Friday, December 11, 2009

A Spoonful of Screwed

Unless you've been living under a rock since July, you're pretty well aware that here in the Americas (and elsewhere in the modern, WASP-y world) it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Well, not in Florida.  Not meteorologically speaking, anyway.  (And no, until now, meteorologically wasn't technically a word.  Suck it, Oxfords.)  As you may well know, I'm not much of a fan of these so-called 'holidays' falling between August 1 and February 15.  Well, with two minor exceptions.  I like my birthday okay if it falls on the same weekend as Labor Day (rare) and I also happen to love Thanksgiving.  Everything else that falls within those dates can STFU

Any one of the two or three of you who read this on a quasi regular basis or know me personally (or have read my previous blogs), know that I'm not exactly the picture of good health.  I have acute migraine headaches, triggered by a pituitary adenoma (i.e. tumor in my skull, basically in my brain but not on my brain-Google it).  I call the adenoma Mr. T, short for tumor.  Anyway, Mr. T and I have lots of adventures in the medical world together.  I get poked and prodded with needles, scanned with every machine known to man...  I have hypothyroidism because of Mr. T.  My migraines have gotten progressively worse since I was diagnosed with Mr. T a couple years ago, despite suppressive therapy.  They are to the point now where they blur my vision.  I'm not talking 'auras' like people get with migraines.  I'm talking like I can't see shit that's right in front of my face.  I can't walk to the bathroom without holding on to the wall.  Drunk people have a better chance of driving a car safely than I would in that state.  How fucking terrible is that? 

So how does my hatred for the holidays and my blurred vision commingle into a spoonful of screwed?  Since I started working at The Job, I've had to take quite a few days off, to my dismay, because of these stupid migraines.  For most of them, I've had doctors notes.  But it doesn't matter...  On December 1, I became another statistic.  One of the contributors to the rising unemployment percentages.  I did everything I could to do the job to the best of my abilities, but the honest truth is that my abilities aren't what they should be.  I have days where I'm not normal.  It's scary.

As if that weren't enough to screw a girl over for the holidays, there's more!  I have insurance with The Job until the end of the month, so I made an appointment today to go to my general practitioner to get 3 month refills on all my medications (and there are a LOT of them) so that I can do mail order refills for the next 90 days while they are still covered under insurance.  The Job just got bought out by a new company and changed insurance carriers, so when the nurse verified my new insurance, I was told that none of my pre-existing conditions would be covered.  NOTHING. 

WHAT THE FUCK?  Why am I paying for insurance?  I've already had this rant so I won't have it again, but basically, the insurance will pay for my medication, but if I need to see the doctor or have any procedures or tests done in relation to ANY pre-existing conditions I have, I'm on my own.  Fuck me and Merry Christmas.  Under Federal Regulation, if you are without medical insurance for 63 or more consecutive days in an 18 month period, an insurance carrier can deny you coverage for a "pre-existing" condition, regardless of what it is.  It could be your mother's breast cancer or your kid's asthma.  It's bullshit.  Thankfully I have a great doctor who is willing to work with me on the cost of the office visit so that I can afford to see her to get my prescriptions written before my insurance lapses yet again.

Anyone who thinks that health care in America is okay the way it is, is someone who has health care and has never had any problems with the system.  Even with all the health problems I've had, I've never really understood how screwed people can be by the system until now.  This is a disgrace, and NOT just because it's happening to me.  What are we doing to each other?  This is supposed to be the greatest country on Earth, right?  Isn't that what all the politicians say to get us all hyped up to vote for them?  So then let's see some results. 

If you really think something needs to be done, go to Congress.org, type in your zip code and write your elected officials a letter.  Let them know that we need change NOW.

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