Health care
I don’t get this flap about Obama’s health care reform. Why would anyone oppose this? Because it’s using taxpayer money to fix something that we all need, or will need, eventually?
I have always thought I had great health care insurance. Everytime I had a sore throat, a fever, a bladder infection, a twisted ankle, insurance was there for me.
Get Cancer sometime. You’ll find out that your healthcare only covers CERTAIN meds, and you can bet, it’s not the best ones. You could get a doctor who’s willing to give you anything to make your chemotherapy less terrible, but your insurance will only allow two or three of the meds, the others cost a few thousand per dose, or a few hundred per dose, and you’ll need them several times, over a few days. Find out that you DO get to have MRIs, but your co-pay for those things has gone up, or that you could have surgery, you know, if you need it, but YOU will have to pay the first 500 bucks for every day in the hospital. Sure…you can have the surgery, but you can’t sleep in the hospital. Go home to get an infection, instead.
I’ve had to pick and choose among shitty options all through this. Perhaps, there was a secret vindictive piece of me that tipped the scales toward radiation, as opposed to having the surgery.
If I’d had the surgery, I’d have been out maybe two or three day’s hospital copay (maybe up to $1500 or $2000) but instead, I chose to have the radiation, which the insurance company has to pay for IN FULL. Perhaps, if they’d have covered everything, without being so stupid, I’d have made different choices, who knows?
I am curious to see how much one dose of radiation costs…I don’t know why I’m thinking it’s about $10K. Mulitply THAT by 30 (the total number of doses) and then think about what your insurance may, or may not cover. I supposedly have really, really good coverage.
So, what does the uninsured or underinsured person do? They usually go to a community hospital, and try to work out a payment deal.
Anyone who thinks health care isn’t their problem just hasn’t looked into their own future well-enough, and doesn’t realize that their own insurance will not cover everything they think it will. Being sick is the fastest road to the poor house, and I was already on the express-lane, trying to pay back my Ivy League student loan debt.
I don’t pray, per se, but I do pray that our new President will get this problem resolved for us.
I remember in my architectural training, my very first prof, Mr. Z telling us that we had all better consider carefully the ADA compliances—people with disabilities were not second-class citizens, and our designs had better not ever reflect that sort of attitude (such as a different entrance around the back for disabled persons) “Because,” he said “you don’t need to be permanently disabled to need access—what if you break your leg skiing, hm? and you’re in crutches, or in a wheelchair for 6 months…”
That changed the “us” and “them” thinking I had in my young mind.
We need to stop thinking that helping those whom are less fortunate, less educated, less insured than us as “spending OUR money to help THEM”…we help ALL of us when we help everyone around us. What’s that saying? A society is only as successful as the least members as that society? Or something like that.
That’s my tirade for today. :)
I am not looking forward to my 4th dose of radiation, but you know…I never will look forward to any of them. I wish it were the last dose, every day.
The tech, Diem, said yesterday “tomorrow, we’ll adjust that right arm holder to make you more comfortable” and I thought “oh god…tomorrow…I have to come back tomorrow, too?”
Outside, I ran into the nurse’s aide that used to take my vital signs pre-chemo infusion. I never did get her name, but I called her Ate (big sister, in Tagalog) She called me Princess, because she teased me that I had everything my way—hah. It was nice seeing her again, and she said I looked good, but I don’t know how to take a compliment, so I disagreed. Especially now—no hair, pale, feeling out of shape and unable to work out much.
Someday, I will be swimming again, and able to run and use the treadmill full tilt. I’ll surf again, with Dave, if he moves his life back up here to Nor Cal (or maybe we’ll visit them down in So Cal, and bring my longboard—the water’s warmer, for sure!) Some day, I’ll be pissed off at the screw-balls on the New York subway again, or the director of the anesthesia program. I can’t wait for those days—I wonder, will I get mad the way I used to, or will I just smile and go “damn, you piss me off, but it’s still not as bad as that year I had cancer.”
I thought I’d leave you with some images of the latest silliness I’m working on. I’ve been selling a few of these cards on ebay and etsy. They’re very small trading cards. (You can google ACEOs and get a full story behind these)
