Just talked to a guy. 58 years old. 40 years skilled machinist. Made $100k fo ryears. Hurt his back at work about 1/1/2 yes ago so he can't work. He gets w/comp of $674/week. He will be cut off soon. Just denied back surgery at final contested case hearing. Two of his doctors say he needs a lumbar fusion. No atty. The Insurance Co had one, of course. He couldn't get one as with Tort Reform atty's can't make any money off these cases. Wife is mentally ill. Gets $800 per mo soc sec disability. She had an accident and has had 8 eye surgeries. Between him and his wife's medicals, co-pays etc. they have gone throught their savings. The guy used to have $100k in savings three years ago. Now his homeowners association is foreclosing on his house on Sept 7, 2010 because he owes them. $700. His credit score is now 400 and he has no cards. He doesn't have enough money to walk away from his house which he bought 3 yrs ago and has negative equity in. Nobody will rent to him with his credit. With the changes in the bankruptcy law atty's want $3k to do the increased paperwork. Trying to hang on to the house so his kid can complete his sr year in highschool in Spring. He was joking, but barely, that he feels like going over to the workers' comp commission and using his gun on some people. Fortunately he said that he had to sell most of his guns at 10 cents on the dollar awhile back for money. Let's hear it conservos and libertarians. Defend the system.
A guy made 100K a year for YEARS and i am supposed to feel sorry that he couldn't pay off a house? hahahahahahahahaha
It was my understanding that HOAs dont flatout foreclose on a house for backfees....they attach a lien to the house so you cant sell it till you pay the lien. My next door neighbor has owed the HOA several thousand dollars for years... I suppose ours could be unusual in that regard, wouldnt know as this is the only HOA I have ever had to deal with. Even if that particular one could foreclose, its hardly worth it for 700 dollars...their lawyer charges more than that just to file the paperwork...and then what will the HOA do with it, the market for houses blows right now...they gonna hang on to it? unlikely.
There you have it. Many of these types of folks go to church and pray and claim to be Christians and all. You wouldn't want to change anything about the system or it might destroy the moral fiber and ability to assume personal responsibility of the person whose problems I detailed. Of course many of the folks like old Casey are essentially blameless brainswashees of right wing billionaires so I should try to be more charitable towards them, too.
Dude seriously? A guy makes 100K for "years" and he cannot take a 1.5 year layoff with support of social security AND workers comp? At age 55, he could only manage 100K for retirement? It is called managing your money. He phailed. Hard.
HOA's are extremely powerful in Texas and Florida due to the state laws. My HOA tried to foreclose on me during hard times for back dues similar to this man. So I can vouch for that part of the story. They will foreclose on you in a heartbeat. HOA law reform has tried to happen many times in Texas, but there are powerful lobbyist that have prevented any meaningful action that sided with home owners.
While he probably lives in a very nice house if his HOA are a bunch of Nazi pricks, you can burn through money easily if insurance won't cover your disability, let alone another person's.
Sad. But such fallout is not American unique. This country at least has some sort of social safety net like work comp and social security, probably not the best in the world, but at least something. If he could hang a little longer, social security and senior housing can rescue him. In most other countries, like Russia, China, or India, two ill non-working adults in the family pretty much means the end of life.
It is not American unique. It happens all over the third world. The point is specific changes to the health care, the bankruptcy and laws concerning what happens when you have an accident at work could avoid this happenng. This wouldn't happen in other wealthy countries. Why have an America where this happens? My answer: selfish billionaires don't want to be worth 30% less and you have a lot of working folks, albeit at times college grads, who have bought into their version of America.
If it's true, it's just not right no matter how much he made before. You save hundreds of thousands of dollars and see it wiped out in an instant because of the ridiculous cost of being sick. I know a similar story but I won't get into it. My parents paying 2K each a month for health insurance because of pre existing conditions including a few surgeries. And really... why compare our system with China's, India's and Russia's. We know theirs suck.
If you told story to a foreigner and then complained about how bad we have it here, they would probably punch your teeth in. $674/week for worker's comp and $800/month in social security; what do you think it is like in the rest of the world? This fellow has hit some real bad luck, but has he searched for non-labor work? such as teaching? 40 years experience is a lot and should look great on a resume. I bet he can find something.
OMFG IF YOU TOLD A POOR PERSON HE WOULD BE MAD. IF YOU TOLD A RICH PERSON HE WOUDL CRY. GOOD COMPARISON BRAH U R SMART!
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