The New Isolated Blurt BDSM Thread

[Loverskitten]

I HATE to admit it, but those Facebook personal movies are fun.

 

[Daddy2mylilgirl]

The "Affordable Care Act"... is not affordable. At all.

I ended up in the ER two weeks ago; I lost insurance when I lost my job last June. I'm still dealing with the ensuing health issue. The specialist commented that it was sad that I was having to deal with all of this, when the medical issue I'm experiencing was really just an "inconvenience"... of course she said that after explaining that my safest/ best course of action was an $8,000 surgery, but since I don't have insurance or $8,000, there was nothing they could do. (I'm supposed to go to the county hospital ER for emergency surgery if I start to experience severe pain. )

While dealing with the issue, I have kept count of the number of people who think the ACA will solve everything. On average, 3-5 people per day have suggested the ACA as a solution. Tonight, I even had someone tell me the monthly premiums weren't "bad" and a "good value".

If I had the $300/month for the premium, plus the $5,000 deductible, I'd spend as much on insurance (12 months premium + $5,000 deductible), as the surgery costs. Regardless, it wouldn't help with the ER visit from 2 weeks ago; the bill for which I received, today.

For $11,300 (reduced from the original bill of $14,000).

I'm afraid I have to disagree with the specialist. I don't consider a medical issue that at this point has an estimated cost of $20,000 to be an "inconvenience". Travesty, is more like it.

sigh.

$300? Wow.

Guess it's different in NY. I got a basic bronze level insurance with a $4,400 deductible for only $30 a month after the tax credit through the NY marketplace. The silver level plans would have only been about $90 with a $1,500 deductible.

Luckily my job started offering insurance at about $140 a month with a $1,000 deductible that includes dental, accidental, and life insurance.

 

[midwestyankee]

This just hit me this morning: due to the recent surgery, I am now the proud owner of a titanium-reinfirced semi-colon.


On the subject of the ACA: the American health insurance business has been a mess for a very long time. The ACA made some changes to the overall shape of health insurance that will, on the whole, help millions of people. However, it also doesn't reach quite a large number of other people who also deserve a fair shot at getting hralth care without having to sign over their first-born. CM is in this group. Ultimately, there isn't enough political will in the U.S. to make the change to a single-payer system like our Canadian and European friends enjoy. More and more, I am thinking that without such a change, we're doomed.

 

[midwestyankee]

I've had the opportunity of late to make some general observations. I've spent far too much time cruising Facebook and sites such as this one, and as a result I have an hypothesis to present for general discussion: the reason why it seems that the skies are raining women who claim they are submissive is that the economic downturn has come to its logical conclusion: thousands, if not millions, of women want jobs where they are the most revered things in the universe - cats.

 

[BiBunny]

$300? Wow.

Guess it's different in NY. I got a basic bronze level insurance with a $4,400 deductible for only $30 a month after the tax credit through the NY marketplace. The silver level plans would have only been about $90 with a $1,500 deductible.

Luckily my job started offering insurance at about $140 a month with a $1,000 deductible that includes dental, accidental, and life insurance.

This just hit me this morning: due to the recent surgery, I am now the proud owner of a titanium-reinfirced semi-colon.


On the subject of the ACA: the American health insurance business has been a mess for a very long time. The ACA made some changes to the overall shape of health insurance that will, on the whole, help millions of people. However, it also doesn't reach quite a large number of other people who also deserve a fair shot at getting hralth care without having to sign over their first-born. CM is in this group. Ultimately, there isn't enough political will in the U.S. to make the change to a single-payer system like our Canadian and European friends enjoy. More and more, I am thinking that without such a change, we're doomed.

Yeeeeep.

I don't make enough money to get the tax credits--yes, there is a minimum income you have to make to get the fucking tax credits, which I did not know until I started trying to apply. But because the state of Alabama declined to extend Medicaid, I also make too much money to get Medicaid.

So, basically, I'm no better off than I was before. But, hey, they did say I wouldn't get penalized for not buying it, so yay.

 

[midwestyankee]

Yeeeeep.

I don't make enough money to get the tax credits--yes, there is a minimum income you have to make to get the fucking tax credits, which I did not know until I started trying to apply. But because the state of Alabama declined to extend Medicaid, I also make too much money to get Medicaid.

So, basically, I'm no better off than I was before. But, hey, they did say I wouldn't get penalized for not buying it, so yay.

This is the fucked up part. Because Medicaid is administered by states, and because many state governments chose to refuse the federally-funded expansion of Medicaid that might well have been able to support people like Bunny and CM, an awful lot of people have seen no change to their lives whatsoever. That's not the America I was raised to believe in.

 

[Loverskitten]

A somewhat related blurt, you know it's very bad when *I* go see a Doctor.
I'm one of those, and I really shouldn't be, with my family history and past problems.

It's also bad when the Doctor winces after seeing your infected boob owwwww

No insurance either, he wants my sharpie'd boob back tomorrow.

 

[BiBunny]

This is the fucked up part. Because Medicaid is administered by states, and because many state governments chose to refuse the federally-funded expansion of Medicaid that might well have been able to support people like Bunny and CM, an awful lot of people have seen no change to their lives whatsoever. That's not the America I was raised to believe in.

Dear Working Poor,

Fuck you.

~The State of Alabama

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

Brownie sundae with extra whipped cream and extra extra hot fudge.

 

[seela]

Reading about health insurance woes really makes me appreciate our health care, even with all its problems.

I'm so sorry for you CM and BB. I hope you can get the care you need!

 

[graceanne]

The "Affordable Care Act"... is not affordable. At all.

QFT

My sisters boyfriend got his hours cut in half, because his boss can't afford health insurance for all of his employess (and bf doesn't have seniority), so now he can't afford his apartment, and is staying on a friends couch. While I can totally see that our health care system needs help, I don't think this is helping.

 

[MzChrista]

Fuck snow.

 

[bhndblueyes88]

Fuck snow.

I feel like that'd lead to some nasty frostbite.

http://media.oglaf.com/comic/snowbound2.jpg

 

[Loverskitten]

.....

 

[CutieMouse]

QFT

My sisters boyfriend got his hours cut in half, because his boss can't afford health insurance for all of his employess (and bf doesn't have seniority), so now he can't afford his apartment, and is staying on a friends couch. While I can totally see that our health care system needs help, I don't think this is helping.

I had dinner with an old friend last week, and got his ACA story. He worked for a family owned company that had been in business for 20 years; his insurance was 100% paid by his employer. ACA was passed... his monthly premium went from $0 to $250/month; the deductible went from $1,000 to $5,000. And the quality of coverage DROPPED.

A year later, they lost a couple of big clients [the business was related to construction, and construction slowed due to economic issues] and weren't able to find new accounts large enough to replace them. The business closed, and my friend ended up jobless for 4 months. He's employed again, at a lower salary, with more expensive health coverage, minus the 401k he cashed in to make his mortgage payments when unemployed. Yay ACA.

Technically, I qualify for a subsidy under the ACA, but the subsidy doesn't do me any good when I can't afford the $5,000 deductible, and I'm sorry - I view the subsidy as being on the government dole. I've worked hard over the last 10 years to never do that, and I don't intend to change it.

Honestly, they need to take panic-politics out of the equation, and just switch to a single payer system, funded by a flat tax. Let the doctors do their jobs, get rid of 95% of the red tape currently costing an arm and a leg, and invest in preventative and preservative care of the nation. I mean honestly - HOW is it helpful to ANYONE to put me in a situation where I may have to go back to the ER (another $11k + $8k surgery), instead of having a system in place to humanely deal with illness or injury? All it's going to do is feed the problems... I'll get stuck in the system and have my financial future put in jeopardy; the hospital and staff will risk never being paid in full, putting a greater burden on their ability to serve the community. How does that make any sense at all? Not to mention the stress and guilt I feel for having no way to responsibly take care of things. BLARGH!

And for anyone who is wondering how bloated our system is?

My original ER bill was $14,000 - reduced $2,700 for NOT filing insurance.
My original specialist bill was $250 - reduced $141 for NOT filing insurance.

 

[seela]

Why is it that when J is out of town, all my not single friends are dead set on spending some lovey dovey couple quality time? And all my single friends' grandmothers have birthdays or wedding anniversaries and they're out of town? Or they have stomach flu?

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

Be careful what you ask for.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

For all of us who have lost or will lose a dog (or cat, though it applies to them in slightly different ways) in our lives, found on Reddit by YK:

Some of you, particularly those who think they have recently lost a dog to “death”, don’t really understand this. I’ve had no desire to explain, but won’t be around forever and must.

Dogs never die. They don’t know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they don’t die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say:” No, no, not a good idea. Let’s not go for a walk.” Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but that’s what dogs are. They walk.

It’s not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dog’s mark, a rotting chicken bone ( exultation), and you. That’s what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place.

However, dogs get very very sleepy. That’s the thing, you see. They don’t teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. It’s a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot.

When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging it’s tail madly, you see, and that’s why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. That’s when they say: “Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.”

When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and that’s why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, it’s a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and it’s a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.)

Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and don’t want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer.

But don’t get fooled. They are not “dead.” There’s no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when you’re not expecting it. It’s just who they are.

I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs sleeping in their heart. You’ve missed so much. Excuse me, I have to go cry now.​

 

[seela]

Observation of the day:

As much as I love old(er) buildings, hospitals should be modern. Finding the right place in the labyrinth that is a hospital built in the 19th century is nigh impossible, and the building makes you think of all the tortuous methods they used back then. Not a nice thought when you're about to have you cooch checked. Kinda makes your womb curl up and pap smear extra painful.

 

[Loverskitten]

Do you ever read a topic in "talk" and you know the answer but don't have the energy to type all that shit out? Yeah, that.

 

[midwestyankee]

Of all the days in the year, this was NOT the one I'd pick to meet with an oncologist to plan my chemotherapy.

 

[wicked woman]

Of all the days in the year, this was NOT the one I'd pick to meet with an oncologist to plan my chemotherapy.

I agree. Crappy choice.

 

[BiBunny]

I took new pics tonight with my new webcam and posted one of them on my Tumblr. Narcissism FTW!

 

[Stella_Omega]

I took new pics tonight with my new webcam and posted one of them on my Tumblr. Narcissism FTW!

I saw you!

 

[crazychemgirl]

Of all the days in the year, this was NOT the one I'd pick to meet with an oncologist to plan my chemotherapy.

*hugs*