Excellent reporting from the Dallas Morning News. Reminds us that the press is more important than ever. We need these stories uncovered and told. A 3 part piece with each showing exactly what happens when we allow corporate profits to come before people. interactives.dallasnews.com/2018/pain-and-…
Part 1: TX pays companies billions to arrange care for foster children, disabled children, chronically sick children. Every $ they don’t spend on care can be used to pay millions in executive bonuses. TX knows companies are skimping on care to make profits but failed to stop it.
In Mesquite, D’ashon was born 3 months early, unable to breathe on his own. But with proper care, he was doing better. Then a health care company decided he didn’t need round-the-clock nursing care. The decision would save them as much as $500/day. It cost D’ashon everything.
But the company received no sanctions or fines. In fact, Texas handed them tens of thousands more medically fragile kids to care for in 2017. They received a brand new contract worth more than $440 million a year.
Part 2: Texas used to pay for long-term nursing home care directly, writing checks to doctors & home-care agencies. But now our state turns over many of its health programs to private companies, allowing corporations to profit as they skimp on essential care for disabled adults.
In San Antonio, Heather was nearly completely paralyzed. She found joy in being visited by nurses. But then the company TX paid to manage her care cut the hours of her nurses. She was alone for 17 hours a day, unable to move, and in pain. All to save the company a few bucks.
Part 3: The companies TX hires & pays billions to care for its sickest citizens have been overstating the number of doctors & specialists available to treat them. DMN called every doctor asking if they could schedule a new-patient appointment for a foster child. Only 9% could.
In Kosse, Marta looked for a psychiatrist for her 12-year-old foster son whose previous provider had retired. Off his medication for weeks, the boy threatened a sibling with a knife and had a mental breakdown at school. Needed to see a doctor but the wait was 6 months.
In these stories & the many more that still need to be uncovered, the heroes are the patients, the parents, the families, & the caregivers who never give up. Who give a voice to the voiceless & fight with everything they've got to be treated with the dignity we all deserve.
A reminder that instead of allowing profits and corporations to control decision making and care, we need to achieve guaranteed universal healthcare for every single one of us. So that no person is priced out. And so we are all well enough to contribute to our full potential.
