Blind Amputee Has to Fight AIG for New Plastic Leg, Wheelchair

2020 - ABC News

An Oklahoma man who lost an eye and a leg in Iraq says the giant insurance company AIG refused to provide him a new plastic leg and fought to keep from paying for a wheelchair or glasses for the eye in which he has 30 percent vision.

"They bought the cheapest thing that they could get away with," said 51-year old John Woodson, a truck driver for the KBR contracting firm who lost his leg when his truck hit a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Woodson is covered by AIG under a government-mandated program that provides medical and disability benefits for employees working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. AIG covers about 90 percent of the claims for overseas workers.

Woodson says he was told by an AIG representative in the hospital that he would be fully covered by AIG, but that when he returned home, he quickly discovered AIG was prepared to challenge almost all of his medical needs.

Someone explain again why we need private insurance for health care? Why can't we open Medicare to include us all?

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Watch 20/20 Friday at 10pm E.T. to see this joint investigation involving the Los Angeles Times and Pro Publica, a non-profit investigative group.

Violence and Silence

by Jeffrey Feldman

In the face of great tragedy, what often distinguishes Americans from
other national cultures is our incredible ability to talk about our
pain in public as a way of healing.  

When horror strikes, we do not buckle over alone and stay silent,
but walk into the public square, reach out to one another and chew our
way through the pain.   It is in these moments that Americans--all too
often self-absorbed with the day-to-day of making ends meet--find each
other again, share the details of the people we have lost, and remember
that we are not alone.  

As  I watched the public response to the tragic violence in
Blacksburg, I was filled with sorrow in the face of all the death, but
my sorrow quickly found a place with the outpouring of voices that has
risen up in response.  Due to the tireless voices, I now know the names
and faces of many of the people killed as their stories fan out across
the media and take root in our hearts.

But in the midst of all the past 48 hours of talking, crying and
slow healing, I have also been left--as have many--with a  question
almost too painful to ask:  Why have we not been able, neither as a as
a nation nor as individuals, to talk about the violence and pain
suffered by Americans and by Iraqis?  Why does the violence in
Blacksburg bring out the very best in our American character--our
ability to join together and heal--while the recurring violence in
Baghdad--experienced by Americans and Iraqis alike--has left us sitting
alone?

More.... http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/18/132522/892

The VT shootings leaves this military mother numb

Posted by a military mom at Daily Kos:

With my Marine son just back from Iraq two days ago, following my having to endure 203 straight days of reading reports such as above -- during which time another 604 U.S. troops were killed -- I'm finding it difficult to register much more than numbness over 32 people being shot dead in Virginia.

And yes, my "is that all?" reaction bothers me. But is it surprising?

Becoming
inured to such violence is a terrible shock. Feeling numb towards the
loss of life of innocent students and professors going about their
daily lives is not something I ever expected to feel.

This disturbs me to no end.

Most of us, meanwhile, will never have the need or desire to massacre a group of innocents to quell our inner rage.

But numbness towards such acts? If it can happen to me -- an otherwise loving mother who has fought off panic attacks nearly every
day for the past seven months -- it can happen to anyone. And I can
only blame it on war, this war in Iraq -- its images, its
pointlessness, its unending four-year-old cycle of tragic death, in the
tens of thousands, on all sides.

I don't want to feel indifferent about "only" 32 innocent lives
ended by a madman. But while this war rages on, I do. And that is
tragic in itself.

more....http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/18/111452/350