Share Our Stories! - Click Here

By Jim Kirwan
1-28-17

I've fallen into a really tough spot, and I need to ask my readers for some serious help ­ even though I'm not directly involved, the end result of this unforeseen circumstance will mean the end of my ability to write or to survive.

A friend of mine, Cassandra Atkins, has been living with me in San Francisco from Washington state. On New Year's Eve she had an epileptic stroke and fell to the bottom few stairs in the building. She broke the connection between her knee-replacement and her left femur, and the thumb on her right hand. She has pins in both her hand and five more in the femur. She was taken by ambulance to Zukerberg General Hospital, formerly San Francisco General, for emergency treatment. The surgery lasted about 5 hours and was a huge success. At the time the hospital accepted her Molina Medicare Insurance, from Washington State, and then proceeded to operate.

Her Washington State Drivers license is ATKINCL392KB

Molina Medicare Options Plus HNO SNP, Cassandra L. Atkins #8000880014555

Issue ID 80840 ­ MEDICARE HEALTH INSURANCE 533-72-4411-A (HOSPITAL (PART A) MEDICAL (PART B) effective 4-1-98

Her SFG card # is: MHR 1169434 that was issued after this surgery

Apparently Molina is maintaining that Cass is no longer a resident of Washington State so her insurance is invalid - but she is still a Washington State resident:

I pay the rent on this aprtment and she has always been my guest -

her legal residency is still in Washington State

She was admitted to the hospital on December 31, 2016 and discharged on 1-10-2017 with the proviso that she would be covered by an additional 6 to 8 weeks of recuperative skilled treatment in San Bruno Skilled Nursing Facility Hospital, in San Bruno. She's there now to heal and learn to walk all over again, which was part of the original treatment being overseen by Zukerberg.

In San Bruno the staff is bending over backwards to try and keep her there, so that they can see her proudly walk away at the end of her treatments. But Molina Medicare has for the third time just rejected her insurance ­ after promising over and over again that her stay in the San Bruno Skilled Nursing Facility was fully guaranteed.

Yesterday she was informed in the late afternoon first that she would be evicted this morning, on orders of Molina Medicare. She fought that, as she was waiting on a second appeal. The second appeal was soon denied, insuring that Molina Medicare was overriding the terms of her stay in San Bruno ­ despite the acceptance by Zukerberg and the fact that Molina had already been paid for the 6 to 8 weeks ordered by Zukerberg, at the time they discharged her from their facility on 1-10-17 ­ as part of her original contract with Zukerberg.

I find it fascinating that the same insurance company that has broken their own commitments to their Washington client three times ­ just since the beginning of the year: Has now set themselves up as the sole arbiter of this illegal agreement ­ to force others to pay for the services they were paid in advance to cover: But, have now decided that others should pay for what they already took money to provide for in the first place. How is this not just a common con-game blown out of all legal proportions, and how anyone can call any facility a five star hospital that would throw out onto the street ­ a helpless woman who would then be at risk of both life and limb.

People have said: “call your congressman” well it just happens that my congressional outlaws are Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinstein ­ two of the most criminal members of the congress. So there's no help there.

And WHY THE RUSH ? That's because they are demanding that they be paid (or contractually provided for) within the next 48 hours for that which they've already been paid for - because if all four of her friends and relatives (including me) don't immediately come together and bail her out formally; contractually and "legally" Then they will force her to leave the "nursing home", as in, she will be physically put into the street - which is a crime, that's called medical ABANDOMENT

WHAT MOLINA IS TRYING TO DO IS TO SHIFT THEIR LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FROM THE HOSPITALS & THE INSURANCE COMPANIES TO HER FRIENDS, UNDER THREAT OF THEIR EVICTION OF A PATIENT THAT CANNOT WALK OR EVEN CARE FOR HER OWN MOST BASIC NEEDS, AT THE PRESENT TIME, AND FOR THE SEVERAL MONTHS OF CARE THAT SHE STILL MUST HAVE, IF SHE IS TO RECOVER THE USE OF HER LEG OR HER HAND - Which is now bleeding from the pins, but she won't get to see the doctor supposedly, until The 31^st of January back in San Francisco at the Zukerberg Hospital?

How is this something that anyone, not affiliated with it, should be concerned about?

Who knows: Maybe there are lawyers out there that could help, people within the system that could join this fight? Or maybe someone with a bit of extra money ­ because the bills for the ambulance, fire department and everything else are still coming in ­ and all Cass and I have is the Social Security checks that together just barely cover the bills and a bit of food as it is ­ this will end us, if we can't get some serious help. Both of us will end up on the streets.

On the other hand: Somehow I never asked this question of myself - whenever I jumped out there on my own to call out this government hundreds of thousands of times to protect or assist people that I did not know - but they needed help and I did what I could for whoever needed something, when the time came for other people to 'help'. Usually I could not help with money, but I have a voice, or at least I did until yesterday - so I used that voice because I consider that as part of my personal-responsibility: Now I some need help, and part of that is money, but your willingness to call these OUTLAWS on their crimes can help as well.

Over the years I have touched many lives, maybe some of those people might be able to help me survive this sudden and formally unseen problem - that comes with almost "no notice" for my survival. Survival these days takes a variety of forms, but this would seem to be one time when people to people action could really make a difference.

I don't have much: I've lived in the same building since 1978. I have no car, no insurance, no medical, no lawyer and no fallback - and now I'm about to have my Social Security Check divided to the point that the meager $669.00 I get from the government could be cut in half "if I agree" to let this corrupt insurance agency (Molina of Washington State) take most of that for the next two months ­ The bill for Cass is $325 a day. But if I have to assign a large portion of my social security check to do what Molina is demanding then I won't be able to pay the rent, the electricity or have anything left for food or anything else. So “Time” is of the essence.

The irony is that roughly over 90% of Zukerberg's patients have no insurance at all as most of them have no money or are on welfare. If Ms. Atkins had no insurance there would have been no problem at all!

Another irony is that I'm involved, because I wanted to help someone else to survive. To do that ­ Cass and I combined what meager benefits we each had, to pay the rent and eat ­ never seeing that this particular obscenity was waiting just around the corner.

Whatever you can do - from calling Molina Medicare Options in Washington State:
http://www.molinahealthcare.com/members/common/en-US/abtmolina/Pages/home.aspx

To contacting anyone you might think could help ­ numbers can matter too, ask them: “why don't they honor their commitments ­ and when are they are going to fix this ugly situation”: Hell send them this article ­ but make yourself heard ­ and Make Molina answer for their actions, so this kind of treatment can be at least interrupted, if not totally stopped.

kirwanstudios@outlook.com