Re: Carol-Florida Insurance

[Guest guest]

Carol,

I am so sorry that it took so long for me to respond to this inquiry. The

way it works is that a portion of our property tax bill goes to the North

Broward Hospital District. These funds are used ONLY to help indigent

residents within our district. It allows people to receive medical care at

one of the 4 hospitals within the district and they also include Rx, clinical

testing and surgery as needed. They have various specialists who do clinical

visits for the indigent citizens once a week such as urologists,

cardiologists, rheumatologists, gynecologists, etc. They do not provide all

medications, but most medications necessary to treat a disease. They won't

cover things like ambien, tranquilizers, things like that. It is a clinic

atmosphere so you must get there very early in the day or your chance of

being seen is next to zero.

The person that I knew who took advantage of this was fired from her job,

lost her disability insurance and was in the process of going thru her final

SSI appeal, which ultimately lost. However, while she was on this program,

she received her medications, got surgery for a mole on her stomach which she

picked at until it became infected, had a breast nodule that had been

confirmed benign, received her podiatry care as she has type II diabetes all

at the cost of the taxpayers. But the kick was she has never paid any

property tax in her life as she is single and has always lived with her

parents.

She did get her medications by circumventing the system by either taking her

parents medication or having her parents pay for the medications out of their

pockets. Also, the doctors that she didn't like thru the hospital district,

she would not see and instead she went to her own private doctors and had her

parents pay for them also. She ultimately lost her SSI claim and had to

reapply, thus losing 5 years of disability pay. Her attorney said that she

once she was approved at this level, she appeal those 5 years she was denied,

but then she was at risk of losing this approval also. I don't mean to sound

caddy about this, but I have lived in Broward County for over 24 years and

paid my taxes every year and have yet (thank God) to have to use these

services. My friend did not qualify for welfare or food stamps, so she felt

that she would get everything that she had coming to her one way or the

other. I try not to think about this too much, or I tend to start to blow

gaskets, especially since i was an employee of the hospital district and saw

how she was abusing the system. Oh well, water under the bridge!

None of these taxpayers dollars can be used for salaries or building

expansion. It really is a very unusual and helpful service especially when

you consider the number of immigrants that South Florida does absorb, but it

is not meant to replace insurance, just be a stop gap measure to get medical

help to people between programs. I don't know if this program exists in any

other counties in Florida. I do know that if you live south of State Road

84, your taxes go to the South Broward Hospital District.

Hope you are doing OK and have a great weekend with little or no pain. Try

to stay cool.....summer is here!

Gentle, tender, angel hugs,

Debs in FL

[Guest guest]

Just wanted to chip in my 2 cents..

I'm not aware of any such " formal " program in nw FL. I'm thinking this must

be a decision made, probably on a county level, how best to manage indigent

care.

Suzanne (in steamy NW FL)

Re: [ ] Carol-Florida Insurance

> Carol,

>

> I am so sorry that it took so long for me to respond to this inquiry. The

> way it works is that a portion of our property tax bill goes to the North

> Broward Hospital District. These funds are used ONLY to help indigent

> residents within our district. It allows people to receive medical care

at

> one of the 4 hospitals within the district and they also include Rx,

clinical

> testing and surgery as needed. They have various specialists who do

clinical

> visits for the indigent citizens once a week such as urologists,

> cardiologists, rheumatologists, gynecologists, etc. They do not provide

all

> medications, but most medications necessary to treat a disease. They

won't

> cover things like ambien, tranquilizers, things like that. It is a clinic

> atmosphere so you must get there very early in the day or your chance of

> being seen is next to zero.

>

> The person that I knew who took advantage of this was fired from her job,

> lost her disability insurance and was in the process of going thru her

final

> SSI appeal, which ultimately lost. However, while she was on this

program,

> she received her medications, got surgery for a mole on her stomach which

she

> picked at until it became infected, had a breast nodule that had been

> confirmed benign, received her podiatry care as she has type II diabetes

all

> at the cost of the taxpayers. But the kick was she has never paid any

> property tax in her life as she is single and has always lived with her

> parents.

> She did get her medications by circumventing the system by either taking

her

> parents medication or having her parents pay for the medications out of

their

> pockets. Also, the doctors that she didn't like thru the hospital

district,

> she would not see and instead she went to her own private doctors and had

her

> parents pay for them also. She ultimately lost her SSI claim and had to

> reapply, thus losing 5 years of disability pay. Her attorney said that

she

> once she was approved at this level, she appeal those 5 years she was

denied,

> but then she was at risk of losing this approval also. I don't mean to

sound

> caddy about this, but I have lived in Broward County for over 24 years and

> paid my taxes every year and have yet (thank God) to have to use these

> services. My friend did not qualify for welfare or food stamps, so she

felt

> that she would get everything that she had coming to her one way or the

> other. I try not to think about this too much, or I tend to start to blow

> gaskets, especially since i was an employee of the hospital district and

saw

> how she was abusing the system. Oh well, water under the bridge!

>

> None of these taxpayers dollars can be used for salaries or building

> expansion. It really is a very unusual and helpful service especially

when

> you consider the number of immigrants that South Florida does absorb, but

it

> is not meant to replace insurance, just be a stop gap measure to get

medical

> help to people between programs. I don't know if this program exists in

any

> other counties in Florida. I do know that if you live south of State Road

> 84, your taxes go to the South Broward Hospital District.

>

> Hope you are doing OK and have a great weekend with little or no pain.

Try

> to stay cool.....summer is here!

>

> Gentle, tender, angel hugs,

>

> Debs in FL

>

>