If you have some spare change (or more), can you help Brenda out?
Brenda has been our waitress at Waffle House on Frey Road for the last 3 years. She is a wonderful woman who makes due on modest means. In addition to working at Waffle House, Brenda takes care of her mom, who has Leukemia and Diabetes.
When Brenda had a serious car accident a couple of weeks ago, their lives changed dramatically. She has no health insurance and no savings aside for this kind of disaster. She cannot get medical aid because she has no minor children at home. Brenda and her mother can no longer make ends meet.
Contributions from Waffle House patrons and staff paid Brenda's rent this month. Her fellow waitresses have pooled enough money for December's electric bill. Other than that, they have nothing, and she doesn't even know if she'll be able to go back to work doing what she does because one of her feet was crushed in the accident.
Current needs are:
$350/month - monthly rent
$800 - to get her car and possessions out of impound
$150 - utilities
$-Sky's The Limit-$ - medical expenses
THANK YOU for any help you can give!!!!
Showing posts with label health insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health insurance. Show all posts
December 06, 2009
September 10, 2007
Google Could Fix Healthcare
Dear Google,
On the eve of making a decision whether to go up to a $3500 deductible and $600/month for health insurance (six sick visits a year before having to pay out of pocket up to the 3,500 and paying 30 percent after that), I turn to you for help. Because you have demonstrated by developing web apps that change the way we work that you are a problem solver of magnificent proportion.
With all this foundation money, which is growing faster than you can spend it, You are in a better position than the U.S. government to fix health care in America. The country is bankrupt, while you are flush. So, who should we trust more to make thing happen quickly--the government and health care industry that have let us down again and again, or the company that makes it possible for us to make a living globally without leaving home?
Google, above all do no harm, okay... but if you want to lend a real helping hand to the challenges of web workers -- to give us what we are REALLY missing -- tell us how you'd make it so we can have access to good health care for our bodies and teeth, ourselves and our kids, without losing our homes, our families, or our lives?
Web app that if you would.
I thank you.
-me
p.s., I am not kidding. What if you extended benefits to your users -- your customers and partners -- not just your employees. the lines are blurred. we already work for you. i have worked for blogger.com for six years. let us in.
---
On the eve of making a decision whether to go up to a $3500 deductible and $600/month for health insurance (six sick visits a year before having to pay out of pocket up to the 3,500 and paying 30 percent after that), I turn to you for help. Because you have demonstrated by developing web apps that change the way we work that you are a problem solver of magnificent proportion.
With all this foundation money, which is growing faster than you can spend it, You are in a better position than the U.S. government to fix health care in America. The country is bankrupt, while you are flush. So, who should we trust more to make thing happen quickly--the government and health care industry that have let us down again and again, or the company that makes it possible for us to make a living globally without leaving home?
Google, above all do no harm, okay... but if you want to lend a real helping hand to the challenges of web workers -- to give us what we are REALLY missing -- tell us how you'd make it so we can have access to good health care for our bodies and teeth, ourselves and our kids, without losing our homes, our families, or our lives?
Web app that if you would.
I thank you.
-me
p.s., I am not kidding. What if you extended benefits to your users -- your customers and partners -- not just your employees. the lines are blurred. we already work for you. i have worked for blogger.com for six years. let us in.
---
June 21, 2007
Freelancers Union?
I have a secret. The last few weeks I have been thinking about getting a 'real' job again. It's been five years since I left the confines of corporate life to go out on my own. Not one second have I missed any part of the agency life. When I have a full roster of clients, I get enough socialization. At my age, in my chosen profession, 'best friend' potential in the office isn't all that likely as I'm at the old end of the age spectrum. Moms w/o Happy Hour--that would be my company shirt.
But after my recent surgery, I find myself wanting a safety net--a corporate daddy to make sure I'm taken care of when times are tough. This rolls around my head bashing into the realization that when times were MOST tough and I nearly died 9 years ago, my employer thanked me with a layoff and then tanked. So yeah, I know, there is no such thing as security. But for wo years running we have gone over our two thousand dollar a year deductible because of medical bills. Jenna's tonsils last year (still owe several thousand on that), and no my recent medical woes (add on another few thou). AND WE PAY each month as much as our mortgage for the privilege of owing thousands more. Our current BCBS plan has a 2K per year deductible, and after that, they only pay 70 percent. Five hundred per person per year pharmacy deductible.
Add to that the 150 per month i'm supposed to pay for life insurance policies (sometimes have it, sometimes don't), the no dental, the no 401K, and the government with its hand out too, and it's a wonder anyone with a family and their own business can afford to stay in the game.
And then the net steps in.
I was on linkedin today and connected through another former Ketchum colleague who connected with me to yet another colleague who exchanged emails with me. She pointed me this article on the re-emergence of unions as a way for independent workers to organize and have access to benefits we don't have access to on our own.
I had no idea this was going on, had never heard about the Freelancer's Union, but I'm off to investigate. If anyone else has information, or is a member, or knows what's going on currently around the organizing of independent workers to have access first and foremost to affordable healthcare, I would love to know.
I will tell you that George belongs to the AFM, and I've already reviewed the benefits there. They suck. The insurance is not the kind that doctors take, and the so called drug benefits are a joke. You can go to walmart and get $4 generics without having to pay $50 for a plastic card that health providers shake their heads at when you show it.
I hope the Freelancer's Union does better. We deserve more than scams and afterthoughts when it comes to benefits if we pay to join these unions. What's the real story? I'm all ears.
More soon.
---
update: The Freelancer's Union has a blog.
---
But after my recent surgery, I find myself wanting a safety net--a corporate daddy to make sure I'm taken care of when times are tough. This rolls around my head bashing into the realization that when times were MOST tough and I nearly died 9 years ago, my employer thanked me with a layoff and then tanked. So yeah, I know, there is no such thing as security. But for wo years running we have gone over our two thousand dollar a year deductible because of medical bills. Jenna's tonsils last year (still owe several thousand on that), and no my recent medical woes (add on another few thou). AND WE PAY each month as much as our mortgage for the privilege of owing thousands more. Our current BCBS plan has a 2K per year deductible, and after that, they only pay 70 percent. Five hundred per person per year pharmacy deductible.
Add to that the 150 per month i'm supposed to pay for life insurance policies (sometimes have it, sometimes don't), the no dental, the no 401K, and the government with its hand out too, and it's a wonder anyone with a family and their own business can afford to stay in the game.
And then the net steps in.
I was on linkedin today and connected through another former Ketchum colleague who connected with me to yet another colleague who exchanged emails with me. She pointed me this article on the re-emergence of unions as a way for independent workers to organize and have access to benefits we don't have access to on our own.
I had no idea this was going on, had never heard about the Freelancer's Union, but I'm off to investigate. If anyone else has information, or is a member, or knows what's going on currently around the organizing of independent workers to have access first and foremost to affordable healthcare, I would love to know.
I will tell you that George belongs to the AFM, and I've already reviewed the benefits there. They suck. The insurance is not the kind that doctors take, and the so called drug benefits are a joke. You can go to walmart and get $4 generics without having to pay $50 for a plastic card that health providers shake their heads at when you show it.
I hope the Freelancer's Union does better. We deserve more than scams and afterthoughts when it comes to benefits if we pay to join these unions. What's the real story? I'm all ears.
More soon.
---
update: The Freelancer's Union has a blog.
---
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