DerDuschbagen:

My constitution tells me I am endowed by certain INALIENABLE rights, the first of which it mentions is LIFE..

Yes you have the right to life. You don't have a guarantee that tax payers will pay for your health care. I assume you are trolling since no one could be that stupid.

DerDuschbagen: Verzio: poisonedpawn78: If you have some method by which we can put the Canadian or German or Japanese government in charge of an American national health care system, hey, I might care about how well it works in those countries.

In an overly simplistic scheme, how about something like this: Uninsured patient shows up at the ER or for a Dr.'s appointment. Hospital/Dr. treats patient, bills Uncle Sam.

This would, in effect, be just like an expansion of Medicare. Not sure what your beef with Medicare is but assuming you DON'T have private insurance wtf do you care? The alternative is no care at all.

Then why would anyone have insurance??

Fooshards: Dude's major expenses came from an accident not on Uncle Sam's time. Dude didn't have insurance to cover that, and used (abused!) medicaid to finance that stuff. And on top of that, dude didn't have his papers in order for when he died.

Why are people outraged at this? His combat-related expenses WERE paid for by the VA. This $277k was for his brain surgery and resulting care from his welding accident.

Sure, it sucks that a combat veteran died in a bitter fashion, but it was his own fault. And he dragged his live-in-woman into the whole thing too.

because people were too lazy to RTFA. they just knee-jerk reacted to the misleading headline.

famousp: You don't stiff your plumber for fixing your pipes.
You don't stiff your mechanic for fixing your car.

Unless it's a porno. Sometimes they get stiffed before they even do any work.


olddinosaur: If I owe you money and I croak, what I own stands good for what I owe, so I intend to croak owing as little as possible.



Pirates often proudly announce what bad credit risks they are, giving the finger to bill collectors while chanting "Take what you can, give nothing back!" This is why if you have a pre-existing condition such as an eyepatch or wooden pegleg, most insurance providers will reject you outright.

bunner: "Everybody who gets Medicaid is told this is a government program for which we will be expecting repayment,"

Then it's NOT A FUC*ING GOVERNMENT PROGRAM, IS IT, POOKIE?

Where do you suppose they spend all that money that they get from ripping people off for sh*t that taxes are supposed to fund?

Parking tickets, vehicle registration, public toll road, the list goes on.

Want to re-think that concept?

All in all, there are two real issues here, and they don't really have anything to do with each other:

1. A person receiving medical benefits through medicaid didn't actually understand the terms of medicaid, and neither did the person who ultimately bears the responsibility for paying back what's owed.

2. American veterans are treated like garbage.

Both these points are true, but as some people have mentioned, they really don't have any connection to each other.

Unfortunately, despite having a romantic and patriotic image of war, the second the veterans come home, they're treated just like everyone else, not just by society at large, but by the government as well. Despite having a massive amount of physical and mental trauma from fighting, the government will always try to pay nothing and take as much as possible, no matter how much of a hero the veteran was.

Of course, the obvious result of this policy is that virtually no one in their right mind is going to join the military, not when the government and culture does so little for its veterans. For the risk they're taking, they're much better off being a truck driver, construction worker, or commercial fisherman. At least those professions compensate their workers for the tremendous risks they're taking.

Now that I think of it, the concept of 'serving your country' sounds distinctly anti-capitalist. Instead of trying to trick the dumbest kids in the class into signing up, maybe they should just start paying what the service is really worth. $60-80,000 a year sounds about right, to start, considering the danger they're placing themselves in.

SIDE NOTE:

From what I've learned, Rome fell because they assembled a giant army of Germans around their country, but thanks to over-taxation and bureaucracy, weren't able to raise the money to house, clothe, or feed them. Their solution was to basically hide and hope the Germans went away, but not before convincing the Germans to trade their children (including daughters to be concubines) for food, much of it never arriving for them.

The result: the Germans sacked the ever living shiat out of Rome, not only taking their kids back, but also grabbing absolutely everything of value. In fact, they took so much, when a later invading tribe called the Vandals arrived, there was nothing left to steal, so they just wrecked everything, coining the term 'vandalism'.

The first probate I ever handled was the estate of a friend's mom. She died intestate (i.e., without a Will), and the estate's only asset was a house in tear-down condition on a small lot without access - it was essentially worthless. Meanwhile, she owed the state a gazillion dollars for several years of nursing home care. The state's "asset recovery" department was actually quite decent and humane - the guy asked me to provide documentation demonstrating that the extraordinarily low purchase price of the house was legit (a fair concern, given that the buyer was one of the deceased's daughters), he verified that my bill was reasonable, and then he settled for 90% of what was left over. No one inherited much money, but the probate closed with the estate solvent, and the state stamped "paid in full" on its big-ass bill.

When you turn 50, buy a Long Term Care insurance policy. If your parents are over 50 and don't have one, tell them to get one.

Your health care is your responsibility.

onebadgungan: punchaprep: I'm a vet and I'm fighting the VA for my benefits. How do you suppose I pay for health care for my non-service connected injuries. I don't have money or a job. If someone could explain this to me, that would be super.

Suck it up, Nancy.

Easy. The answer is different if you were drafted or if you signed up voluntarily.

You think this is bad, wait till everyone gets government sponsored health care.

Tommy Moo: Terrydatroll: Soldiers win wars. I have yet to see a cure for cancer. Soldiers 1, Cancer curers 0.

Winning wars is worthless make-work. Every person in the United States military is on welfare, excepting the Navy and Air Force scientists. Give a man a salary to stand here and hold a gun. Give a man a salary to go over there and kill people. Give a man a salary to sit at home and watch SportsCenter. It's all the same to me.

I'm with the minority here. Soldiers are not heroes. They are well compensated and given exceptional job security to perform a job that is relatively dangerous, but not more dangerous than municipal waste management or logging. For someone with no college education, infantry is fat friggin' career. And the ones who do have an education are officers and never in the line of fire anyway.

We pamper our soldiers. I'm sick of the hero worship. They don't deserve free health care for life any more than the heroes who cook our meals and fix our cars.

Either you're a troll or an ignorant farktard.

punchaprep: I'm a vet and I'm fighting the VA for my benefits. How do you suppose I pay for health care for my non-service connected injuries. I don't have money or a job. If someone could explain this to me, that would be super.

I'm self employed and on the transitional tricare, TAMP i believe. It's 70 a month and its pretty good. But i only get that for 7 years I think? Not sure, I think it was only 6 months at the start of GWOT and they kept upping it. After that i will have to get continuing health care. Basically the same plan but it will cost around 250 per month. shiatty, but probably still better than most individual health insurance programs.

Being self employed sucks. I know a guy who was paying 3.5k per month. Now granted that was for his entire family, but good gawd!

Making group purchasing and tieing healthcare with an employment benefit was the most retarded decision we ever made as a country.

tenpoundsofcheese: You think this is bad, wait till everyone gets government sponsored health care.

Yeah. Wait until everyone can go to the doctor, get cared for, stay healthy, stay productive, pay nothing for their medical needs, and not have to worry about going broke if there is an actual problem. That'll show them.

Doppleganger871: dave2198: Doppleganger871: Ahha! I was wondering where all this hope and change was going to start popping up. Found it!

Are you mentally retarded?

Nope, liberalism is the mental disorder.

But, imagine this happening to everyone else who is taken care of under state-run medical coverage. Not too far-fetched.

I'm pretty sure the money you owe the hospital doesn't just go away when you die, even if you don't have Medicaid.

Hospitals know how to hire collectors, too...

foo monkey: I'm not biting other than to say, "I'm not biting."

Pussy.

Loren:
Then why would anyone have insurance??

Same reason people in Canada and the EU have it. You want faster/better/different service you pay for it.

tenpoundsofcheese:
Yes you have the right to life. You don't have a guarantee that tax payers will pay for your health care. I assume you are trolling since no one could be that stupid.

Why not? Can you come up with, you know, a sound reason why my tax dollars SHOULD pay for services I don't need (war in Iraq, White House re-decoration, etc.) but deny me the one service I really do need?

logruszed: Want to re-think that concept?

No.

Either he was eligible for Medicaid as a veteran or he wasn't.

"But, but.. he was WELDING!" Yeah, sounds like a work related injury. Was he covered or not? It would seem not. Yet, certainly those bills we paid out of the Medicaid funding. And just as SOON as they attach his estate and recoup what they can of it, they're GONNA PUT ALL THAT BACK INTO THE MEDICAID FUND.


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah, sure.

I'm an estate planning attorney who does Medi-Cal (California Medicaid) work, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

I finally get to live this cliche. For real.

This isn't VA. He was receiving benefits in a State Veteran's home, but those benefits were paid by Medicaid, not the Veteran's Administration, which had nothing to do with it.

Medicaid is a "needs based" (read "poverty") program. To qualify he had to have owned less than $2,000 in countable assets. For the most part, his home and retirement accounts were exempt. The rental home shouldn't normally be exempt, but there's an exception for businesses generating income.

The Medicaid estate claim isn't there because they lived together in a common law relationship (frankly, I disagree with the portion of the article discussing this and believe that the facts aren't all there.) The estate claim exists because he died owning half of the properties. However, if the two of them had married before his death, the Medicaid estate claim would have been deferred until the death of the surviving spouse. Also, there's no transfer penalty for transfers between spouses under the federal regulations, so if they had married and he had gifted his half of the home and the rental property to her, it should be completely exempt from the estate claim ("should" meaning this works in California, but maybe not Iowa depending on Iowa's rules.)

Of course if they had married and he wasn't in a nursing home on Medicaid, both spouses (the family unit) would have had to have qualified for benefits together. I imagine that she may have had too much money of her own for the two of them to qualify together.

In California, the state Department of Health Care Services will accept a voluntary lien instead of immediate payment, so if the same policy exists in Iowa, she could keep her home.

As for irrevocable trusts, the rules vary from state to state, but in California, they work very well because there isn't a transfer penalty imposed in California for gifting away your exempt principal residence. I've done over 350 of them since 2003. I can't give a definitive answer for what they could have done in Iowa, but I can tell you that this woman's dilemma exists in part because she didn't get the right legal advice ahead of time.

I recognize that many people would agree that Medicaid planning is a bit of a scam - collecting benefits from the government while avoiding the eventual estate claim. But it's still legal.

Anyone interested in this sort of thing can find a list of attorneys who do elder law/Medicaid work at www.naela.com.

DerDuschbagen: Why not? Can you come up with, you know, a sound reason why my tax dollars SHOULD pay for services I don't need (war in Iraq, White House re-decoration, etc.) but deny me the one service I really do need?

Representation has come to mean "we let you pick your own thief to come and play ball with us and spend your money on sh*t you'd never spend it on".

Somehow, representation should offer more choices.

fordjae: I read this an am thankful I'm a Canadian. I'm scared, though, because our right-wing ideologue Prime Minister wants reduce our hard-earned Universality.

You have a Medicaid, that has to be payed back? We have Medicare. It is free for everyone, and never has to be paid back. It's called Traditional Democratic Socialism. Yours is Third-Way social democracy at best.

Never has to be paid back ? Are you mental ? You pay for it your whole life with your taxes ! Then eventually successive generations pay for it until it gets to the point where your entire society collapses from the debt load. It will happen....eventually.

jasnotron: Then eventually successive generations pay for it until it gets to the point where your entire society collapses from the debt load. It will happen....eventually.

Yeah, because medical care is like being touched by God and anybody with an M.D. should get progressively more money and 13.00 Tylenols should rule the earth because being in a hospital is like a privilege that no poor person deserves and every aspect of medicine costs should triple annually until that crushing debt you spoke of is more fact than fiction.

darth_shatner: famousp: Medical care is a service which must be paid for with money.

For some reason, when someone receives a large hospital bill for the huge number of complicated procedures performed on their bodies, they throw a fit.

You don't stiff your plumber for fixing your pipes.

You don't stiff your mechanic for fixing your car.

Why stiff your doctor for fixing your body?

But why not go the whole way and privatise the military - after all - why stiff your soldier for keeping you safe?

If socialised healthcare is such a failure maybe socialised armies should be on the way out too. Then you'd get the best people who actually want to be defending you - not some poor hick from a trailer park who joined up to get a cheap education.

One thing to remember is that "socialized armies" are actually the one thing that our government is supposed to provide for us.

DerDuschbagen: My constitution tells me I am endowed by certain INALIENABLE rights, the first of which it mentions is LIFE.

I think you need to go back and look at your Constitution again. It doesn't mention what you think it does.

I like how when they were talking about the evils of the old government, the Founding Fathers talked about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", but there's not a lot about any of that in the laws starting the (second) new government.

I am a nursing home social worker who deals with this issue constantly. I made a few fact-based statements over 100 posts ago which absolutely no one has referenced. Of course, they were just comments about my experience within the system, not ravings about God and Country. Carry on.

Ennuipoet: In Rome, during the late Republic, the Veterans would come home from the wars to find all they had was taken in taxes and sold to the rich. Their lands were tilled by slaves and they were left penniless and broken to fend for themselves as best they could. These men were promised land and rewards for their service and paid with poverty. Men trained by the State in the art and science of war are dangerous tools, without hope they may be wielded by dangerous men. The Republic fell in the small part to this kind of behavior when Caesar and subsequent Emperors provided for the welfare of the Veterans to curry support.

I'm just saying, you know, history is pretty interesting.

Despite the fact it's a poor comparison to the article, I'm afraif this is rather inaccurate history. Previous to the Marian reforms (at or around 100bc), you couldn't join the Roman army without having some money. It would be unlikely that you (as a Roman citizen of enough money to get in the army) would have any great amount of land, as most of it was tied up in latifundia, the so called public land that was 'leased' by the Senatorial classes. The end of the republican era comes about 60 years later with the death of Caesar and the rise of the second triumvirate, during which under the Marian reforms, veterans would be paid in land, but not land anywhere near Rome (as not to impinge on land already claimed by Senators, and also to have fighting men on scene for any future uprisings). The daggermen from the late republic weren't soldiers who'd been ruined by the state, they were the usual cut-throats you find in any city (see: the death of Publius Clodius Pulcher by Titus Annius Milo's "gladiators"). And so to your last point, the republic didn't fall apart due to a surfeit of upset legionnaires, it fell apart because it was pulled apart from above, in the Senate.

Until we address outlandish medical fees and star closing the gap between what things cost and what they need to be "resold" at to be profitable, health care for the poor is going to be a mirage.

And it shouldn't be.

Some things actually work better without a tautological profit motive.

olddinosaur: "sum Dum Gai:" You are probably technically correct, but I am practically correct.

In law, there is no difference between technicality and practicality. If you rile the right person with your post-mortem plans, they might just pursue your assets for what you owe. I'm hoping that you just don't owe anything.

I think a clearer and more pertinant analogy might be selling your mortgaged house for $10 to your kids prior to your death. It's not going to hold up, the bank is going to come for your assets regardless.

logruszed: Retort: chu2dogg: Retort: TheOtherGuy: Famousp:

You don't stiff your veterans for saving your freakin' ass and way of life.

/FTFY

Incorrect. He fought in Vietnam.

yeah.. that whole communism thing was totally cool

I'm sorry, did the Vietnam war take place in America?

That war was something you should all be horribly ashamed of.

Read my above comments on my thoughts on that stupid and pointless war.

Then go eat a mile of dicks for preaching to us about our own history. Like your ancestral and national record is pure as the driven snow.

My ancestor was pretty much responsible for the arrival of the white man here. Doesn't mean I can't comment on more recent atrocities for which some of the people involved are still alive. Nobody has even mentioned Iraq yet. As uncomfortable as it is to have to acknowledge it on the internet for the rest of your life, you can't deny the US is a warlike nation with little respect for life.

Kensey: DerDuschbagen: My constitution tells me I am endowed by certain INALIENABLE rights, the first of which it mentions is LIFE.

I think you need to go back and look at your Constitution again. It doesn't mention what you think it does.

I like how when they were talking about the evils of the old government, the Founding Fathers talked about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", but there's not a lot about any of that in the laws starting the (second) new government.

My bad, I goofed. It's the declaration of independence of course. Still, it echoes the sentiment that, I believe, is "self-evident" nonetheless. That a primary task of any government is to take care of its citizens. Hundreds of years ago death by war from foreign enemies coming over to your neck of the woods was very much a daily concern. Today that concern is far eclipsed by a devastating illness that will cost tens of thousands in treatment your family simply can't afford.

Again, let's be reminded that the G8 nations all have some form of universal coverage. They figured out how to provide for this basic need without ruining their economy along the way. All, that is, except the U.S.

Add this to the list of why I'm not in support of government involvement with health care. It will be interesting to see examples of this when "health care reform" gets passed.

Here's a hint: Health care reform isn't about making sure uninsured are covered.

Better get your assets protected, or be giving them all away before you die.

jasnotron: fordjae: I read this an am thankful I'm a Canadian. I'm scared, though, because our right-wing ideologue Prime Minister wants reduce our hard-earned Universality.

You have a Medicaid, that has to be payed back? We have Medicare. It is free for everyone, and never has to be paid back. It's called Traditional Democratic Socialism. Yours is Third-Way social democracy at best.

Never has to be paid back ? Are you mental ? You pay for it your whole life with your taxes ! Then eventually successive generations pay for it until it gets to the point where your entire society collapses from the debt load. It will happen....eventually.

So what do you think happens with privatised care? Where do all these sick people who are supposedly a burden on the tax system under socialised healthcare disappear to when the system is private?

onebadgungan: tenpoundsofcheese: You think this is bad, wait till everyone gets government sponsored health care.

Yeah. Wait until everyone can go to the doctor, get cared for, stay healthy, stay productive, pay nothing for their medical needs, and not have to worry about going broke if there is an actual problem. That'll show them.


Wait until you sit down to do your taxes after the first full year of your "pay nothing for your medical" utopia. You'll get a direct look at how not free state run medical insurance is.

OHIP (Ontario insurance plan) USED to be a good, well-run program up until the time the Liberals (party name...not a pejorative term) won. Even before the Liberals ruined it, I recall distinctly receiving just 70% of my paycheque...and I was earning less than $30K. Rates just went up from there if you made more and you don't get it back in a tax refund (typically) like you tend to do in the US.

farkuufarkinfark: Add this to the list of why I'm not in support of government involvement with health care. It will be interesting to see examples of this when "health care reform" gets passed.

Here's a hint: Health care reform isn't about making sure uninsured are covered.

Better get your assets protected, or be giving them all away before you die.

You act like companies don't go after you for health care bills in the private world. Aren't you cute!

* pinches cheeks *

One of the biggest reasons people go bankrupt is hospital bills. Not from the government going after you for Medicaid payment, but from the private hospitals coming after you.

Animatronik: Ennuipoet: In Rome, during the late Republic, the Veterans would come home from the wars to find all they had was taken in taxes and sold to the rich. Their lands were tilled by slaves and they were left penniless and broken to fend for themselves as best they could. These men were promised land and rewards for their service and paid with poverty. Men trained by the State in the art and science of war are dangerous tools, without hope they may be wielded by dangerous men. The Republic fell in the small part to this kind of behavior when Caesar and subsequent Emperors provided for the welfare of the Veterans to curry support.

I'm just saying, you know, history is pretty interesting.

I always heard it had something to do with Roman provincial officials offering food to starving Goths in exchange for using their daughters as concubines, and then forgetting to give them the food.

It was probably the same guys doing both.

or the aquaducts they sealed with lead so they wouldn't leak.

craig328: onebadgungan: tenpoundsofcheese: You think this is bad, wait till everyone gets government sponsored health care.

Yeah. Wait until everyone can go to the doctor, get cared for, stay healthy, stay productive, pay nothing for their medical needs, and not have to worry about going broke if there is an actual problem. That'll show them.


Wait until you sit down to do your taxes after the first full year of your "pay nothing for your medical" utopia. You'll get a direct look at how not free state run medical insurance is.

OHIP (Ontario insurance plan) USED to be a good, well-run program up until the time the Liberals (party name...not a pejorative term) won. Even before the Liberals ruined it, I recall distinctly receiving just 70% of my paycheque...and I was earning less than $30K. Rates just went up from there if you made more and you don't get it back in a tax refund (typically) like you tend to do in the US.

Well, I'd have more money for my taxes if I didn't have to pay for all this health care. And even if I owed more on my taxes, at least I wouldn't worry about being bankrupt, or losing everything because I was hit by a car and needed to be in a hospital for a week. It's been pointed out numerous times in numerous threads about health care that people in Canada pay less per capita than people in America for their health care - taxes included.

punchaprep: I'm a vet and I'm fighting the VA for my benefits. How do you suppose I pay for health care for my non-service connected injuries. I don't have money or a job. If someone could explain this to me, that would be super.

Do what the rest of us have to do. Find a job and make some money.

Don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate the job our soldiers do and respect those who serve greatly. If you were injured in the line of duty, or if it is a condition brought on by the same, then by all rights the military should pay for it for the rest of your life (and I have no problems with my tax dollars being put towards that end instead of welfare and medicaid), otherwise don't ask me, and the rest of the country, to pay you for an injury sustained outside of the military.

Biscuit Tin: I am a nursing home social worker who deals with this issue constantly. I made a few fact-based statements over 100 posts ago which absolutely no one has referenced. Of course, they were just comments about my experience within the system, not ravings about God and Country. Carry on.

Okay, so let me ask you a question...if the woman was his common law wife, why doesn't she get the same protection?

Gilligan13: Don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate the job our soldiers do and respect those who serve greatly. If you were injured in the line of duty, or if it is a condition brought on by the same, then by all rights the military should pay for it for the rest of your life (and I have no problems with my tax dollars being put towards that end instead of welfare and medicaid), otherwise don't ask me, and the rest of the country, to pay you for an injury sustained outside of the military.

So you dont feel veterans deserve extra benefits for being willing to put their lives on the line for their country.

Eh its just a life, right? fark em?

(minor troll. While I'm a fan of financial responsibilty, I also firmly believe in taking care of the people who have served the country, whether or not their medical needs came from servature or otherwise).

Damn it's easy to tell who didn't read/comprehend the article.
It's the usual whargarrbl suspects too.

/iowa state nursing home =/= VA
//yeah I know it's been covered, reiterating.

Queensowntalia: Gilligan13: Don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate the job our soldiers do and respect those who serve greatly. If you were injured in the line of duty, or if it is a condition brought on by the same, then by all rights the military should pay for it for the rest of your life (and I have no problems with my tax dollars being put towards that end instead of welfare and medicaid), otherwise don't ask me, and the rest of the country, to pay you for an injury sustained outside of the military.

So you dont feel veterans deserve extra benefits for being willing to put their lives on the line for their country.

Eh its just a life, right? fark em?

(minor troll. While I'm a fan of financial responsibilty, I also firmly believe in taking care of the people who have served the country, whether or not their medical needs came from servature or otherwise).

Not really a troll. I have a lot of family and friends in the military (all 4 branches) and myself tried to enlist, but was medically ineligible. But for someone to try and claim life benefits from 2-4 years of service, and then use them to cover an injury sustained years later is like me trying to get my first job to cover an workers comp injury sustained 10 years later at a different job. No relation whatsoever. Again, any related condition sustained or related to duty SHOULD be covered for life.

As for career veterans, retirees, disbled during duty? I do believe that they do deserve benefits the rest of their life for serving as long as they did. 20 years plus is no joke.

Remember, this is the same government you want to take over health care.

Vertdang: Damn it's easy to tell who didn't read/comprehend the article.
It's the usual whargarrbl suspects too.

/iowa state nursing home =/= VA
//yeah I know it's been covered, reiterating.

randomjsa: Remember, this is the same government you want to take over health care.

SEE?! That's what I'm on about!

Ok, first off, the Veterans Home is NOT part of the VA. It was a state run home, just like the ones in Minnesota are. They are part of a state agency. The VA is a federal agency.

Second, the woman needs to contact a lawyer.

Blompkin: Now that I think of it, the concept of 'serving your country' sounds distinctly anti-capitalist. Instead of trying to trick the dumbest kids in the class into signing up, maybe they should just start paying what the service is really worth. $60-80,000 a year sounds about right, to start, considering the danger they're placing themselves in.

Thats a lot of money for an entry level job that requires a GED at best, even with hazard pay. Is there an economic advantage to pay grunts that much when you can get some to do it at half price?

famousp: Medical care is a service which must be paid for with money.

For some reason, when someone receives a large hospital bill for the huge number of complicated procedures performed on their bodies, they throw a fit.

You don't stiff your plumber for fixing your pipes.

You don't stiff your mechanic for fixing your car.

Why stiff your doctor for fixing your body?

Universal healthcare would fix this

onebadgungan: Either you're a troll or an ignorant farktard.

God you are a lazy fark. I at least presented a case. You're the troll. You can't just walk by and snipe someone. Make an argument, dumbass.

SecretAgentWoman: He should have taken the time to ensure his girlfriend would be in the clear once he died. Sounds like they assumed since she was part owner his half would automatically go to her, unfortunately, that isn't true.

I do love how they made her his "common law wife" so they could go after her specifically.

It's the exact opposite. She was made the "common law wife" to protect her, somewhat. If she was just the girlfriend, the state would get the entire amount of his estate. Since she's being considered the "wife" now, she gets to keep half of it, and only give the other half to the estate.

She is in no way liable for the bill out of her own assets.

Example #904829034802938402 of "Veterans to whom rules apparently do not apply, and the morans who support them."

Fooshards: Dude's major expenses came from an accident not on Uncle Sam's time. Dude didn't have insurance to cover that, and used (abused!) medicaid to finance that stuff. And on top of that, dude didn't have his papers in order for when he died.

Why are people outraged at this? His combat-related expenses WERE paid for by the VA. This $277k was for his brain surgery and resulting care from his welding accident.

Sure, it sucks that a combat veteran died in a bitter fashion, but it was his own fault. And he dragged his live-in-woman into the whole thing too.

This.

famousp:

Why stiff your doctor for fixing your body?

Because she's cute?

/rimshot