"We didn’t know how extensive the need was," said William Ditto, head of the Office of Disability Services for the state of New Jersey. Mr. Ditto tried to explain his position in an interview with Susan K. Livio, a reporter covering the Statehouse for nj.com. "Nobody wants to do this. My back is against the wall," he further explained.

The State of New Jersey was a leader among states providing assistance to victims of brain injury. In 2001, the state developed the Brain Injury Fund that paid for speech therapy and other needed treatments not covered by health insurance. Since 2004, about 2,200 people have been helped. That will soon change with new regulations slated to begin in the Spring.

The proposed new regulation will limit access to the program to individuals whose brain injury is the result of a direct blow to the head. If this rule had been in effect in 2004 only 900 of the 2,200 would have received treatment.

Twenty-five years ago, Michael Jankowsky tried to help a friend who had gotten into a fight. He was stabbed in the heart, and his body began shutting down. The lack of oxygen getting to his brain caused extensive cell damage. He is confined to a wheel chair, still slurs his speech and has concentration problems – not unlike millions of other brain injury victims in the United States. In addition to limiting who can receive assistance from New Jersey’s Brain Injury Fund, available services are being cut as well.

Transportation will no longer be provided. Electronics like personal alarms will no longer be covered. Many brain injury victims use personal alarms to compensate for lost memory skills. It helps them know when to go places or perform other tasks. Personal computers play a huge role for these people who have both cognitive and memory problems. (continued below)

Brain Injury Costs

Living with brain injury is expensive. In addition to a regular medical doctor, many victims must see neurologists, psychologists, endocrinologists as well as speech, physical and occupational therapists. Migraine headaches are a common complaint as is high blood pressure and vision problems. Many brain injury victims find they cannot return to work or must, at least, seek stress-free work at a flexible workplace.

Chee Chee Parker worked at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Her desk was in a direct line of the impact when the plane commandeered by terrorists hit the building. Though she suffered many injuries, she says the worst was her brain injury. She left the military and was able to find another job…for a short time. The effects of brain injury forced her out.

Others say: "I lost everything, my home, job, car all.. I have not found fiance help anywhere I get SSI and food assistance I have been in poverty since my injury." – Lynn; "I have been in such poverty since my tbi." – Hope; "I sustained my TBI on March 3, 1994 when a student knocked me unconscious. Needless to say that was the end of my teaching career." – Melba; "We learn to live in poverty." – Terry

Increasing health care costs and limited, if any, sources of income make government assistance almost a necessity. Now, those programs are going away. Congress has pretty much frittered away health insurance reform. Short of Medicare for Everyone, a single-payor system, the people you read about here would still be unable to afford insurance premiums. Yes, some qualify for Medicaid, and some qualify for SSI, but that still doesn’t provide the therapies they need to develop their lives more fully. America, we need to do something.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Health care insurance premiums are rising again, and the health insurance gurus are blaming it on rising health care costs. Well, it’s true. Health care costs in America. It really, really costs.

Regular readers of this blog may remember my wife’s $2,500 sprained, and possibly broken, ankle. That was just the visit to the emergency room and did not include the followup visit to our primary care physician and the $143 boot for her foot.

2009 is behind us now, and I can report to you that our health insurance paid absolutely nothing for our medical care last year. Nothing. Nada. Not one cent. Why? Our deductible was $2,300, and our $2,000 in bills didn’t quite make it. But we got close. This year our deductible is $100 more. And, yes, our premium went up, too. Now, our premium didn’t go up because of our health care costs to the insurance company – they didn’t pay anything last year!

Health insurance costs in California almost made me feel ashamed of complaining about my personal situation. The Los Angeles Times published a story, "Anthem Blue Cross dramatically raising rates for Californians with individual health policies" that told of exhorbitant increases of up to 39%. One couple reported their new premium will be $27,336, up from $20,184. The new amount exceeds the poverty level in California for a family of five.

Now, let’s just assume this family of two earned $4,000 per month, prior to getting laid off. They would qualify for California’s maximum unemployment benefit of $450 per week, or about $1,800 per month. To keep their health insurance would cost $2,278 per month. You don’t even need Jethro Bodine to tell you that you can’t pay $2,278 with $1,800. You could come close if you moved out of your house and ate out of garbage cans.

Is this the health care we want in America?

Health Insurance Profits

The situation with Anthem Blue Cross in California is being investigated to make certain at least 70% of the premium is being paid out in benefits. In other words, 27.3% of that 39% increase must be paid out in benefits. That leaves 11.7% for employee pay raises and profit. And exactly how much do you expect the employees are getting in pay raises? 1%, 2% if they’re good?

But that’s not all. Anthem Blue Cross of California was fined $1 million by the state. Anthem was rejecting 20% of claims and canceling policies of pregnant women and chronically ill patients. Only in California? Not on your life. In Nevada, Anthem was able to negotiate a settlement with the state for about $1 million. In Kentucky, Anthem was ordered to refund $23.7 million to seniors and disabled patients because of inaccurately processed Medicare claims. And Colorado got a $5.7 million refund for its Anthem customers.

Is this what Republicans are trying to protect?

Health care is not okay in America. Health insurance is not okay in America. The ONLY way to fix the problem is with Medicare for All, but we are running from it as hard as we can. Well, at least the politicians are running from it, and those who are blindly following the lies being paid for by the health care and health insurance industry.

Think about it. Get the facts, and tell your friends. America must do something! Oh, and you might want to read about our new American Beer Party.

Sites We Like

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.