I have a friend who is in real trouble re: health care / insurance

[CC27]

Lorien  (1000+ posts)      Thu Apr-02-09 04:46 PM
Original message
I have a friend who is in real trouble re: health care / insurance
 Edited on Thu Apr-02-09 04:50 PM by Lorien
My friend "Jane" (not her real name) is 60 years old and has worked in the motion picture industry since she was a teenager, leaving it for only a few years to work as a prominent fashion model in the early 70's. Throughout her career she has worked as an animator on many well known films including "The Empire strikes back" "E.T. " "Indiana Jones" and many others, including a list of well known animated features .The hand drawn animation was tough on her body. Over the years she developed severe carpel tunnel syndrome, but the studio she worked for would not let her slow down or take time away from work to recover. She developed spinal problems and arthritis, so the company rigged up a pulley system to the ceiling of her office to keep her drawing while she sat there in a back, neck and arm brace. Finally she was so crippled that she HAD to have surgery. The day after her surgery her boss, "Rita", called and insisted that she get back to work. Jane returned to the studio with a note from her surgeon telling her boss that she was not to draw for several weeks, and then she was to return to drawing slowly, only four hours a day. Rita gave Jane an enormous scene to do on day one, and only gave her one assistant to help her with it (she usually had four). Jane protested, but Rita said that if she didn't complete the scene on time she would be in jeopardy of losing her job. So Jane got to work; 12-18 hours a day for the next two weeks. The work cost her the use of her right arm AND her job.

Jane has been living on disability since then. Her retirement savings were stolen by an unscrupulous stockbroker who fled the country years ago. Jane has gone to court many times in an effort to keep her health insurance and disability. The studio she worked for for decades insists that her disability is from the polio she had as a child, not the absurd amount of work she was given after surgery. Today she called me, hysterical, because she had just returned from the hospital. Her doctor wanted her to have a CAT scan, but when he called her insurer they said she was no longer covered. She later discovered that her lawyer had had her sign a document that said that her coverage would end after the insurer had paid out a maximum of 35k in benefits. She had not read the document carefully enough herself (would not have mattered if she did; half the time she's totally zoned out on pain medications) before she signed it. Now she's completely panicked and is talking about suicide as her only option. Are there any CA DUers out there who know of any programs or organizations who might be able to help her

Don't know what to think of this story. DUmmies lie. DUmmies lie all the time.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5378541

[Lord Undies]

It sounds like "Jane" should have drawn herself a brain.

[JohnnyReb]

Let me think about this a minute....I got it.....liberal Joooooos.

[Lord Undies]

How come it is in these Little Goon testimonies the Big Mean Awful Boss/Employer is never afraid of having their ass sued off?  How come the Poor Pitiful Downtrodden Employee just accepts these horrible occupational injustices and has no clue how things really work?

This entire Little Goon saga is a load of crap.  No one in business, who wants to stay in business, treats people with such disregard.  Insisting someone return to work against medical advise is not wise, profitable, or the norm.  No one smart enough to run a successful business is stupid enough to conduct their business in such a manner.

[AllosaursRus]

I call BULLSHIRT!

Any boss who would do this would likely be sued so far up their ying yang that they would be paying said employee for the rest of their miserable life!

[BlueStateSaint]

I call BULLSHIRT!

Any boss who would do this would likely be sued so far up their ying yang that they would be paying said employee for the rest of their miserable life!

You've hit it on the head.  H5.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I did a quick scan of the movies the DUmmy referenced.  The only female "animator" I could find who did even two of the movies mentioned is this person:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0012486/

[happy1ga]

Great detective work, but doesn't make sense. If this person has been steadily getting worse, as we are led to believe, and some time back she had to have surgery, was forced to return to work,and then disabled, would she have been able to do 3 movies, as late as 2007? Also, that is an impressive career, wouldn't you have made some pretty good $$$ doing all of that? Never heard of those major studios employing sweatshop practices, so I have to ask, IS THIS A PLOT SHE SAW ON SOME DAYTIME SOAP?

[NHSparky]

If that's the case, she should be on SS disability.  Then again, if I had a dog in this bad of shape, I'd have just shot her by now.

[Tucker]

One bounce and a thud. DUmmy's lie............

[ScubaGuy]

Someone asked the first question that came to me while reading this little BS bouncy.

Hell Hath No Fury  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Apr-02-09 05:44 PM
Response to Original message
12. Is she a member of a union?
   
That would be the first call I made.

Second, she needs to look into Medi-Cal -- that should help with her medical needs. Also, the main public hospital in LA should offer low/no cost health services/clinics. I used the program here in SF at San Francisco General for several years when I went without insurance -- I got great care, better than I have gotten through my current insurance.

After all if you're a union member this type stuff never happens. 

Lorien  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Apr-02-09 06:00 PM
Response to Reply #12
16. THANK YOU!
   
She is a member of IATSE and I think one other Motion Picture workers association. She is going to talk to them this afternoon. I'll tell her about the main public hospital. That might offer her a little hope.

[AllosaursRus]

16. THANK YOU!
   
She is a member of IATSE and I think one other Motion Picture workers association.
(translation: Oops, I been busted! Better make up another lie to cover my ass!)

She is going to talk to them this afternoon. I'll tell her about the main public hospital. That might offer her a little hope.
(translation: Ooops, I really screwed up by making her sound like an imbecile)

And while I'm at it, since when can a union member be treated worse than a dog? Hell the damn leadership would have raked these people over the coals for such behavior!

This BOUNCY won't even make a splat!

[Carl]

Between all of us here we know,or know of,a pretty sizable number of people and I bet not a one of them has ever endured the litany of oppressions and misfortune that DUmmies proclaim befall them on a regular basis.

 

[franksolich]

One bounce and a thud. DUmmy's lie............

Uh, caution, everybody.

Has anybody but me ever seen those really big white blocks of salt, left out for cattle to lick on, so they get thirsty and hence drink?

Usually the saying is, "take with a grain of salt."

In the case of the lying Lorien primitive, the saying is, "take with a block of salt."

It was the lying Lorien primitive who, in late 2007, wrote a rant about something she had allegedly seen in Florida during the elections of 2000; big husky strong white cops with enormous billy-clubs pummeling back blacks trying to vote.

One wonders why the lying Lorien primitive never said anything in 2000 or 2001 about that, or contacted any proper authorities.....unless it was all made up.

The lying Lorien primitive is a notorious vegetarian, and one time posted the longest comment ("comment," not "original post") ever made on Skins's island, miles and miles and miles long, 200 times longer than a Bostonian Drunkard screed.

Don't hesitate to partake of the salt, and much of it, when reading the lying Lorien primitive.

[The Village Idiot]

she needs to get herself sent to prison so she can get free healthcare... I say she take out several DUmmies and surrender

[DumbAss Tanker]

Great detective work, but doesn't make sense. If this person has been steadily getting worse, as we are led to believe, and some time back she had to have surgery, was forced to return to work,and then disabled, would she have been able to do 3 movies, as late as 2007? Also, that is an impressive career, wouldn't you have made some pretty good $$$ doing all of that? Never heard of those major studios employing sweatshop practices, so I have to ask, IS THIS A PLOT SHE SAW ON SOME DAYTIME SOAP?

Actually being an animation artist pays for shit, and they do work like dogs.  In a generic way, that part of the tale is not so far off reality.

[Karin]

Anybody who has been entangled in the Workers Comp spiderweb knows this did not happen this way.  Especially in states such as CA and NY, big squishy liberal bastions.  I've seen incredible amounts of time off for carpal tunnel.  Month and months and months.  All treatment paid for, disability payments provided. 

[delilahmused]

So I'm guessing this friend really works as a server for a company that provides catering for movie sets or was responsible for making sure the animators all had sharp pencils or something? Given the ropes and pulley contraption at first I thought Internet porn, but DUmmies and their friends aren't attractive enough for that. But Dummies are always giving themselves and their friends promotions. There's no middle of the road with them. They're either the bestest, smartest, hardest workers in the company or suffering the most dire of circumstances, mentally and physically, that could ever happen to a human. They don't just go through tough times like everyone else, they trudge bravely onward against all odds with no help and no hope. But if someone belongs to a union why wouldn't they turn to them first? I mean if unions are so great that we should all belong to them why wouldn't this be a story about how the union was a savior against the mean corporate overlords? And why wouldn't someone "smart" enough to know to go to the union first instead of fruitlessly trying to take on big corporate meanies by themselves.

Cindie

Cindie

[franksolich]

Hey, folks, the lying Lorien primitive lied again.

Look what I found; this "Jane" appears to be her, not a "friend".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=264&topic_id=2&mesg_id=2

Lorien  (1000+ posts)      Tue Nov-16-04 07:44 PM
Original message
 
OK, I'll start

I'm a self employed freelance Illustrator and Animator. My main client is the Walt Disney Corp. (yeah, I know-big repug donor, sucks the souls of your kids, etc.) though I'm branching out into children's book illustration now. I started with Disney as an animator, but hated the corporate culture. Now it's easier to get my work DONE because I'm not sitting in a meeting; I'm drawing instead! It does get tough working at home alone sometimes, but I guess there's always a trade off.

[JohnnyReb]

I am a freelance Illustrator and Animator that works at home so I can smoke pot and see everything in vivd living color..

I believe that's what she's trying to say.

[USA4ME]

Lorien

She later discovered that her lawyer had had her sign a document that said that her coverage would end after the insurer had paid out a maximum of 35k in benefits.

There's a malpractice suit waiting to happen.

I agree, bouncey ball.

.

[The Village Idiot]

Frank you are good. You are just too good.

Its kinda scary how well you know the DUmmies

[franksolich]

Frank you are good. You are just too good.

Its kinda scary how well you know the DUmmies

The lying Lorien primitive gained notoriety about a year ago, when P-J Comix discovered one of her bonfires, where she described how big burly bullying white cops had used night-sticks, batons, and tasers, to keep black voters from the polls in Florida in November 2000.

She saw it herself.

Yet she never said a word about it, until about a year ago.

The lying Lorien primitive is also a rabid vegetarian, and is known for posting the longest comment--"comment," not original post--ever on Skins's island.  I forget the topic, but one had to spend half an hour scrolling down to get past it.

The lying Lorien primitive is ostensibly in her 50s, ostensibly has a Ph.D. in something, and apparently has had "man" problems all her adult life.

The lying Lorien primitive reminds me very much of another femme Ph.D., that crazed professor who threatened some guy's kid because the kid's father supported George Bush's re-election.  The crazed professor was in Arizona at the time, I think, and got fired.  She then moved to Oregon, and got fired there even before she started.  A real psychotic, like the lying Lorien primitive.

[The Village Idiot]

The lying Lorien primitive is ostensibly in her 50s, ostensibly has a Ph.D. in something, and apparently has had "man" problems all her adult life.

The lying Lorien primitive reminds me very much of another femme Ph.D., that crazed professor who threatened some guy's kid because the kid's father supported George Bush's re-election.  The crazed professor was in Arizona at the time, I think, and got fired.  She then moved to Oregon, and got fired there even before she started.  A real psychotic, like the lying Lorien primitive.

A Maureen Dowd wannabe?

[happy1ga]

The lying Lorien primitive reminds me very much of another femme Ph.D., that crazed professor who threatened some guy's kid because the kid's father supported George Bush's re-election.  The crazed professor was in Arizona at the time, I think, and got fired.  She then moved to Oregon, and got fired there even before she started.  A real psychotic, like the lying Lorien primitive.

Frank, are you talking about that Deborah chick, the one who threatened Jeff Goldstein's kid? She is a total nutjob. I just saw something new about her getting arrested the other day, as a matter of fact. She threatened several people, and IIRC, the Goldstein's had to move to get away from her, she was giving out private info like their address. A similar thing happened to Michelle Malkin with being stalked and having her address, phone no., pics of her house, her hubby, etc., being printed by nutz. Good detective work on the DUmmie. You kick butt!