I’m terrified of losing my healthcare.

Posted on December 17, 2018 by luckyotter

gophealthcare

I’m freaking out right now. The GOP is going after ACA (Obamacare) AGAIN.

This time, some federal judge in Texas (whose actual name is Reed O’Connor, though that hasn’t been widely reported) said the law is unconstitutional and therefore needs to be repealed.

There was a detailed article about this from the New York Times. I had it linked here but the link no longer works so I removed it. I’m too disgusted and angry to try to explain why this judge thinks the ACA is unconstitutional and don’t really understand his logic. I think it’s all bullshit, frankly — just another way the GOP can try to strip healthcare away from 20 million Americans and ratf*ck the sick, poor and elderly.

I happen to be one of those Americans who will be affected should this cruel law be upheld (I have heard it will probably be appealed and not be upheld, but I’m not getting my hopes up). The ACA is the only way I can afford health insurance. I’m way too old to risk not having health insurance (though I’m fairly healthy, I know I won’t always be), and I’m still too young for Medicare. The way they keep raising the age for eligibility (they want to raise it to 70, I believe right now it’s 67), I may never be “old” enough to get it.

This predatory regime wants the elderly poor and working class dead. I’m convinced of that. All their actions and their lack of empathy and general cruelty makes it obvious. Once we’re too old or too sick to make money for the oligarchs and corporations, we’re just “useless eaters” (using one of the GOP’s actual terms for us). Taking away our healthcare is a sneaky way to kill us off when we lose our usefulness to them.

Hopefully the new Democratic Congress, headed by Nancy Pelosi (I’m very happy she will be the Speaker) can work out something that will allow us to keep our healthcare, or maybe even work with the less partisan Republicans (do they exist anymore?) to come up with something even better than the ACA.

More people than ever, even some Republicans, are demanding Medicare For All (single payer healthcare, like other developed countries have). Maybe one day that will actually become a reality and we can stop worrying about dying or going bankrupt should we become sick or disabled. At my age, it’s a very real worry, and right now, I’m absolutely terrified that I could lose my ACA with nothing to replace it. I do not have a job that offers health insurance, I’m not married so no one is paying for me to be on their plan, and there’s no way I can afford the premiums on my own without the ACA.

Certain things should not be privatized or not at least have a public option (such as education). Healthcare is one of those things. Some things are necessities that benefit the common good and should be paid through our taxes, meaning that We, the People own these things, not private shareholders and individuals. Those things include national parks and monuments, fire and police, education (though private schools should and can be available as well), the post office, healthcare, the military, and prisons. Privatizing these things (or not having a public option for them) leads to nothing but further inequality and fascism.

I hate Paul Ryan.

Posted on May 3, 2017 by luckyotter

paulryan_jerk

PLEASE SHARE AND DO THIS! If you are serious about saving the ACA, text RESIST to 50409. You can do this more than once. Each time, a letter will be sent to another two senators or representatives. This is real — and you will get an actual person who will work with you on your letter.

*****

I’m breaking my own rule here not to write a rant about partisan politics, but this really isn’t a partisan issue, or if it is, it shouldn’t be.

“Trumpcare” might win the house, and he is willing to bet our lives against the house. This is unbelievable. If this bill passes, I better pray I don’t get sick, which isn’t likely given my age. I’m in that vulnerable ‘older’ (50-64) age group and am FAR from rich. No way could I afford the premiums. I’ll be in that group of 14 million who loses their healthcare the first year.

If you have a ‘pre-existing condition’ you will not even be able to get insurance even if you could afford it, if your state opts out, which many red states will. These people say they are pro-life, but guess what — PREGNANCY is a pre-existing condition! You can be sure there will be more abortions then ever, when poor and middle class women who lose their healthcare realize their pregnancies won’t even be covered.

Ironically, Trump’s working class supporters will be most negatively affected by this horrible bill. It probably won’t pass Senate, but still, this is so scary.

paulryan_asshole

I also want to smack that smug, self righteous smirk off Ryan’s stupid face. I don’t hate too many people (even Trump escapes my hatred a little because he’s batshit insane and a mental and emotional child), but I really, REALLY hate Paul Ryan. This smug sociopath (who lived off the death benefits from his dad’s social security and had everything paid for by the government (and still gets everything paid for by the government through OUR TAXES) thinks people need to “take responsibility” for their own healthcare. HELLO?! How is losing your health insurance going to teach ANYONE responsibility? I’m so SICK of this blaming the victim, Ayn Randian, “bootstraps” mentality.

This Eddie Munster-looking twit has NO conscience and not a shred of empathy. I can just see the way he’ll gloat and smirk if and when this “healthcare” bill passes. He just loves the idea of kicking 24 million people off healthcare. He WANTS us to suffer and die. I really think this Ayn Rand worshipping d*ck is trying to thin the herd — the old, poor and sick aren’t “producers” so of course they can go first. Good thing we have liberal GUN LAWS — because if you get cancer, suicide might be the only option. This bill also means a big ass tax break for his billionaire buddies. God, I hate this administration. NOTHING they have done or plan to do is good for the average American. These people are CHRISTIANS? That’s a laugh. Pro-life? Yeah, only until you’re born. Have a sick baby and you’re not rich? Too bad! You should have made better life choices.

Sorry if this offends, but I’m mad as hell and scared! It’s very traumatizing for many of us. I hope the whole lot of them get impeached soon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-health-care-bill_us_5909fdf9e4b02655f84314af?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

I finally signed up for Obamacare, was pleasantly surprised, but now Trump and his band of goons wants to repeal it.

Posted on January 18, 2017 by luckyotter

WARNING: RANT AHEAD.

Last year I didn’t sign up for Obamacare because I didn’t think I qualified based on my income being so low, and North Carolina is one of the states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid to low income people. But that’s only part of the reason I didn’t sign up in 2016. I also just felt triggered, irritated, and emotionally overwhelmed by the whole process, and frankly, I’m also morally opposed to the fact we as a nation do not have single payer healthcare like every other freaking industrialized country. So I guess there was also an element of rebellion in my refusal to sign up, which is stupid, because what would have happened if I got sick or in an accident? I was lucky I did not. I already knew a year ago I’d have to pay the $695 fine when I do the 2016 tax returns, but I assumed it would cost me a whole lot more to get Obamacare, if I even qualified at all. After all, it seemed like everyone was whining about how expensive Obamacare is, but it’s mostly people who hate Obama (I’m not one of them –but I’m starting to really appreciate him now, knowing the Ooompa Loompa is taking over in 3 days.)

So anyway, back to my health insurance saga. I make a little more money now than I did a year ago, due to being promoted to a semi-supervisory position a few months ago (and being up to my ears in work). I just wanted the whole health insurance thing to go away and acted like it would if I just did nothing at all. I just didn’t want to deal with it, but in the back of my mind, I knew that the penalty for 2017 would be close to $2,000 if I didn’t sign up. I also knew I was living on borrowed time, because inevitably the day will come when I will need medical care and not just a first aid kit or an aspirin. But I kept procrastinating because I just didn’t want to deal with the unpleasantness.

Today I got a letter in the mail reminding me to sign up by January 31 if I didn’t want to pay that ridiculous fine for 2017. Personally, I think it’s outrageous that people are being fined for not opting to line the health insurance companies’ coffers, especially if their states haven’t expanded Medicaid to low income people, but what are you going to do? You have to do something, even if it makes you feel like throwing up in your mouth. Why does America think “the market” is so damn wonderful anyway? I think corporations are just as, if not more corrupt than the “big bad government.” Their ONLY reason for existing is for profit. In my opinion, healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and every American should have access to it and not have to pay some insurance company. But no one complains about corporate America, they only complain about “the government.”

So anyway, back to the letter I got. After reading it, I said to myself, what the hell, might as well sign up right now and get it over with, since I have to do it anyway. Why put off the inevitable? There were a lot of questions to answer but it turned out I am eligible for Obamacare and get most of it paid for! My premiums will be only $29 a month!. Maybe I had it all wrong and could have done the same last year and avoided the $695 fine. I also feel better knowing I have health insurance now, even if it’s not the greatest plan in the world. Now I can stop worrying about what I will do should I become sick or have to go in the hospital. Not having insurance at my age is playing with fire, and I’ve been all too aware of that, and tried to ignore it. Now I can cross that off my list of worries. For now.

Because here is what really sucks. Now that I’ve finally signed up, Trump and his band of goons are talking about repealing Obamacare. Now that I finally have it, I’m afraid I’m going to lose it. If I do lose it, will people still be required to pay fines for not having health insurance? I know there’s no way I could ever afford the premiums without the generous tax credit Obamacare gives me. The idea of fining low income people for not having the money for the full price of health care (especially now that most companies no longer offer health insurance to their low-wage slaves) makes me feel sick to my stomach. It would be appallingly unfair if that actually happened, but I wouldn’t put something like that past this godawful, compassionless, immoral administration.

I’m worried about something else too. Paul Ryan, who is a “Christian” (Catholic) Ayn Rand devotee (how is it even possible to be both?) wants to privatize social security. Oh, no, we can’t have that! It helps people! It has to go away because “it’s an entitlement.”

EARTH TO PAUL RYAN: IT’S NOT A FREAKING ENTITLEMENT! I paid into it since 1976! I’m really worried that as I enter my later years, which isn’t that many years from now, that all the money I’ve paid into social security for FORTY-ONE YEARS will be for nothing, and older folks like me who don’t have savings, investments, and 401Ks (because we never made enough money to have those things) who had counted on social security to be there for us when we finally were too old or weak or sick to work anymore, will just have to just keep on working until we drop dead, or become a burden on our grown children, who will be forced to support us.

There’s also talk about privatizing Medicare. If either of these programs the previous three generations enjoyed and that (until recently) seemed immune from being tampered with by Stupid Party, get the plug pulled on them (which “privatizing” essentially means), there’s going to be a whole lot of really angry and frightened people. WHAT IS THIS? LOGAN’S RUN? Or even…SOYLENT GREEN! (That 1973 movie about a dystopian future sounds a LOT like what’s starting to happen here, and the year it takes place in? 2022! Only 5 more years!)

Why not just off everyone too old to work. Riiight, let’s just let the old and the sick DIE OFF. They don’t contribute anything anyway! They’re not PRODUCTIVE! Who cares if they SUFFER?

I think if Obamacare is repealed or especially if Medicaid and social security are privatized, there will be civil war. Hell, maybe a civil war or a mass uprising is what needs to happen so people stop being sheep and keep voting for people who don’t represent their best interests. The squinty eyed fat man with NPD and his pack of sociopathic stooges really have me scared. I’m getting reeeeally close to hating this country and wishing I could just leave. America, the nation that promised so much and that everyone used to want to live in, is turning into a third world country. What’s happening here is the way third world countries are run. Why’s Trump so worried about our borders? Who will want to come here?

Am I the only one who feels like that?

Anyway, I have health insurance. Finally. For now.

Why don’t we have single-payer healthcare?

Posted on October 18, 2016 by luckyotter

universal-health-care-cartoon

Today I am going to rant on my son’s behalf (and everyone else who has to deal with this sort of thing).

My son wrote this letter to Aetna. I think it speaks for itself. Those of you in developed countries besides the ~~Untied~~ United States of America don’t have to deal with this kind of BS. But this is the kind of thing we, who have “the greatest healthcare in the world,” (right, maybe if you’re rich) have to put up with constantly. From 2009 – 2013, I worked in the health insurance industry processing and adjusting claims, and trust me, it gets a LOT worse than this. Obama hasn’t made things worse; it’s been this bad for decades. Of course, things were a little better back in the ’80s and ’90s when companies actually used to care about their employees and provided decent health coverage at little cost to most full-time employees, regardless of their ranking on the corporate ladder.

NO ONE should have to jump through hoops like this to get mental health or any other kind of healthcare. This is enough to cause someone to develop a mental disorder! If we had single-payer healthcare, LIKE EVERY OTHER DEVELOPED NATION, this probably would not have happened and he would still be able to get psychotherapy in spite of having lost his employment and with a lot less confusion and headaches. I know single-payer healthcare isn’t perfect and has its own drawbacks, but it sure beats a healthcare system that’s based on profit and exploits those who are physically or mentally ill so a few rich doctors and health insurance executives can buy second or third homes or a new yacht. Oh, but wait! We can’t have that because it’s (gasp!) socialism! The Market is God!

Healthcare shouldn’t be tied up with employment anyway. If you get sick enough that you can’t work, you will probably lose your job anyway and lose your insurance when you need it most. Most companies won’t even pay for employee health benefits anymore, or they only give you 39 hours instead of 40, so they don’t have to give you health coverage since anything less than 40 hours is considered “part time.” Not all states have extended Medicaid to those who don’t earn enough to qualify for Obamacare .

There are free clinics in some urban areas, but trust me, they’re not very good (and some are terrible) and treat you like you’re less than human. It’s very degrading to have to use one and be treated with condescension by some snotty nurse-practitioner who probably isn’t making enough to feed her own family. I pay for my own counseling out of pocket, even though my earnings are at or below the official poverty level. I do it because I need to and it’s that important to me, but it leaves little to nothing left for anything else. I just have to pray I don’t get sick.

Here is the letter he wrote.