I like to break things

I was working on a post laughing at people contacting me (via my contact page) asking me to put links up for them¹, but then I see yet again idiot progressives bitching and moaning about one of the Health Care Reform bills. These folks, in case you’re not watching, have been dubbed the “bill-killers” because they’d rather see us get nothing — which leaves us exactly where we are — than to see us get something.

They don’t care about the people who will benefit from the ban on pre-existing condition exclusions or annual limits, of course. They wave away stories from real people about how either one of these bills would be helpful. It’s not helpful to them (they claim) and so they don’t want it. That’s not progressive, Jim Bob, that’s picking a goddamned scab over the pain of a 2008 loss. Or just a way to follow the piper, who is playing that tune to get page views and up her advertising dollars². Someone who is so desperate for Obama to fail is jumping into bed with that uber-liberal Norquist (hahaha!!) and feeding hapless followers lies and distortion.

A lie, for instance, claiming this MSNBC article is saying that Obama is going to exclude the employer mandate– though they claim any mandate is bad, but are outraged because of this– and the fucking article doesn’t say any such thing. I triple dog dare you to read that article and come back to tell me where it says Obama is going to eliminate the employer mandate.

I’d also like to add that Jon Walker has since changed the link in the article to point to a more favorable Yahoo! article. Oops. But, let’s examine the Yahoo! article– especially the part which says:

Instead of requiring employers to offer health coverage, the Senate bill penalized businesses if any of their workers obtained government-subsidized health care.

Do you know how the federal has convinced states to pass speed limits, seat belt laws, automobile insurance mandates and drunk driving laws? They’ve penalized the states by refusing to award them highway funding. No, the federal government didn’t say “You’d better do this now!” Instead they said “No, you don’t have to do this, but if you don’t do this you get no money from us.”

Holy shitballs! Only the most hard-headed of libertarian (or contrarian) legislatures refused. They didn’t get their highway money. You know what?

This is the same sort of thing.

Federal government: You don’t have to buy insurance for your employees, but if you don’t you’ll have to pay a penalty for your employees who get federal money to help buy their own.

Employer: Fine. I’m not gonna buy it. Bite me.

Federal government: 75 of your employees get subsidies and/or qualify for Medicaid– fork over the money, bumble wad.

Employer: Fuck. Might as well get them something.

Same fucking thing. See how that works? It’s called strong arming. Happens all the time. But don’t let that fact get in the way of your attempt to derail all things Obama (Hail, Grover Norquist!!!).

But wait! There’s more! These are the same people that were pissed that there was any mandate and now their throwing a collective fit because there might be less of a employer mandate– or at least employer mandate with different language. The cognitive dissonance is clogging up my brain. Help!

Of course, they’re pissed because there will be an excise tax on insurance policies that are worth so much a year– but only over that certain amount ($23k as of right now). Those are the ones, apparently, negotiated by the labor unions for their members. I don’t know what is covered by these plans, or any of their benefits. I don’t even know how I feel about it. But someone on Daily Kos made a point (in one of the posts by someone pissed off that Obama was elected, no doubt).

What would have happened were the union able to forgo the negotiations for health insurance and, instead, negotiated for higher wages? The argument being that with more restrictions on health care, there wouldn’t have been a need for the higher-cost plans as they’re benefits would’ve been excessive (or some such nonsense) and something cheaper would have been just as good. The argument went that the unions would have negotiated for pay raises instead which would have been taxed as income. Would that have been just as bad?

Guess if it was implemented under Obama it would have been. For some of these people Obama is just as bad as Bush. HE LEFT HIS LIBERAL ROOTS!!!!extra, triple super-duper exclamation point with a side of eleventy!!³

I hate moving of the goal posts just as much as I hate hypocrites. No lie. I mean, if you’re pissed that there’s an individual mandate (that would be subsidized by the government for people who aren’t wealthy) then you should be dancing in the streets and declaring victory if there’s no obvious employer mandate. Right? Of course. Not for the bill-killers.

Besides the fact that is not yet a real bill to oppose (except if you’re opposing both bills), either of them will provide multiple benefits to the people who need them most. Both of them offer immediate relief on the ban on pre-existing conditions and annual/lifetime caps. Bernie Sanders’ proposal of Community Health Centers is the bomb-diggity and will most likely make it through conference. That’s a huge win for people who need health care and can’t afford it under the status quo. But since it’s not the public option– which would only cover at most 7 million people– and/or it’s happening under Obama’s administration as opposed to the Other Clinton’s administration, well, KILL THE BILL. Idiots.

Now, let’s talk about me again⁴.

You’ll remember that TheMan lost our insurance when the randy fucker got laid off from his job last spring⁵. Then I was able to get shit insurance from my job waiting tables⁶. You’ll remember that my shit insurance only covers a total of 5 doctors visits a year (which is an annual cap, if you’re keeping up on that sort of thing). Remember that my shit insurance only pays up to $50 for medications a month (not much really). You’ll also remember that a few years ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and, recently, I was tested for uterine cancer (I’m cancer-free). I actually consider myself lucky with my shit insurance because a lot of people don’t even have that. They can’t get a check up and they can’t afford their pain meds.

Well, a couple of days ago I get a letter from my insurance company. They want to know if I was treated for anything between November 2008 and May 2009. Dur, of course I was. They want proof that I had coverage. Well, I went one month and one week without coverage– which was between when TheMan’s coverage lapsed and mine went into effect. I actually hadn’t seen anyone for my FMS during that time, but I did take medication for it. You know what that means? They’re going to deny payment to my new FMS doctor on the basis of my pre-existing conditon. And I won’t be able to see him again under that insurance plan (unless we get a health care bill).

So, TheMan became eligible for his employer insurance again, which made me all kinds of happy. Fuck my crappy insurance, I thought. FUCK them straight up the ass with a red-hot poker. Then I read the coverage information of this new insurance.

No coverage for pre-existing conditions unless there was 1 year of aggregate coverage prior to the first date of coverage (or some such shit). There isn’t even a “credit” for the time I’ve had my crappy insurance. Nope, I’ll have to wait until May to get treatment for my condition– if they don’t count my medications as treatment. If they do, well, who knows if they’ll pay for my new doctor?

I’m still fucking screwed.

I can’t go to my new doctor on my own plan until April (or May because they’re moving my active coverage date, apparently) because of annual caps and I can’t get there on my husband’s new plan because of pre-existing condition exclusions. See how that works?

But the fucking bill-killers are happy about that. They want it to stay like that. They’d rather see me go on disability and try to qualify for Medicaid for my condition (which can be debilitating under the right conditions…oh yes…wobbly JJ here!) and give up my measely job and stop being productive. All so they can declare themselves the winner! And, probably, continue to enjoy their own good health and/or health insurance.

Isn’t that nice? And folks wonder why I’m so angry. Honestly, I might feel differently if I wasn’t in so much goddamned pain all the time or I was able to pay my fucking doctors straight out of my pocket. I might be able to stand on principle and ignore the fact that this is an Incremental Change country (and always has been). But that’s not the case with me.

I was so sick yesterday that my mother-in-law took my daughter to school and I slept until 2:30pm. I slept for 15 fucking hours. But that’s all good. People like me should be glad of…something. We shouldn’t want the little bit of change that is offered in either of these bills. We should stand on principle. What happens, though, when the pain in your legs and back is so bad that you can’t stand at all?

Oh! Another story, because you need these stories of my own personal life. My new doctor prescribed me Cymbalta and gave me two weeks worth of samples to try it. Cymbalta is approved for FMS treatment as well as depression (being sidelined by pain can be extremely depressing, I’ll tell ya). Anyway, I took this shit for 2 weeks and went to pick up my prescription. It would cost me $99 with my insurance. Not only that, if I would have been able to scrape that money together I wouldn’t have been able to get my meds refilled this month because that prescription drug cap. So I told the girl to put it back on the shelf. I wasn’t buying it.

Since I was on it for 2 weeks, my body became slightly acclimated to it and I’ve finally started to get the SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome symptoms. Not really bad, mind you, because I wasn’t on it that long. But enough to make my lips feel like I was kissing a cattle prod. Still, it sucks major donkey balls⁷.

The point, of course, is the my FMS expert doctor wanted to start a treatment plan for me, but I couldn’t afford it. Now we’ll have to figure out something else– after I can see him again in April (or May). He wanted me to start physical therapy to learn some very specific exercises (he’s the expert, remember), but I can’t do that either. Annual limits and all that jazz.

You see where I’m going with this? You see why I’m some goddamned invested? Do you see why the bill-killers make me want to gouge my own eyeballs out? Fuck. I’d tell you what it would cost out-of-pocket for me to see my new doctor, but I haven’t even asked his office. I’ve given up hope for that and these motherfucking bill-killers couldn’t care less about what I’m going through (Did I mention crying like a baby when I found out I couldn’t afford my medication?).

And don’t even try to share your story with them. They don’t give two flying fucks. They’re nasty and mean and consider you to be a paid shill for the insurance or pharmaceutical lobby. There’s no way that real people would support this legislation for free of course. None of us are personally invested because our lives suck gigantic dinosaur turds. Nope. We’re all paid.

If I’m getting paid, I want a raise goddamn it. Fuck this not being able to afford the $99 for the meds. If I’m getting money from big insurance to support this shit, then they better pony up some more money. Mama needs some new clothes!! Oh, and if George Soros is still paying pro-Obama bloggers, I want that money too. I’m thinking a sleep number bed would be awesome.

P.S.
I’ll get back to that other post later. I’m waiting to see if I get any new offers to sell my links (money, motherfuckers, makes the world go ’round… or something). If I get some extra traffic I can demand more money, right? Controversy attracts eyeballs, people, don’t forget that and eyeballs equal traffic which equals bigger advertising dollars which equals more and better shoes. Just sayin’.

1. And no one mentioned payment by the way. WTF? [↩]
2. Pageviews equal money and, here’s the secret, controversy drives pageviews [↩]
3. Except for the whole fact of Obama not being liberal ever in his whole Senate career. Hello! He voted to expand FISA. Dur. [↩]
4. I know you’re shocked that I’d do such a thing on my own damned blog, but you’ll get over it. [↩]
5. I call that Karma, but whatever. [↩]
6. I IZ RICH!! [↩]
7. I won’t be going back on that shit even if I can afford it in the future. Fuck that noise. [↩]