the difference). When I hear about corruption in Georgia, I'm NOT surprised.
When I hear about corruption abound in any State, and the miss-use of federal funding, that is suppose to to be ear-marked to help SICK people, I'm NOT surprised ::)
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Man, this is some deep stuff. Anyone heard from Dennis? He was suppose to ask the Dalai Lama about David Carradine's death for me.
...What a price to pay for an orgasm....
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Everyone. SCHAC (South Carolina HIV AIDS Council) is holding a rally next Wed, March 17 at 11:30 am at the Capital building in Columbia. PLEASE come out and show your support. We need as many people as possible. We'll have speakers and hopefully have this legislation reinstate the funding for these programs. If you would like more information, please contact me. Email me at schac10@yahoo.com.
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Everyone. SCHAC (South Carolina HIV AIDS Council) is holding a rally next Wed, March 17 at 11:30 am at the Capital building in Columbia. PLEASE come out and show your support. We need as many people as possible. We'll have speakers and hopefully have this legislation reinstate the funding for these programs. If you would like more information, please contact me. Email me at schac10@yahoo.com.
Now THIS is something. Organised activity. It's what gets stuff changed. Good to see.
MtD
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Everyone. SCHAC (South Carolina HIV AIDS Council) is holding a rally next Wed, March 17 at 11:30 am at the Capital building in Columbia. PLEASE come out and show your support. We need as many people as possible. We'll have speakers and hopefully have this legislation reinstate the funding for these programs. If you would like more information, please contact me. Email me at schac10@yahoo.com.
BRAVO!! I'll be prayn' for ya. Thanks to all who show up.
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SCHAC (South Carolina HIV AIDS Council) is holding a rally next Wed, March 17 at 11:30 am at the Capital building in Columbia.
Thanks for this note/update/event annoucement! I'm meeting with people at my ASO tomorrow (Catawba Care Coalition in York Cty) to see what arrangements have been made or can be made to get support down to the capital. You should also get this event listed on the calendar on your website. ;)
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I think it is understandable why some Americans have bad feelings toward their country. There was genocide when we first arrived. Then, we built this country on the backs of slaves. I know that is ancient history now and we're talking about today.
We're the only industrialized country without universal healthcare. Why do we have all the poor in those soup kitchen lines? All modern wars, after WW2, have all been shams. Wherever voters have been allowed to vote against same-sex marriage, they've done so. The only states with it have come from legislatures and courts. Didn't voters in Alabama a few elections back vote to keep discrimination laws against blacks on the books?
There are about half the country who are good people and about half who have a lot of hate. America is working on that with each generation. Our country does do great things. I just don't like American exceptionalism. There are many other countries with democracies, with gay marriage, with universal healthcare, and that don't start trillion dollar wars. They have free press and most of them give more of their GDP in aid to other countries.
We've got good people who brought us things like ADAP, medicare, civil rights, etc. We also have bad people who try to tear away at anything that helps the poor and sick. There are still so many who love to discriminate against anyone different. I love my country and think there is a battle between people trying to make the country a better place and those who like the status quo. I can totally see why some get disillusioned by their country.
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Then there are those who vote against their own interests. I was just debating with a family member who doesn't have a lot of money and has medical issues herself and her kids as well. She always votes conservative. She was complaining how she has pains in her liver (probably gallbladder) but can't get it seen about. She couldn't even get a prescription filled for a nausea med. We gave her the money for it. She votes against her own interests. Dems are by no means perfect, but I know they try to do good things to help people. The conservative dems are a whole different story.
A few years ago Thomas Frank wrote a book called What's the Matter with Kansas? (http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Matter-Kansas-Conservatives-America/dp/080507774X/) in which he analyzes this baffling phenomenon. It sparked a lot of debate. There's now a movie (http://whatsthematterwithkansas.com/) based on the book.
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I love my country and think there is a battle between people trying to make the country a better place and those who like the status quo.
The ones for the status quo know how to put a "spin" on things too - We're supposed to be a "free country" but yet if you express that you are told you are un-American and need to "get the Hell out". They get offended when you speak-out about the downside of our history and call you a negative person.
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A few years ago Thomas Frank wrote a book called What's the Matter with Kansas? (http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Matter-Kansas-Conservatives-America/dp/080507774X/) in which he analyzes this baffling phenomenon. It sparked a lot of debate. There's now a movie (http://whatsthematterwithkansas.com/) based on the book.
Cool, I'll have to check that out. Thanks!
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Have you EVER posted anything positive, or at least neutral, about the US? ::) Isn't the fact that we elected a president that appears to be African-American "evidence for optimism"? It sure sounds like you've had some really bad experiences here.
I try not to post too much about my opinion of that place, for fear of being inflammatory, but since you ask, my view is very critical, yes. Even more so than I ever post here. I don't think it is possible to be too negative about a land where actions such as the one which is the topic of this thread occur as a matter of course. Say what you will about other countries - for example anyplace in Western Europe - but this would not happen there. Heck it wouldn't happen even here in Thailand.
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I try not to post too much about my opinion of that place, for fear of being inflammatory, but since you ask, my view is very critical, yes. Even more so than I ever post here. I don't think it is possible to be too negative about a land where actions such as the one which is the topic of this thread occur as a matter of course. Say what you will about other countries - for example anyplace in Western Europe - but this would not happen there. Heck it wouldn't happen even here in Thailand.
Yeah, ok. Those meds that are keeping you alive weren't developed (invented) in Thailand, either. It would seem that you'd find something positive about the country that's keeping you alive. How involved is Thailand in HIV in terms of research and development? Just for the sake of argument, and I'm not implying that there are not problems with the US, but how much does Thailand support other countries in terms of HIV meds (African countries, for example)? I don't know, but I couldn't find any information on Thailand's foreign aid. Now, if the US's aid to other countries stopped and was directed back towards the US, don't you think many, many more of us would have the meds we need? Again, I'm not saying that there are not problems here in the US, but while all may not be rosy, all is not black, either.
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I try not to post too much about my opinion of that place, for fear of being inflammatory, but since you ask, my view is very critical, yes. Even more so than I ever post here. I don't think it is possible to be too negative about a land where actions such as the one which is the topic of this thread occur as a matter of course. Say what you will about other countries - for example anyplace in Western Europe - but this would not happen there. Heck it wouldn't happen even here in Thailand.
Are you from there? I heard they refuse healthcare privelages to non-nationals. Could that be because of limited resources? I admit America's pie is a lot larger than the rest of the world's and our government has done a dismal job of making sure the American public gets a fair slice, but the truth is there is only so much to go around. Something has to give somewhere...
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A contingency from my local ASO, the Catawba Care Coalition based in York County and also serving Lancaster and Chester counties, has an appointment scheduled Tues. 3/16 to meet with Representative J. Gary Simrill (District 46 - York Co.) a member of the Ways and Means Cmmtte. (I'm seeing about making arrangements to go with the crowd, to plead the case for our clinic and area.) The statewide SC HIV AIDS Council has scheduled a rally at the state capital for this upcoming wed 3/17 at 11:30. (I'm working on the arrangments to go to that one for sure!)
Below is the information from the SC HIV AIDS Council that I'd like to pass along if anyone is interested.
SCHACCTF Advocacy Talking Points 2010
Please call your personal legislators immediately.
You need your STATE Senator and your STATE Representative, who work in the General Assembly at the STATE HOUSE in Columbia. Find them at http://www.scstatehouse.gov/cgi-bin/zipcodesearch.exe. Enter your zip code as instructed. There is a link shown to find the extra 4 numbers you will need for your full 9-digit zip code.
Do not call your people in Congress at this time - they have no control over our state budget. We must contact our LOCAL senator and representative in the STATE HOUSE, not in DC. All of your DC officials AND State House officials are listed when you use the link above. When you get to the page with your representatives, ignore the Congressional officials and scroll down to the state level ones.
Also, please call the legislators shown on the attached "Call YOUR Legislators and These KEY People" list.
Here is what to say:
1. "PLEASE save the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and HIV Prevention in South Carolina".
2. "PLEASE put the funding for these two programs back into the state budget." WHY?
a) "Funding ADAP and HIV Prevention will reduce further transmission of HIV."
b) "Funding ADAP and HIV Prevention will keep People Living With HIV healthy and working."
c) "Funding ADAP and HIV Prevention will save tax payers' money by preventing unnecessary hospitalization due to illness."
d) "I respectfully request that you restore the current level of funding for these two programs ADAP and HIV Prevention back into the budget."
e) "Thank you for support. We ask for your dedication to saving the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and HIV Prevention."
Call YOUR Legislators* AND these KEY people:
House of Representatives
Speaker: Representative Robert "Bobby" Harrell, District 114 (Charleston & Dorchester Counties)
803-734-3125 hsp@schouse.org
Ways & Means Chairman: Representative Daniel "Dan" Cooper, District 10 (Anderson County)
803-734-3144 hwm@schouse.org
House Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee
Representative Tracy R. Edge, District 104 (Horry County)
803-734-3013 te@schouse.org
Representative William "Bill" Clyburn, District 82 (Aiken & Edgefield Counties)
803-734-3033 wc@schouse.org
Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter, District 66 (Orangeburg County)
803-734-2809 gch@schouse.org
Senate
Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee
Chairman: Senator Thomas Alexander, District 1 (Oconee & Pickens Counties)
803-212-6220 sge@scsenate.org
Senator William H. "Billy" O'Dell, District 4 (Abbeville, Anderson & Greenwood Counties)
803-212-6040 who@scsenate.org
Senator Clementa C. Pinckney, District 45 (Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Hampton & Jasper Counties)
803-212-6148 ccp@scsenate.org
Senator Glenn McConnell, District 41 (Charleston County)
803-212-6610 sju@scsenate.org
Senator Yancy McGill, District 32 (Florence, Georgetown, Horry & Williamsburg Counties)
803-212-6132 jym@scsenate.org
Senator Hugh K. Leatherman**, District 31 (Darlington & Florence Counties)
803-212-6640 sfi@scsenate.org
**no relation to yours truly. LOL
though the way these "Repugs" are, and not to impugne the honorable Senator's character, maybe he's a closet case and he and I DO have something in common :D ;D
Edited to add:
I was corresponding with one of the staff of SCHAC (about some computer-y things of all things) and she obviously noticed the "leatherman" thingie going on too. Here's what she wrote near the end of our last email:
By the way, last year during National Volunteer Week, Senator Leatherman was incredibly gracious in recognizing our volunteers from the floor of the Senate. Everyone was thrilled, as you can imagine. The fact that the Senator took the time during last year's grueling budget discussions to recognize our volunteers was very kind of him and very much appreciated. Several of the volunteers wrote thank you notes to him.
So maybe the Honorable Senator Leatherman (oooo, that has a nice ring to it) is honorable after all. I'll have to see if I can ferret out his voting record. ;) :D
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Yeah, ok. Those meds that are keeping you alive weren't developed (invented) in Thailand, either. It would seem that you'd find something positive about the country that's keeping you alive.
Now, if the US's aid to other countries stopped and was directed back towards the US, don't you think many, many more of us would have the meds we need?
The meds are only keeping me alive because they're being given to me free - if they're developed but not provided to me, as far as I'm concerned they're doing me no good at all. There is no benefit from technological achievement or economic growth unless they're distributed.
Regarding the idea that the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is because of excessive funding for Africa, no, the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is ridiculously inadequate taxation of the privileged classes in our sad homeland. Basically people are dying so that aristocrats in Palm Springs can have golden toilet bowls.
Are you from there?
Yeah I'm as American as apple pie. I wouldn't presume to judge it so harshly were I not steeped in it.
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Regarding the idea that the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is because of excessive funding for Africa, no, the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is ridiculously inadequate taxation of the privileged classes in our sad homeland. Basically people are dying so that aristocrats in Palm Springs can have golden toilet bowls.
Don't you know those poor people are icky and need to die... Mumsy, have that idiotic prole pass me the Grey-Poupon before I'm late for tennis.. <sarcasm>
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Man, you really must have been gone from the US for a number of yrs. NOBODY lives like that in the US, haven't you heard of the stock-market-crash of 2008, most of the those people who did live like that, are in JAIL, or they lost EVERYTHING, maybe a few politicians, and Bank Exe"s and a few Movie Stars might still live this way, but, not many :(
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So maybe the Honorable Senator Leatherman (oooo, that has a nice ring to it) is honorable after all. I'll have to see if I can ferret out his voting record. ;) :D
I'd vote for ya...
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The meds are only keeping me alive because they're being given to me free - if they're developed but not provided to me, as far as I'm concerned they're doing me no good at all. There is no benefit from technological achievement or economic growth unless they're distributed.
Regarding the idea that the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is because of excessive funding for Africa, no, the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is ridiculously inadequate taxation of the privileged classes in our sad homeland. Basically people are dying so that aristocrats in Palm Springs can have golden toilet bowls.
Yeah I'm as American as apple pie. I wouldn't presume to judge it so harshly were I not steeped in it.
Again, give some credit. They were developed here plain and simple. You already mentioned that you could come back to the US and receive ADAP. It sounds like YOU would be covered either way. I never said that the reason that some here don't have meds that they need is because of the aid the US sends out. I said that I imagine that there would be enough to cover US citizens who need it if we didn't. Of course, I'm sure that we could help both either way. I also never implied that the US was doing a good job with health care... duh!
As for some 'aristocrats in Palm Springs can have golden toilet bowls'... it's not always anything that sinister. For example, I take Atripla. Local pharmacies will sell it for around $1700 cash. My insurance covers it up to $2700. Guess which price my insurance (which is provided by the State of NC - state employee) pays? You got it - $2700. That's $12,000 every year that the State of NC overpays for my Atripla. Realizing that this isn't restricted to me or to Atripla, how much is the Sate overpaying? Couldn't savings from eliminating such overpayment be used to remove folks from ADAP waiting lists?
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the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is because of excessive funding for Africa,
My Lord you are so severely out of touch, it just amazes me. First you ask us the rediculous question of ADAP supplying you medications, while you remain a resident of Thailand. Oh, I just couldn't respond to that one, as it was so far off the planet I just couldn't retrieve the thought.
Now you make a statement like this. The true reason for the lack of funding here is strictly because of the marriage of Washington and the drug companies, and the efficient propaganda of the last 8 years of Bush. Don't you know HIV is all our fault, and it is now nothing more than a mere inconvenience to our lives. Please read the thread started by Weasel. This is the propaganda coming to maturity and if we all don't get our perverbial shit together, it is possible to happen to all of us.
Please do your homework before you start slinging the shit.
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Again, give some credit. They were developed here plain and simple. You already mentioned that you could come back to the US and receive ADAP. It sounds like YOU would be covered either way. I never said that the reason that some here don't have meds that they need is because of the aid the US sends out. I said that I imagine that there would be enough to cover US citizens who need it if we didn't. Of course, I'm sure that we could help both either way. I also never implied that the US was doing a good job with health care... duh!
As for some 'aristocrats in Palm Springs can have golden toilet bowls'... it's not always anything that sinister. For example, I take Atripla. Local pharmacies will sell it for around $1700 cash. My insurance covers it up to $2700. Guess which price my insurance (which is provided by the State of NC - state employee) pays? You got it - $2700. That's $12,000 every year that the State of NC overpays for my Atripla. Realizing that this isn't restricted to me or to Atripla, how much is the Sate overpaying? Couldn't savings from eliminating such overpayment be used to remove folks from ADAP waiting lists?
David, BIG PHARMA is the DEVIL, drugs cost so much, it's killing everything and everybody, making a profit is fine, but, when it's TOO MUCH of a profit, that's the whole problem.....you are correct, it takes
5 to 10 yrs to approve a drug here in the US, where as in the EU it only takes a few yrs. and we here in the US pay a very heavy price for this ;D we can all thank 8 yrs of the Bush admin. for stopping us form going to Canada to buy cheaper drugs, just like moffie said above, it's a big-ass scam done by our own government ???
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A simple question in the middle of all the shouting which makes me happy since part of it is a socialist shouting which I worship ;D
My question: what happens to people who are cut off ADAP? I mean its impossible that they are just left to die in the street, we haven't heard of something like this, so there must be some alternative method to supply them with Meds otherwise it doesn't make sense, it will just create a disaster in a state level ! some facts are missing here
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what happens to people who are cut off ADAP? I mean its impossible that they are just left to die in the street, we haven't heard of something like this, so there must be some alternative method to supply them with Meds otherwise it doesn't make sense, it will just create a disaster in a state level ! some facts are missing here
ADAP Advocacy Association
Newsletter – January 2009
http://www.adapadvocacyassociation.org/pdf/2009_aaa_Newsletter_January_ADAPs.pdf
In 2003, eight Americans (five in Kentucky and three in W Virginia) died while on ADAP waiting lists, and in 2006 four South Carolinians suffered the same fate. In fact, thirty-five people have died on ADAP waiting lists since 2000. These tragedies were and are as inexcusable as they were preventable, and represent a shock to those who complacently believe that AIDS is a “manageable condition”.
yes, sadly sometimes people do die. :o :'(
Thirty-five Americans have died since 2000 while on ADAP waiting lists.
Here is another quote from that pdf that explains a bit about how ADAP is managed differently throughout the states:
Comparing protocols of HIV/AIDS care between the states is tricky, as there are no universal federal guidelines to follow and each of the ADAP governing agencies (fifty states, plus DC and seven territories) manages its allotment as it sees fit. Legally, Ryan White/ADAP are funded as payers of last resort, but broad eligibility discrepancies exist. Income restrictions can vary from 200% to 500% of FPL (federal poverty level: $10,210 for a single individual in 2007, though an estimated 40% of all ADAP beneficiaries live at or below 100% FPL), and eighteen states assess limits on the assets one can own.
Although congress finally mandated a base list of antiretrovirals be included in each ADAP formulary in 2006, a patient’s access to other important medications, ranging from anti-depressants and other psychotropics to statins and pain medications (to combat side-effects) to insulin, depends on where he or she lives. Four states (MA, NH, NJ, OR) have open formularies, while two (ID and LA) have no drugs which are not antiretrovirals on their formularies whatsoever, and six (AL, MS, OK, TX, UT, WV, and the US Virgin Islands) pay for ten or fewer***. These ancillary medications are an easy, obvious target for those looking to manage rising costs by reducing formularies instead of initiating waiting
***hmmm. Recently my doctor talked me into changing my regimen slightly making it a similar yet easier regimen (one less pill and all once day now). However, somewhere I think I came across a report (AH! the link is below) that talked about how SC was changing their formulary to only cover 3 HIV meds per person. That would explain my case manager's comment about me being down to 3 meds covered by medicaid now, while the clinic was covering the cost of my 4th med (acyclovir, a non-HIV med). So maybe my doctor didn't actually switch my meds for altruistic reasons after all; but to reduce the prescription amount down to just the 3 the state medicaid will cover.
from a previously cited reference (http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html):
Those families are not the only ones losing health care help. The budget committee cut $10.7 million from Medicaid by imposing a three-drug prescription cap in a program for adults that now allows up to 10 drugs. The panel also eliminated the $2.4 million the state spends on AIDS drug treatments that now serve about 2,055 people monthly and slashed $35 million from the Department of Mental Health's $161 million budget.
As the tax break debate played out, Rep. Tracy Edge searched through spreadsheets for ways to spare the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs from shutting all but its residential programs and cutting off services to nearly 26,000 children and adults.
And it's not just HIV poz people that'll be suffering in this budget cut (a budget cut brought on because the state will stop collecting corporate income tax), even though we do know that untreated HIV leads to death. Wonder what other multi-drug programs, as this was a Medicaid cut, are being cut for other SC citizens? Wonder if we'll have citizens with diabetes or heart conditions keeling over this Summer from lack of meds? Wonder if others might face death from the loss of those residental programs?
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OMG... I thought there was an alternative and this is why they were considering cutting down on ADAP, this is terrible, I hope some HIV organizations ( Including this one ) will take action to stop this disaster >:(
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A simple question in the middle of all the shouting which makes me happy since part of it is a socialist shouting which I worship ;D
My question: what happens to people who are cut off ADAP? I mean its impossible that they are just left to die in the street, we haven't heard of something like this, so there must be some alternative method to supply them with Meds otherwise it doesn't make sense, it will just create a disaster in a state level ! some facts are missing here
As far as I know, it's the only option if you don't have insurance or medicare/medicaid.
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An argument can be made that the bottom-line problem to the ADAP disaster is the cost of Big PhARMA's medications. I received the following e-mail today from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation:
Save ADAP
AIDS Drug Assistance Programs Threatened
AIDS Healthcare Foundation has become alarmed about the stability and viability of AIDS Drug Assistance Programs nationally and in individual states. We know that all of you receiving this e-mail care deeply, as we do, about the health and welfare of persons living with HIV that we all serve.
We want to share with you our position on what we feel is needed to make ADAP more sustainable. Recently, advocates have proposed to the Obama Administration and Congress an emergency appropriation of $126 million to shore up programs nationally. We have no objection to this proposal. However, Federal intervention alone is not sufficient to curb the accelerating arc of ADAP spending. This fact seems incontrovertible. The undeniable driver of costs in ADAPs are the cost of the medications that are purchased. For example, in California since 2000 AIDS drug spending in has increased by 165%, but the number of patients served has only increased by 49%. This is equivalent to a 77% increase in the per-patient cost of AIDS drugs. Even with “price freezes” and rebates, the costs of the pharmaceuticals will continue to rise to a level that will bankrupt states, and force major programmatic concessions in eligibility and formulary. Our patients and clients will not have what they need, and people could perish due to lack of access. These are the stakes in this conversation. We all know it.
It is becoming increasingly challenging to argue that borrowed money from the Federal government should fund the purchase of pharmaceuticals without some other effort to capture revenue, particularly when the pharmaceutical industry is making sustained large-scale profits and the government is running crushing deficits.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation has proposed a few solutions: 1) requiring that for every dollar of federal allocation PhARMA contribute two dollars in additional rebate or price cuts; 2) for rebate states, drug companies pre-pay rebates based on historical averages, thus helping with cash flow and cutting reimbursement time; 3) set a limit on individual client expenditures and require that if the cap is reached, patient assistance programs be mandated for the remainder of the period.
These are a few brief ideas. Any one, or all of the suggestions are not the only solutions. But we must think beyond the constructs, deal and associations that we have relied on to this point. We are called upon by our ultimate obligation to our patients to challenge the status quo and have difficult and uncomfortable conversations. This is nothing new to the AIDS Community. This community has pushed back governments, challenged drug companies, protested and fought to win every major breakthrough to from drug pricing to Ryan White to ensure that those we care for are not discarded, forgotten or abused.
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After re-reading this thread; I come to a few conclusions, and most of you probably aren't going to like what I have to say.
So many of you are totally uneducated about where your health care is coming from, along with that, your shock and amazement at the current fiscal mess that our HIV/AIDS is in, is astounding. For six years now, I have been trying to get you all to educate yourselves in the system that is Ryan White/ADAP, yet you accept your pills, take them and then make the assumption that there will be no end to the support and you will live forever.
WAKE THE HELL UP. It is one thing to make a post here that expresses shock and amazement at the current state of affairs, but it is quite another to take the time to pick up the phone, search the internet or in general, educate yourself about your state's RW guidelines. Am I pissed that you all think that "someone else" has to do something? Yes, because if you are concerned about not DYING to this disease, and want to continue living on and creating a really good life; then you have to get your shit together and do something, damnit!!!! Or become filthy rich so it just doesn't matter to you.
I'm tired, so I have retired from this fight, but all of you, women, men, gay or straight, have to get this thing going and really make a difference, or you will soon find; "nobody really gives a shit".
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I have no idea how drug testing and approval has much to do at all with the SC ADAP funding cut but...
it takes 5 to 10 yrs to approve a drug here in the US, where as in the EU it only takes a few yrs. and we here in the US pay a very heavy price for this ;D
personally, I like to have my meds tested and approved. You might not mind being the early guinea pig and popping some pills a yr or two after they've been formulated; but I'd prefer someone else testing the meds under the care and guidance of a lab, doctors, and scientists for a while before it comes in a bottle with my name on it. Fast track testing and approval might have been a life-saver in the late 80s or early 90s when HIV+ people were dropping like flies; but, thankfully, no one's life is that at risk today that we can't afford to wait through proper testing to ensure against adverse long-term effects also.
It is one thing to make a post here that expresses shock and amazement at the current state of affairs, but it is quite another to take the time to pick up the phone, search the internet or in general, educate yourself about your state's RW guidelines.
They'll have to study up more than just RW/ADAP though, Tim. The reduced formulary (covering only 3 meds) that SC is implementing is to the state medicaid program (which already doesn't cover any dental or eye care).
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Man, you really must have been gone from the US for a number of yrs. NOBODY lives like that in the US, haven't you heard of the stock-market-crash of 2008, most of the those people who did live like that, are in JAIL, or they lost EVERYTHING, maybe a few politicians, and Bank Exe"s and a few Movie Stars might still live this way, but, not many :(
It is extremely naive to believe that stock market crashes or economic downturns effect the elite owning class.
the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is because of excessive funding for Africa
My Lord you are so severely out of touch, it just amazes me.
Moffie, you have absolutely and completely miss-read my post - I was disputing the claim of David_NC that a reason for inadequate HIV funding in the US was HIV aid to Africa. If you had bothered to finish reading that sentence, you would have seen that I was saying that the budget for Africa has nothing to do with the HIV budget in America - in fact I blamed the fact that taxes are too low on the rich:
Regarding the idea that the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is because of excessive funding for Africa, no, the reason for lack of HIV funding in the US is ridiculously inadequate taxation of the privileged classes...
Please, please do me the courtesy of reading my posts before attacking me. You are attacking me for precisely the opposite of what I was saying, because you totally misunderstood me. I am a thorough left-winger, and I do blame the corporations, drugs companies included - you and I are on the same side.
Please do your homework before you start slinging the shit.
Please read my posts before slinging the shit.
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It is extremely naive to believe that stock market crashes or economic downturns effect the elite owning class.
I'm NOT as naive as YOU think I'm, I happen to actually live here in the US and you do not, that is a big difference, and to say that I'm naive living in the the US offenses me deeply, YOU were the one posting in other threads trying to get ADAP while living in Thailand, and you have the nerve to call me naive, I say to you BULLSHIT >:( most people don't choose to live and work in another country unless, they are running form the LAW, or hiding out from something, that YOU cannot live in the US for :-\ hey if you like living and working in Thailand, that's fine.... it just seems very odd to me, that YOU can't or won't come back here to the US for whatever reasons you may have, and to say that living in the US would put you in poverty, sounds EVEN more suspicious to me, how's THAT for an observation ::)
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I'm NOT as naive as YOU think I'm, I happen to actually live here in the US and you do not, that is a big difference, and to say that I'm naive living in the the US offenses me deeply, YOU were the one posting in other threads trying to get ADAP while living in Thailand, and you have the nerve to call me naive, I say to you BULLSHIT >:( most people don't choose to live and work in another country unless, they are running form the LAW, or hiding out from something, that YOU cannot live in the US for :-\ hey if you like living and working in Thailand, that's fine.... it just seems very odd to me, that YOU can't or won't come back here to the US for whatever reasons you may have, how's THAT for an observation ::)
I apologize if I offended you. I only meant to say that the very rich are above things like stock markets and booms and busts - Bill Gates or Warren Buffet's power over their fellow humans is about the same whether they have 45 or 65 billions.
Speaking only for myself - I live in Thailand only because the quality of life is enormously better than back home.
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I apologize if I offended you. I only meant to say that the very rich are above things like stock markets and booms and busts - Bill Gates or Warren Buffet's power over their fellow humans is about the same whether they have 45 or 65 billions.
Speaking only for myself - I live in Thailand only because the quality of life is enormously better than back home.
It must not be enormously better living in Thailand, are you wouldn't be trying to get ADAP to pay for your HIV+ Meds, hiding behind your POZ+ status in FEAR of your job, is foolish to say the least, if you lived in the US YOU wouldn't have to hide your POZ+ status to keep your job, and to get ADAP, and to say that living in the US would put you in poverty, I'm sorry, but I'm NOT buying that statement........but, hey WHATEVER works for you :D
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Speaking only for myself - I live in Thailand only because the quality of life is enormously better than back home.
link?
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Speaking only for myself - I live in Thailand only because the quality of life is enormously better than back home.
LOL how so? In like a David Carradine kinda way? Anyone seen Dennis? So which are you, a tax paying citizen of the US or a resident of Thailand? It seems funny to me someone would be bashing the US while living in another country claiming the quality of life is so much better there, while trying to bilk ADAP for crap they shouldn't be entitled to.
I do, however, admire Thailand's voluntary emergency response team. It must be sweet getting your brains wiped up off the road by the nanny or the local 1rst grade teacher free of charge.
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link?
I'm sorry, but I don't have any link to my own subjective preferences, Miss.
So which are you, a tax paying citizen of the US or a resident of Thailand? It seems funny to me someone would be bashing the US while living in another country claiming the quality of life is so much better there, while trying to bilk ADAP for crap they shouldn't be entitled to.
I'm an American citizen, skeebo, who resides in Thailand. It is not unusual for citizens of one country to live in other. Nor do I see a citizen investigating his eligibility for health care in his home country as 'bilking'. I can assure you that Europeans and Canadians have access to their national health care regardless of where they happen to be residing or traveling.
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I'm sorry, but I don't have any link to my own subjective preferences, Miss.
I'm an American citizen, skeebo, who resides in Thailand. It is not unusual for citizens of one country to live in other. Nor do I see a citizen investigating his eligibility for health care in his home country as 'bilking'. I can assure you that Europeans and Canadians have access to their national health care regardless of where they happen to be residing or traveling.
And I know this. I just find it ironic, with your disdain and having to constantly "bite you tongue" while finding paradise in Bangkok that you would even want to.
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I'm sorry, but I don't have any link to my own subjective preferences, Miss.
I'm an American citizen, skeebo, who resides in Thailand. It is not unusual for citizens of one country to live in other. Nor do I see a citizen investigating his eligibility for health care in his home country as 'bilking'. I can assure you that Europeans and Canadians have access to their national health care regardless of where they happen to be residing or traveling.
If your not paying into the US tax System, why do YOU think the US owns you anything, just being an US Citizen DOESN'T entitle YOU to anything, that is a horrible misconception on your part, but, yet YOU call me naive ::)
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If your not paying into the US tax System, why do YOU think the US owns you anything, just being an US Citizen DOESN'T entitle YOU to anything, that is a horrible misconception on your part, but, yet YOU call me naive ::)
Berners, like every other citizen, is entitled to whatever 'the system' says he is entitled to. It can't hurt to ask. I don't feel entitled to free meds, but I asked what assistance was available and took what was offered.
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Berners, like every other citizen, is entitled to whatever 'the system' says he is entitled to.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe one of the criteria is being a resident of one of the states. Which state were you going to claim to live in Lord?
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Berners, like every other citizen, is entitled to whatever 'the system' says he is entitled to. It can't hurt to ask. I don't feel entitled to free meds, but I asked what assistance was available and took what was offered.
Care to elaborate on that statement? what were you entitled to, as far as US benefits, and what country of origin do you now reside?
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Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe one of the criteria is being a resident of one of the states. Which state were you going to claim to live in Lord?
The point is YOU have to reside in that State in the US to get Benefits, and NOT in another Country, I just don't see HOW anyone that lives abroad would even qualify for any..... legally that is... traveling, and being on holiday isn't the same as actually living and working abroad ::)....anyway we are WAY off topic here, and I'm sorry for the hijack.....now, back to the topic ;D mikie Thanks for the links and info you posted in this Thread, they were very informative :-* and YES we all need to be proactive on this issue
cause it can and is happening in other states as we speak on this......
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most people don't choose to live and work in another country unless, they are running form the LAW, or hiding out from something, that YOU cannot live in the US for
Uhm, 'scuze me, but that's an awfully broad brush you're painting with there! I'm not running or hiding from anything - and I've been an ex-pat for nearly 20 years now. I would never move back and have all the health-care worries that people living in the States do. Never, ever, ever! Long live the NHS! :)
I can assure you that Europeans and Canadians have access to their national health care regardless of where they happen to be residing or traveling.
Simply (http://insurance.thaivisa.com/news/new-nhs-restrictions-have-repercussions-for-expats.html) not (http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/health/more/living-abroad-medical-insurance-nhs-treatment-10272) true (http://www.britishexpatsdirectory.com/2009/08/nhs-expat-restrictions-to-be-eased-in.html)!!! I doubt there are any countries with national healthcare that don't have residency restrictions when it comes to ex-pats and healthcare.
I don't like what I see happening to the US either, but I wouldn't dream of trashing it on one hand then expecting health benefits from the US on the other. ::)
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Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe one of the criteria is being a resident of one of the states. Which state were you going to claim to live in Lord?
Your question is directed at Berners but you quote my post, so I'll elaborate. His HIV has put Berners in a financial bind, as it has for most of us. He was merely exploring his options, and in fact merely asking in his thread brought some useful information. Of course it seems unlikely that he is eligible for ADAP assistance, but what if by some quirk of his 'home' state - let's say it's South Carolina for ironic laffs - he is? Would you begrudge him that just because he currently resides overseas? I would congratulate him on his good fortune.
We give free medical treatment to illegal immigrants, so it's not that outlandish to speculate that a legal emigrant might also qualify.
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Uhm, 'scuze me, but that's an awfully broad brush you're painting with there! I'm not running or hiding from anything - and I've been an ex-pat for nearly 20 years now. I would never move back and have all the health-care worries that people living in the States do. Never, ever, ever! Long live the NHS! :)
Simply (http://insurance.thaivisa.com/news/new-nhs-restrictions-have-repercussions-for-expats.html) not (http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/health/more/living-abroad-medical-insurance-nhs-treatment-10272) true (http://www.britishexpatsdirectory.com/2009/08/nhs-expat-restrictions-to-be-eased-in.html)!!! I doubt there are any countries with national healthcare that don't have residency restrictions when it comes to ex-pats and healthcare.
I don't like what I see happening to the US either, but I wouldn't dream of trashing it on one hand then expecting health benefits from the US on the other. ::)
THANK YOU ANN :-* for setting the record str8, I knew you'd chime-in sooner or later ;)
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Your question is directed at Berners but you quote my post, so I'll elaborate. His HIV has put Berners in a financial bind, as it has for most of us. He was merely exploring his options, and in fact merely asking in his thread brought some useful information. Of course it seems unlikely that he is eligible for ADAP assistance, but what if by some quirk of his 'home' state - let's say it's South Carolina for ironic laffs - he is? Would you begrudge him that just because he currently resides overseas? I would congratulate him on his good fortune.
We give free medical treatment to illegal immigrants, so it's not that outlandish to speculate that a legal emigrant might also qualify.
Good point, immigrants also happen to be on US soil, in a state where they can receive eligibility. Last I checked we never let Thailand join the union. This was the reason why I quoted you, you raised a point on citizenship and I expounded on it by asking Lord a question regarding state residency, which is a requirement for ADAP.
His original statement regarding his feelings on the US were rather broad and ambiguous, leading me to believe it was something other than just a healthcare issue and he has made other comments regarding the US in this same fashion.
So... my point was, if you hate it so much why fuck with it? I apologize to Mikie, Moffie, and the others contributing useful information to this thread for the hijack.
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Leatherman,
"They'll have to study up more than just RW/ADAP though, Tim. The reduced formulary (covering only 3 meds) that SC is implementing is to the state medicaid program (which already doesn't cover any dental or eye care)."
Sorry charlie, you're wrong. Medicaid/Medicare have nothing to do with ADAP Period! If the state is mixing the funding, they are wrong and breaking the law. The ADAP formulary is determined seperate from the rest of public funding, and the two should never meet. I was on the state RW/ADAP formulary committee, and because of the work we did, the state of AZ boosted their formulary quite a bit. Now that there are theives in the Health Department in Phoenix they redid the forumlary to only supply those drugs that are HIV specific and don't now cover anything other than those. Those of us who are on Medicaid have to try to get other meds we need under that program, but NOT HIV meds. Really, this bit of misinformation is one of the reasons I quit because people like you go out there and say stuff that just is not true. That was the reason for my post, and the reason people need to get busy and start learning on their own. Shit, the information is all out there but most want you and me and someone else to do their dirty work for them. I'm over it.
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Sorry charlie, you're wrong.
Sorry Moff, don't know why your panties are all in a wad. I actually agreed with your comment, AND expanded it. Sheesh! You were trying to get people all stirred up to worry about their health and the funding of their treatment and so was I. (ah, just like the bad old 80s and early 90s when we were all either dying or activists so we didn't die.)
You surely understand that many people have a mix of social services and various programs helping them. Obviously you don't understand that the situation is even worse in SC than just affecting ADAP. They are also cutting programs from the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, SC state Medicaid, and from the Department of Mental Health. Since this is a thread about why South Carolina ADAP is being affected, as a South Carolina resident I felt I had the right to also discuss the congruent services (ie medicaid, et al) that are also being cut.
This information was in an earlier post when I found out the reasoning behind this ADAP cut for Matty. I guess since so many are more worried about some guy in Thailand than about this situation right here in America where people in this state literally died just a couple yrs ago from a similar situation- except it's even worse this time for the amount being cut and the programs being cut - you just missed that earlier post in which we found this SC budget cut is much much worse than just ADAP.
So yes, a poz person here in SC using social services, better be up on the RW laws and ADAP, just as you said. But as I added, that poz person better be paying attention to medicare, mental health, disability and other services etc, because it's ALL getting cut back in this state.
http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/04/1185583/sc-legislators-seek-ways-to-patch.html
The [tax] breaks come as human services programs are being slashed. Legislators have been besieged with calls from disabled residents and their advocates after Cooper's committee approved a $5 billion spending plan last week that would end programs for nearly 26,000 people getting help from the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs.
"We keep passing all this corporate welfare," said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, an Orangeburg Democrat who voted against the measure. "What about the welfare of the citizens of our state?"
State Rep. Joe Neal, D-Hopkins, reminded House members that the lobby Wednesday was packed with people with disabilities asking that their programs be spared cuts. "They have every right to be concerned because it ain't over," Neal said.
....
Those families are not the only ones losing health care help. The budget committee cut $10.7 million from Medicaid by imposing a three-drug prescription cap in a program for adults that now allows up to 10 drugs. The panel also eliminated the $2.4 million the state spends on AIDS drug treatments that now serve about 2,055 people monthly and slashed $35 million from the Department of Mental Health's $161 million budget.
feel free, everyone, to take your discussions of other states (besides SC and maybe NC) ADAP woes, patriotism, and Thailand to another more appropriate thread. I plan to take most of the actual issue in this thread over to Activism http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=31714
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If your not paying into the US tax System, why do YOU think the US owns you anything, just being an US Citizen DOESN'T entitle YOU to anything, that is a horrible misconception on your part, but, yet YOU call me naive ::)
LordBerners hasn't renounced his citizenship, he's repeatedly written he's an American living abroad.
Lord, would it be safe for us to assume you're a decent citizen, following the law, and paying your U.S. taxes as specified in IRS Publication 54: Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and and Resident Aliens Abroad (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ch01.html#en_US_publink100047318)?
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LordBerners hasn't renounced his citizenship, he's repeatedly written he's an American living abroad.
Lord, would it be safe for us to assume you're a decent citizen, following the law, and paying your U.S. taxes as specified in IRS Publication 54: Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and and Resident Aliens Abroad (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ch01.html#en_US_publink100047318)?
Please stop hijacking this thread, it's not about any of this, if you want to join and continue please go here"
http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=31714
and Mods, please move this replay in the right place where is belongs:
http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=31631.50
THANKS
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Does Anyone Know the Answer to This?
A friend was just reminding me how the U.S. government has funded many drugs almost totally. He said they have turned the research over to various drug companies for free I think. First, does anyone know how true this is? Second, does this include any HIV drugs?
It would seem if the government has paid for all the research and development and turned it over to drug companies, the gov't should get the drugs for programs like ADAP for free. This, of course, is dependent on whether the gov't has done this. I'm pretty sure I've seen where the gov't has done this on other drugs.
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Does Anyone Know the Answer to This?
A friend was just reminding me how the U.S. government has funded many drugs almost totally. He said they have turned the research over to various drug companies for free I think. First, does anyone know how true this is? Second, does this include any HIV drugs?
It would seem if the government has paid for all the research and development and turned it over to drug companies, the gov't should get the drugs for programs like ADAP for free. This, of course, is dependent on whether the gov't has done this. I'm pretty sure I've seen where the gov't has done this on other drugs.
Yus, this is often the case. Publicly funded bodies make the initial discovery and then the patents are sold to pharmaceutical companies who develop compounds into marketable drugs.
MtD
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I can assure you that Europeans and Canadians have access to their national health care regardless of where they happen to be residing or traveling.
Speaking for the Dutch: healthcare is NOT free overhere ! We pay a fixed percentage of our gross income into the healthcare system + an additional monthly fee (approx. €110)to cover the basic healthcare needs. Next to that you can buy extra care/coverage by paying a supplement fee (varying between €10 ->€50 p/mo).
It's a fable that we are covered "anywhere". If I were to travel elsewhere in Europe and something happens to me, Dutch insurance will only cover the dutch equivalence of the costs......the remainder balance has to be paid by the patient. To cover our asses 100%, we have to purchase another insurance.....travellers insurance! We pay for everything.....left pocket or right pocket.
If LordB was a Dutch citzen living and working in Thailand (and not paying taxes and healthcare fees in the Netherlands) he won't get any healthcare services in Holland. If he returns and has no job/income, he would need to apply for social security...wait for 2 months before he gets instated..and only then would he qualify for benefits.
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Yus, this is often the case. Publicly funded bodies make the initial discovery and then the patents are sold to pharmaceutical companies who develop compounds into marketable drugs.
MtD
AZT comes to mind.
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LordBerners hasn't renounced his citizenship, he's repeatedly written he's an American living abroad.
Lord, would it be safe for us to assume you're a decent citizen, following the law, and paying your U.S. taxes as specified in IRS Publication 54: Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and and Resident Aliens Abroad (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ch01.html#en_US_publink100047318)?
hehehe.... like any of us ex-pats do that! :D :D :D I pay taxes (and vote) where I live. But I don't expect any benefits from the States either, unlike some. ::) I haven't renounced my US citizenship either, although I might just do that the next time I renew my passport (so I can get a British passport). Which is soon. ;)
Actually, I don't think I have to renounce anything to get a British passport. Most more enlightened countries allow for dual citizenship. Unlike the xenophobic States.
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I hope you don't mind, Philly, what I'm about to post as I've become a little possessive about this thread you started. ;)
This thread is about South Carolina state health funds being cut across the board,
including South Carolina ADAP and Medicaid benefits.
It's pretty rude to hijack such an important thread (SC did have people, fellow pozzies, literally DIE from this very issue just a few yrs back) to talk about someone else's problem. Unless LB is moving to SC (and he won't be getting any help from SC so I suggest picking another locale to move to), I just don't understand why some of you keep discussing his issue here. As has been pointed out a few times, LordBerners has his own thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=31631.50) about his Thailand/American issues. You people really need to go over to the proper thread if you're going to keep discussing LB.
Thanks.
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One thing is for sure whenever its related to health insurance it gets heated up! too bad we cant agree that Meds are Meds, a basic right more important than anything els, Our country is number one in military spending, I bet the price of one missile can cover uninsured people in SC ...urgggghhhh
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Actually, I don't think I have to renounce anything to get a British passport. Most more enlightened countries allow for dual citizenship. Unlike the xenophobic States.
The US does not prevent dual citizens as I am Canadian born and a Naturalized American and I have passports for both countries.
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dual citizens
::)
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::)
What with the snarky eye roll? Dual citizenship is quite common. Joe is right on this one. In fact, I know several American-Australian dual citizens.
MtD
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What with the snarky eye roll? Dual citizenship is quite common. Joe is right on this one. In fact, I know several American-Australian dual citizens.
MtD
He did the eyeroll because some folks hijacked the thread - it was originally about SC.
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This thread is about South Carolina state health funds being cut across the board,
including South Carolina ADAP and Medicaid benefits.
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Dear God. Most threads are amorphous in style, it's just the nature of the beast. Not everyone lives in the Palmetto State and people are just relating their own personal experiences. Sometimes a thread veering off track reveals valuable information. It ain't the end of the world ladies. You'll have plenty of opportunities in other threads to talk about yourselves over and over and over.
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people are just relating their own personal experiences. Sometimes a thread veering off track reveals valuable information.
yes, and there is already a thread with the "extra" discussion that's going on in this thread that's not about SC. If there are issues in YOUR state about ADPA, Medicaid, etc., you're more than welcome to go start your own thread ;)
Just four short years ago people DIED in this state because of this funding issue. You are an insensitive jerk, if you don't think it's more important to discuss the topic based on the OP's original post than some guy from Thailand that wants to move here. I cry foul cause he's got his own thread. If the moderators aren't gong to step in and ask people not to hijacks threads then soon there'll be no sense at all here. Already permenant bans don't mean permenant anymore. It's sheer rudeness and bad net etiquette that's slowly destroying this place. What's the use in having guidelines, if the rules are going to be changed mid-stream or only enforced against some people but not others. No wonder so many newbies complain so much - there really are a bunch of hateful jerks here.
unfortunately my diatribe there will probably cause this whole thread to be locked eventually (even though I spoke nothing but the truth), so let me leave this description of what caused people in America to die being not being able to have access to HIV meds just 4 years ago.
http://www.c2ea.org/2006/12/south_carolina_governor_sanfor.html
SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR SANFORD AND BUDGET BOARD FAIL TO ACT ON AIDS DRUG CRISIS
Columbia, SC— The South Carolina Budget and Control Board approved over $111 million in state spending at this morning’s meeting – including over $10 million for research on a Confederate-era submarine – but failed to take any action to provide emergency funding for the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
Four state residents have died of AIDS-related complications in recent weeks while on the 324-person ADAP waiting list.
“Poor people living with AIDS who end up on this waiting list are abandoned to sickness and death,” said Stephanie Williams, an HIV-positive woman in Orangeburg, SC and Chair of South Carolina-Campaign to End AIDS (SC-C2EA). “These budgeting decisions will hurt South Carolina. We need our neighbors well and participating in life, not wasting away in hospital beds.”
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No wonder so many newbies complain so much - there really are a bunch of hateful jerks here.
Looks like it's not just me!
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yes, and there is already a thread with the "extra" discussion that's going on in this thread that's not about SC. If there are issues in YOUR state about ADPA, Medicaid, etc., you're more than welcome to go start your own thread ;)
Just four short years ago people DIED in this state because of this funding issue. You are an insensitive jerk, if you don't think it's more important to discuss the topic based on the OP's original post than some guy from Thailand that wants to move here. I cry foul cause he's got his own thread. If the moderators aren't gong to step in and ask people not to hijacks threads then soon there'll be no sense at all here. Already permenant bans don't mean permenant anymore. It's sheer rudeness and bad net etiquette that's slowly destroying this place. What's the use in having guidelines, if the rules are going to be changed mid-stream or only enforced against some people but not others. No wonder so many newbies complain so much - there really are a bunch of hateful jerks here.
unfortunately my diatribe there will probably cause this whole thread to be locked eventually (even though I spoke nothing but the truth), so let me leave this description of what caused people in America to die being not being able to have access to HIV meds just 4 years ago.
http://www.c2ea.org/2006/12/south_carolina_governor_sanfor.html
Fulminate away it if makes you happy, but maybe if you put dowm that liter of coke and got off your lazy ass and tried to do something about it you might not be such an angry old queen. You see dear, unlike you, I put my money where my big mouth is. Been working as a volunteer for over ten years for the Tennessee Healthcare Campaign. I spend countless hours helping folks navigate around and through Ryan White and ADAP. Yep you're right, I'm the jerk. Switch to Pepsi and get a life.
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Why is that song Who Let the Dogs Out coming to mind?
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Deport Gov Sanford to Argentina with no ex-executive benefits
Rather than bickering about other issues why dont all the posters do something constructive for the people of south carolina. even a letter to ones own representatives in state and national governments, reminding them that its the USA and people shouldn't be on waiting lists for life giving drugs. Everyone must come together to face these challenges. Even Jesse Helms got his feeble mind around the challenges of AIDS so its not impossible to believe in progress!
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Fulminate away it if makes you happy, but maybe if you put dowm that liter of coke and got off your lazy ass and tried to do something about it you might not be such an angry old queen. You see dear, unlike you, I put my money where my big mouth is. Been working as a volunteer for over ten years for the Tennessee Healthcare Campaign. I spend countless hours helping folks navigate around and through Ryan White and ADAP. Yep you're right, I'm the jerk. Switch to Pepsi and get a life.
Wowee! You really are a jerk. :D
I'm not angry (well, until now LOL) I, and others in this thread, just think it's appropriate to try to keep threads on topic. Are you advocating that anyone should just be able to post off-topic stuff anywhere? Are you advocating that it's "okay" for topics to leak out of their own threads and bleed into other threads with different topics? Really??
After caring for my first partner until he died, I was too damn close to death myself for many years and unable to volunteer. Then about the time my own health finally began to improve, I had to care for my second partner until he died. Then I lost my third home in three years (thanks to my aids-induced poverty), and had to move to a whole other state - where within 4 months I began to volunteer. So what the fuck did bragging about yourself mean to any of this discussion? :P You certainly aren't helping anybody in SC get ADAP or HIV meds with your sassy comments here. Hopefully my phone calls to my state reps, along with the letters I already mailed, and the letters I stamped and mailed out from my ASO this morning will end up helping to keep my fellow HIV poz South Carolinians alive.
by the way it's a 2-liter of Coke a day and I still weight 140lbs - only 5 lbs more than I did when I graduated ACK thirty years ago!. ;D (about 5'10'' and 140lbs I don't have much of an ass, much less a fat one LOL) Plus I turned 48 today ;D and have not been back in the hospital on my birthday, literally dying, in twelve years today. However just a year and 350 days ago today, was when we found out that Jim had non-hodgkins lymphoma and aids. Sadly I'm counting down to that grevious 2yr memorial date of Jim dying on May 1st.
by the way, I learned from the moderators in another thread that instead of calling YOU a jerk, it's entirely ok, as long as I don't call you a "breeder", that I can call you a "fucker". ;) :D But I won't ;) ROFLMAO
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Happy Birthday Mikie :-*
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Mikie,
You've been guilty of thread hijacks yourself, so calm down. The greater misdemeanor here is you wilfully calling another member a jerk. That's name-calling and clearly in opposition to our posting rules. Please consider yourself warned.
Ann
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The greater misdemeanor here is you wilfully calling another member a jerk. That's name-calling and clearly in opposition to our posting rules. Please consider yourself warned.
and Dach calling me "an angry old queen" and implying that I am a "lazy ass"? That's not name-calling, and you're not going to warn him??!!?? When I was just trying to get this thread back on track (and i was not the only one trying to do that). Okay you just keep enforcing those double standards. ;)
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Doxie, please don't call Mikie a lazy, angry queen. Please consider yourself warned as well, even though you were provoked.
Ann
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You've been guilty of thread hijacks yourself, so calm down.
Go dig up a thread for me where I totally hijacked it away from the OP's topic for more than 3 posts, some thing more substantial than just off-handed comments or responses to people in that thread, and then you can stand on your soap box about me hijacking threads. The hijack in this thread was a whole other thread for heaven's sake. And I wasn't the only one to notice and comment on that either.
I knew my little diatribe either might have ruffled up some feathers; but I am really surprised that a moderator is attacking me, when all I was trying to do was to get this thread back onto it's serious topic and send the other discussion back to it's original thread. Isn't that supposed to be your job?
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Hope you had a happy birthday, Mike... :-*
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Happy Birthday Mikie :-*
Hope you had a happy birthday, Mike... :-*
hey guys, normally I'd say thanks and we'd go back to talking about the OT, but since I've made an issue about hijacking in this thread, please don't hijack this to wish me a Happy Bday. There's a March Birthday thread for that. ;) Thanks for your understanding in this matter. (and thanks for the bday wishes too! ;D)
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Oh wow, didn't see all this happening. I wonder if I should go edit that post in Off Topic. Shiznit, this is what I get for being an impulsive SOB. All I know is it sucks being angry on your B-day Mikie... All you people wishing Mikie happy B-day need to quit hijacking this thread. We have a B-day thread for that kind of stuff...
Since you guys are straying off topic can I say something to Lord in this thread?
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Since you guys are straying off topic can I say something to Lord in this thread?
I'm listening.
MtD
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I was wondering if he could get me one of those cool helmets the emergency response team wears over there in Bangkok.
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I was wondering if he could get me one of those cool helmets the emergency response team wears over there in Bangkok.
Oh you meant that Lord. :P
MtD
(Whose God Complex has Blue Balls)
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Wowee! You really are a jerk. :D
I'm not angry (well, until now LOL) I, and others in this thread, just think it's appropriate to try to keep threads on topic. Are you advocating that anyone should just be able to post off-topic stuff anywhere? Are you advocating that it's "okay" for topics to leak out of their own threads and bleed into other threads with different topics? Really??
After caring for my first partner until he died, I was too damn close to death myself for many years and unable to volunteer. Then about the time my own health finally began to improve, I had to care for my second partner until he died. Then I lost my third home in three years (thanks to my aids-induced poverty), and had to move to a whole other state - where within 4 months I began to volunteer. So what the fuck did bragging about yourself mean to any of this discussion? :P You certainly aren't helping anybody in SC get ADAP or HIV meds with your sassy comments here. Hopefully my phone calls to my state reps, along with the letters I already mailed, and the letters I stamped and mailed out from my ASO this morning will end up helping to keep my fellow HIV poz South Carolinians alive.
by the way it's a 2-liter of Coke a day and I still weight 140lbs - only 5 lbs more than I did when I graduated ACK thirty years ago!. ;D (about 5'10'' and 140lbs I don't have much of an ass, much less a fat one LOL) Plus I turned 48 today ;D and have not been back in the hospital on my birthday, literally dying, in twelve years today. However just a year and 350 days ago today, was when we found out that Jim had non-hodgkins lymphoma and aids. Sadly I'm counting down to that grevious 2yr memorial date of Jim dying on May 1st.
by the way, I learned from the moderators in another thread that instead of calling YOU a jerk, it's entirely ok, as long as I don't call you a "breeder", that I can call you a "fucker". ;) :D But I won't ;) ROFLMAO
You're a clever little girl, adding the ol' double entendre to your repertoire of tired passive aggressive posting. Honey, quit trying to out-AIDS everybody. I was ten years into infection before you turned your first trick in some seedy truck stop restroom. My own tales of illness and death make yours look like a Sunday school picnic. I could easily point out the holes in your revisionist Aids history, but that would be callous and unseemly. Try channeling your anger into something a bit more positive and productive.
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You're a clever little girl, adding the ol' double entendre to your repertoire of tired passive aggressive posting. Honey, quit trying to out-AIDS everybody. I was ten years into infection before you turned your first trick in some seedy truck stop restroom. My own tales of illness and death make yours look like a Sunday school picnic. I could easily point out the holes in your revisionist Aids history, but that would be callous and unseemly. Try channeling your anger into something a bit more positive and productive.
whatever. ::) you're quite a hateful bitter person, aren't you?. Are any of your posts ever kind? ever helpful? For the record I'm a man not a girl. I've never "tricked" in bookstores, bath houses, or truckstops. I've been widowed twice, how many of your companions have died? And I'm plenty positive and productive, unlike you with your hate and venom and hijacking in this thread.
It's really sad how this thread has gone from discussing a serious issue in SC to Dach's vitirol. but please, the rest of you, go back to talking about LordBerners, don't let Dach and I interrupt you. ;) I'm really not trying to "out Aids" anyone. I was trying to get things stirred up and this thread back on track about the ADAP/medicaid cuts happening in my new home state. But since even the moderators don't seem to care that one thread has spilled into another, I'm just going to drop this and go do my part at the rally Wed.
I sure hope people don't die in the states where y'all live when the ADAP or medicaid cuts come to your town cause it looks like on that kind of issue the support you get from people here will get drowned out by other topics or hateful chatter.
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Locked.
Mikie and Hal -- you're both to blame.
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I was just about to lock this thread and say you both need to cut out this junk when I see Tim had already put a stop to the nonsense.
How about you guys just avoid any exchanges in the future if you can't keep them being snarky. That's a very strong request.