Something Creative
I was going to post something I started last night but my day has just hit the wall & is splattered like a gruesome deer vs car accident. Because I’m too depressed to even function well today I’m going to rant about something for a bit & will make it up to all you fine readers by posting the other stuff later. I promise it’s good & fun.
So after being in the hospital in August I filled out a giant amount of paperwork to try to get approved for MinnesotaCare (the health insurance through the state…I’d pay a much smaller premium etc than what I’d pay if I had insurance through my job) so that my hospital stay would be covered.
Today I got not 1 but 4 rejection letters (total I have received more than 6) saying that I do not qualify to receive help from the program. I won’t even go into how horrible I feel getting 4 rejection letters….I didn’t get turned down by that many boys in all of my single life (of course I didn’t date any boys before my adorable husband but that’s a different matter).
What pisses me off to no end is that I don’t meet the income requirements for the program. I, in fact, make too much money. That’s right….me, a lowly receptionist who makes $9.50/hour at a 32 hour a week job & the sole breadwinner in the family right now, I make too much money. After the 401k deductions, the federal taxes, state taxes & social security I take home less than $1200 a month. Out of that amount I must pay rent, insurance, utilities & food. If I’m lucky I can also afford fuel for my Jeep. I was offered health insurance through my job…if I took that option by the time my portion of the premium was paid I would take home less than $100/month. I looked at getting health insurance on my own once upon a time when Abe was employed at a great job….I was denied that for reasons I won’t go into here.
While the whole country is bitching & moaning about everything from Roman Polanski to the Olympics to who knows what else and fighting each other rather than saying, “We have to do something to fix healthcare so let’s put aside who’s right & who’s left and do the job we were hired to do”….I’m staring at a pile of medical bills, the upcoming rent & the stack of rejection letters (including Abe’s job hunt rejections). Explain to me why a 15 minute consultation (without the actual exam) with a gynecologist costs $245! All she did was sit on my bed & tell me there was nothing wrong with me. I’m sorry but that’s damn ridiculous!!!!
Insurance companies take tons of blame for the cost of healthcare….and I’m not saying that they are without culpability here. I do think that if hospitals weren’t “for-profit” businesses things would certainly be better. When healthcare facilities became focused on turning a profit, pleasing shareholders & stopped focusing on treating the illnesses (not the symptoms) of the population of this country that’s when it all went in the toilet. I’m fed up & angry…..I don’t have the solution but someone out there must. I’d like to know what it is. Oh & if you are thinking about coming here & telling me I should get a higher paying job, have Hubby get a job dealing meth & “do whatever it takes” to afford health care then I’m telling you right now where you can put that comment. I work hard & Hubby works harder trying to make money….too bad with our current system no amount will ever be enough.
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http://www.emmaspringer.com Emma Springer
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http://beartwinsmom.wordpress.com Michelle (The BearTwinsMom_
