The Other “Not Talked About” Consequence When Your Job Disappears, and You Lose Your Health Benefits.
Before all of this happened with COVID-19, America was in the middle of an election season. It was the Democratic Primaries, and with all of the diverse candidates running, it was now down to just two men: Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President, Joe Biden.
Bernie started out strong, winning both the Maine and New Hampshire primaries. America took notice, especially the supposed “liberals” of the Democratic Party. By those “liberals,” I mean the establishment of the Democratic Party making up the DNC. The thinking was, how could a radical, Social Democrat like Bernie, ever be able to beat Trump in 2020? Nevermind that the Republicans were saying the same thing about Trump’s background and ideas in 2016.
Trump won the 2016 election, and he did not disappoint. Trump’s behavior has been radical, and just look at how he has lost the support of the Republican base. For instance, the same religious fundamentals who pounced on another President for having a consensual affair now seem okay with a President facing over 20 accusations of sexual assault. Republicans are now okay with a President who lies daily, a President who pays off mistresses to keep their mouths shut, and Republicans now say nothing when the President wholly misleads a country on the truth about COVID-19 that has at this moment over 23,000 American lives.
Let’s discuss one example of a radical idea then-Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders wanted to bring to the country.
The outrageous idea picked apart by the “liberal press” was MEDICARE FOR ALL. How could someone believe that the American worker who loves their medical provided by their job could ever give that up for something like MFA? It turns out; most Democrats were okay with a health plan decided not by profit, but by the person that followed you everywhere. Is it perfect? How can it be, it isn’t even discussed in public except in the televised debates or town hall meetings.
It should be noted that Bernie wasn’t afraid to face a FOX NEWS audience, and the choice of keeping a job’s medical benefits or having a MEDICARE FOR ALL option revealed surprising results.
We can argue that point later. The end of this article is to focus on that “dirty, not talked about effect” of having no medical benefits. Certainly, hospital stays and going to the doctor will be impossible for many. We know that. But what I have not read about this or heard anyone bring up is what’s going to happen to all of us(yes, I’m included) whose medication has extreme side-effects by abruptly stopping?
Concerning my prescription, had I not been fortunate enough to have my wife’s plan to fall back on, this is what I would have to look forward to, and I’m lucky. Going cold turkey with my prescription won’t kill me; I will experience “only”: fatigue, insomnia, headache, seizures, anxiety, cravings, trouble concentrating, irritability, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Some of these symptoms may last for months.
It’s those last two things, “depression” (which I have been battling since 2002), and “suicidal thoughts” (which had not a friend intervened the first time I attempted, or I had not had counseling when the second attempt seemed another possibility)I would be dead. They would have me worried, especially since now, I wouldn’t be able to see my counselor.
To better understand what happens when you lose your meds Include in your “Corona-binging,” the NETFLIX, show OZARK. If you want to see what will happen with going cold turkey from meds, check out the Ben Murphy character as portrayed by Tom Pelphrey(hello EMMY?)He nails it as a person who just quits their meds.
There are millions of Americans(44% of Americans take at least one prescription, 17% take three or more)who are facing madness and even death because their medical benefits from work are gone.
This potential threat of a vast number of our society not only living with a pandemic but now, will have their mental faculties ripped apart through withdrawal, will become evident.
How will they cope with this?
How will they respond?
What will this do as we try to rebuild our country?
How many more deaths will there be?
We must dare to look into the dark and shine a light on this.
We need to talk about it.
