Posts Tagged ‘dual diagnosis’

The health care reform bill passed. Now what does it mean? According to the front page of my local paper it means 13 attorney generals are already filing suit against it. Some people can barely feed their children in this economy. Many people skip meals because they can’t feed themselves and are thankful they do not have a child in this economy. Now the government is saying pay for health coverage or get a fine? What does this mean for someone with a drug addiction or, more likely, a dual diagnosis problem of addiction and mental problems? There is no straight answer. Every link, every meeting shown on TV, shows a different answer.

I can see it now. A person can not afford health care yet finally admits he or she has an addiction problem that has damaged that person both physically and mentally. Drugs take away everything so you know that person isn’t eating or worrying about paying bills. He goes to get help and is told “Oh, you do not have health insurance. We need to contact law enforcement.” Hmm, sort of reminds me of the vet who went to a clinic stating he was suicidal and was told sorry, no room for you here and later killed himself.

The surprising thing about my article? I have always been a Democrat. However, I am turning more and more to a Republican view on this. Women writing hot checks to feed their children because they can not get food stamps, men working honey-do jobs for less than minimum wage just to make enough to keep the electric on that month, the stories are all over the internet and in our society. What will health care reform mean for those families and for the families of an addict? The Texas attorney general has joined in the suit.

Now I would love for every person to have health care insurance but to be penalized criminally for it? People who can not afford insurance are not criminals. I could never afford insurance as a single mother and was thankful that my children were covered under their father’s insurance following our divorce. I made sure to keep myself healthy and exercised and dieted and stayed away from things that could hurt me. That doesn’t mean I’m a saint. It doesn’t mean someone who is sick or can’t afford health care or is an addict is a lowlife, either. Addiction is a disease, cancer is a disease. Being poor should not make one a criminal yet that is exactly what the new health care reform will make those who can not afford it. Oh, and if you think the poor can go get government coverage, well, just ask the injured vet who keeps getting denied or the single mother who can not get food stamps so she goes without eating in order to feed her kids.

 What does health care reform mean for addicts?  Something tells me we haven’t seen the entire picture in this so-called scale of fairness.