My regular readers should have noticed that the number of post that I have been doing – starting with last month – have been about HALF – previous months and I have been making many more OPINIONATED PIECES… This is INTENTIONAL on my part…
There are 435 House Members and 33 in the Senate that are up for re-election next month… only 9 House members voted against the 70 odd opiate bills recently and ONLY ONE Senator voted NO in the Senate Mike Lee ( R-UT) .
We are registered in FL to vote… and Senator Bill Nelson ( D-FL) is on my HIT LIST… he voted against the Medicare Part D program, he voted the recent tax cuts – that Rep Pelosi referred to the $1000 as “crumbs”, he voted for the recent opiate bill and against Judge Kavanaugh… he has been in the senate for THIRTY YEARS .. He is 76 and – IMO – it is time for some term limits… I am not real thrilled that his opponent is current Fl Governor Rick Scott… but once against the election seems to be the lesser of the evils.
All those Senators and Representative VOTED AGAINST YOU AND YOUR PAIN MANAGEMENT and in favor of substance abusers getting treatment…it won’t be long before they will impose a opiate Rx tax to pay for the therapy for those substance abusers… who, for the most part …. don’t want to get clean.
Letter to bureaucrats haven’t moved the needle…. talking to the media -when they would talk to you – hasn’t moved the needle… having a few people picketing some office or bldg… more of the same…
those bureaucrats in Washington… 98% expect to get re-elected no matter what they have done or not done during their 2 or 6 yr term… you send them a letter about denial of care and most likely they will send you back a letter – maybe – about the opiate crisis.
The chronic pain community needs to get their ass in gear and get their act together… just stop whining, bitching, moaning on FB… you may have missed the date to register to vote, if not register to vote. you can vote my mail… hopefully you can afford a single postage stamp to mail your ballot back in..
Going forward, I am going to keep expressing my opinion on a more regular basis on my blog… some might say that I can’t be MORE OPINIONATED 🙂
At this point in time, I really don’t have a dog in this fight… Barb’s pain is being managed the best possible… of course, that could change at anytime. We don’t have any “horror stories” about denial of care… It is up to the chronic pain community to get their asses in gear and get the job done.
There is suppose to be 100 + million chronic painers and most have spouses and kids – hopefully of voting age… collectively the chronic pain community has the numbers to “control” any/all who get elected to ANY OFFICE.
Filed under: General Problems
I agree we need to organize all cpp! Do you have any suggestions on how to do this Steve?
You are so right vote. Or Don’t bitch. We need term limits
The problem is 99% of Congress is against chronic pain patients. So who do we vote for?
I’m with you Steve! I like to hear your opinions, its Common Sense and many people need to hear it. Yep I’m not a fan of Rick Scott at all but like you said the lesser of evils. Nelson has been in far too long.
As for Govenor of FL, I can’t vote for a socialist who wants the guns EITHER. We sadly never have any decent options to choose so we keep trying and keep voting for least evil.
The FIGHT Continues..
Well you can bet I voted!!!I am ROARING angry!I have Sent a personal letter to Marco Rubio,Fla.senator,mostly pleading for some common sense,tho laced w/sarcasm for effect…cant find Nelsons email,but have left multiple phone calls,quite angry.He needs to have cardiac arrest yesterday[sorry Jesus]or at the very least,a blanket party and then given only Motrin.On my voting ballot,I simply couldnt vote for the lesser of 2 evils,cuz Nelson and Scott are on the same page.I just wrote in on 3rd choice line that I want WHOEVER else is running.We have recieved from the Pres.office to list the 5 most urgent needs[in our opinion]w/1 being top importance,etc.Of course I wrote No.1BACK OFF OF OPIATES FOR THOSE MEDICALLY QUALIFIED!!Can you believe America considers that issue among top 5?Not an F–ing word about the homeless or hungry.Too busy giving handouts to illegals,so of course,that was my 2nd choice.I suppose these are tallied by machines,but I ALWAYS smother these polls w/my anger about being treated like a criminal for being ill.Another tragic point is that my regular tithing has gone to the 700 Club,but listen closely to P.Robertson.He also on board with”Destroy every single poppy on the planet.No issuance of any pain mngmtYes,it will take.whatsoever”????????????So after watching this 90 yr.old millionaire proudly riding just one of his many 5 figure priced saddle horses,I thought why am I giving $20mo.[Iget awhopping $900mo.from SSDI]he can take his phony con gameout on someone else.I elected St.Judes children,Mercy Ships and Wounded Warriors.Any other Christians may do well to re-examine that.I thought Mr.Robertson had more insight and compassion than to totally “diss”us on natl.TV!!They will never get another penny from me.And I have a letter for him too.He was gonna run for some office awhile back-he has more pull than you’d believe,so hearing him,I couldnt believe it!He needs to go live at the Shriners burn care unit for a month,and then tell us ‘every poppy plant should be destroyed’Yes it will take violence at some point to get their attn.What an oxymoron!We stifle a class of medicines so folks wont O.D.and die.Oh dear,so much loss of life!!Well,what the hell are seizures,heart attacks,convulsions,explosive blood pressure and suicides???ISNT THAT ALSO LOSS OF LIFE?the stupidity has me dumbfounded.I just dont know what else to do!
CLAPPING MY HANDS …. I COULDN’T AGREE MORE!!
At least the Wounded Warrior Project cleaned up its act. At one point it was so horrible I was shocked it was able to recover.
Thank you Steve, I for one I’m getting sick and tired of the whiners that won’t do a damn thing to change things. I know there’s at least 20 million of us out here that needs opioid pain medication for are chronic illnesses. Yet there is only a few thousand of us that are really trying to do anything. I’m getting real sick and tired of people saying they don’t want to make any noise because they’re afraid of getting their pain medication taken away that isn’t working for them anyway. I know it’s hard for some pain patients to do a whole bunch but by God if everybody stood up and did a little bit things would change.
Thank you for all you do for us Steve I truly appreciate the hell out of it.
David W Cole
We have been to the UN, we .have made videos . One went to Congress building and met with quite a few senators, who said they’d help and then voted for all of those bill. Everytime HHS ask for letters we’ve sent in a bunch. Robert case got alot of letters. This is getting redondent . I wrote a letter to my representative as usual I got a form letter back thanking for being interested in the government. Then when Iwas watching them debate healthcare I downloaded the number on the bill there talking about because they just call the number. Then I got another letter with three signatures on it and the bills I downloaded which was nothing to do with my problem. That’s what happens here. It is like download a spy ware on my phone. So, were not just whining we’ve been sending all kinds of letters repeadly. I personally have wrote a rather lengthy letter to leventia the subcontractor for CMS. They wouldn’t let me send my stuff I received for the record s Dept. I had not gotten through it all. I had a bad feeling about it because I noticed they had three versions on the top of the report it said that. Anyway I waited for a month and I got response from everyone one of them all were a reaction to my letter. It was like a form letter generalizing and minamizing my medical issues and they all said the same thing pretty much. I have emotional pain. Why because they don’t want to admit that for years every X-ray of my neck included my jaw and it never says that on any report. I don’t have one report that is complete. They see year after year I have a tiny leak in my implacts. So I got mad and called and said that they said they would look at my medical records. I wrote the head doctor of lavantia and told him I could have p.t.s.d and a bone cancer. I don’t know the legit leasons we’re there back before 2008 . Until I met a doctor at his private practice who had two of my images up on the screen and told me my lower jaw is erroding in the joint and the legit leasons we’re more then one that keeps getting bigger. I never knew my implacts yearly test came back abnormal since they were put in . I got a letter last May after I already went to talk to him in 2014. He wrote a order for a X-ray of my ribs and never called me. Until the letter that said hey you probably have BIA-ALCL. Thanks you very much. For two years I went doctor to doctor trying to get a G.P they all said no. So, now I am being retaliated Against. I did everything I wrote and called every agency in my state. No one would help me not the BOM human rights the chamber of commerce, the human rights, the disablitiy rights, the ACLU. The state health insurance. I have called God repeadly. So what have I missed?? When you have done everything humanly possible to get help . What then. Oh and the ADA which you said it wouldn’ help but as I said Yup I knew that. I called medicare repeatly too as well as the ombudsman. I even went to a doctor in Washington and was supposed to get another fusion. But after sending all if my imagings copies and getting a x-ray and a CT scan they tell me I need to exercise, I weigh 94lbs, and that they wouldn’t be given me any meds I thought I was there for a pre-op. What a waste of money. Also I never once asked for meds. When the people who’s job is solely to help you with what I needed says sorry about your luck you loss any hope. But I keep trying. So thanks I see you were thinking we need a kick in the butt when we were doing more then whining. We are and we’re. Doing all kinds of things.
By the way I really think your awesome but
You have wierd way of getting people to do something. I personally think those of us who have ovbious to anyone problem like mine . Should post them . So they’re not invisible anymore. Thanks
Hollie, my post was not intended for people like you. Sounds to me like you’ve done enough for a hundred of us. Yet it has got you know where. That’s where my frustration comes in, within 4 days of my post two people told me they didn’t want to speak out because they were afraid of repercussions and one lady at the store told me she was afraid to speak out because of repercussions. I try to explain to these people nobody’s going to come after them, they’re just tadpoles in a ocean full of sharks. That’s why despite all your efforts nobody wants to help you, there just isn’t enough of us out here speaking up.
You are correct I probably should have chose my words a little better. I could feel your frustration through your post, that’s what happened to me, I know there are at least 20 million of us out here that have a legitimate need pain medication, some people like yourself have been abandoned, and like you said when that happens you lose hope. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you once you lose hope the ball game is over, any quality of life just goes down the toilet. We now have one in every 10 deaths among chronic pain patients is a suicide. That in itself is killing me, a lot of these people are disabled and on SSD, they have no one to help them, then the people that are supposed to be helping them just knocks them down and kicks them.
Please accept my apology, there is no way in hell I intended to add more frustration or pain to someone already living with enough of it.
Sincerely
David W Cole
Rick Scoot is a horrible pick and much worse the Nelson. I dont know if you know this but I want SS and Medicare to be around and with more Republicans in office it wont. Also FL need less Republicans considering all the damage to has continued to take place in the Everglades! Also other issues are in place like allowing insurance company and so on charge patient more for pre-existing conditions. Nelson also voted against the part D program because of the donut hole, the fact the medication could not be bought from other government thus saving money and that it was not paid for and his reason at that time made perfect sense! PS Who do you think put all those state limits in FL and signed for them? Rick Scott would be much worse letting or requiring teachers carry guns and other far right policies.
according to your IP address you are currently in Minnesota just west of St Paul… so you are going to be voting in FL ?? I am sure that make people on Medicare back in 2006 would much rather have NO MEDICATION INSURANCE than some medication insurance coverage… since Medicare had only paid for very few medications covered for home or out pt use since it was implemented in 1965. for 41 yrs Medicare would only pay for Hospitalization, doctor’s office calls and laboratory and other tests… but then the pt was on their own to pay for their medication.
Obviously you haven’t been paying attention, trump has come out several times stating he will not cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security none of it! If you want to make comments on here you should make sure they are accurate. I have eight grandkids now, there is no better way to protect our children then to let teachers carry guns. You need to think about that, by the time the cops get there the kids are dead!
Trump also said he’d not take away preexisting condition coverage but that’s exactly what he’s doing. He said he’d keep jobs in the US, he hasn’t. Companies are moving. He said we’d benefit from tax cuts. We haven’t. He’s had to bail out farmers in BILLIONS of dollars because of his tariffs that were not necessary. It just came out that he dodged taxes (which we had always known anyway) and he set up sham corporations to hide the money. He and his family are active in tax fraud and evasion. And you think we should believe him? When is he going to tell the truth about anything?
Agree we are voting for lesser of two for senate. I have to go w. Nelson despite his healthcare stance because this election has become a single issue for me. CLEAN WATER. Scott’s lack of stewardship for Florida’s environment, termination of the Department of Community Affairs allowing unregulated development, abolishment of septic inspections, suing the EPA w. Bondi and Putnam to rollback environmental protections, now has joined a group litigation to roll back protections in the Chesapeake Bay… yes outside Florida boundaries, refusal to fund the Harmful Algae Bloom Task force, gutting the DEP to make the agency ineffective in its enforcement duties, slashing water districts budgets making them ineffective, abolishing over 400 water monitoring stations…on big sugar and phosphate mining payroll…life begins with clean water… and can not be sustained without it … a vote for Scott is a vote for Toxic water and environmental degradation. We will have to agree to disagree.
OH YEAH… and when I wrote him directly about corporate unlawfulness regarding denial of care to CPPs he passed me on to do nothing Allison Dudley and PAM Bondi ignored clear violations of law by big box… remember scott got rich on the back of medicare fraud… he’s no friend to the infirmed.
Congress runs on a seniority basis and Nelson has 30 yrs and putting Scott in office he will be at the end of the pecking order … he wouldn’t be able to introduce anything… just vote on bills… 98% of members of Congress expect to be re-elected no matter what they have done or not done or what they have promised and not followed thru on.. how many in the chronic pain community have sent a member of Congress a letter about pain treatment denial and got a letter back about how they support dealing with the opiate crisis. Tossing out a great deal of the incumbent could throw Congress into somewhere between panic and paranoia and maybe they will take a serious listen to communications from the people that they represent. The only two things that the members of Congress really cares about is votes and $$$ in their election campaign coffers. all but 9 in the House voted for the 70 odd opiate bills to help substance abusers and all but one voted yes for the same opiate bill… Both Houses have never been even that close to being that bipartisan in this Congressional session. IMO. if the chronic pain community wants change … they are going to have to cause dramatic change
Steve, who are we supposed to vote for or against, when both parties are anti-opioids??? I’m from Illinois with good old Dicki Durbin. No choices what soever!!!!
If 98% of Congress expects to get re-elected regardless of what they do or don’t do… promises that are never followed thru on.. letters/email responses have nothing to do with what you contacted them about… Congress works on a seniority basis… “power” comes with years in office.. IMO disruption of that pecking order may get their attention and may get them to listen to the people they are suppose to represent. Abt 87% of Congress is up for re-election.. 435 in the House and 33 in the Senate.. giving the incumbent another 2 yrs or 6 years will just encourage them to keep doing what they have been doing… which is apparently listening to and taking money from lobbyists and voting on what they want done. Voting a large majority of the incumbents out.. will cause all the lobbyists to have to start over with relationships and cost them a lot more money having to win over the new members of Congress.
Same in Wisco Jan,,,we got Tammy Baldwin,,,or Ron Kind,,,or Ron Johnson,,,wth kind of choice is that???like none,,,,maryw