I am glad the health care mandate was upheld. I, more than most my age, have been sick enough to need medical care that cost too much, and I often had to sign up for Community Care or pay out the full bill.
I've actually forgone medical care in the last few years because I simply did not have the money to go to the doctor on a regular basis. I haven't been to the dentist in at least 5 years because while I need a checkup, if my teeth aren't sore/in a bad condition, I can't afford the money to go. Same holds true for physical therapy (supposed to see someone every six months for the muscle knot in my shoulder), regular health exams (every year) and seeing a rheumatologist (same as regular health exams.) I don't have the money, I don't have insurance, I don't want to pay out for some damn exam when I could be saving to get the hell out of here. And lucky me, I have preexisting conditions that insurance probably would bump my rates up for (arthritis that could come back, fibromyalgia, and a bit of mental stuff that they'd most likely get me for.)
With this law in place, they can't do that anymore. I am equal to any other HEALTHY 26 year old in this country, and health insurance companies can't discriminate against me for something I cannot help.
There are things I believe need to be checked but I don't have the money for these things so they've been delayed. I want to have a neuropsych doctor test me for Asperger's (it's a vanity thing, but I'd like to know for sure). I want an MRI of my right shoulder and right elbow - there's clearly arthritic damage to both (narrowing of the spaces where my nerves and blood vessels run into my arm) and I want to know how much-I still can't set this elbow down on a table without being in pain after 4 years and this shoulder is getting more temperamental with every year that passes (as in every time it threatens rain!) X-rays have never shown anything but it didn't on the left wrist either, not until they did an MRI and found the microscopic etchings on my bones.) I know I have a bone spur underneath my collarbone there...what's to say there wasn't more that the X-rays couldn't pick up?
These things aren't much and they might not help me, but I would like to know for certain that I'm not slowly losing function in this arm because of scarring or whatever. I don't want to get two or three decades down the road and find out that I need surgery to save my arm. I have enough autoimmune stuff going on I don't need that as well.
I think I've said enough for today. Probably time to let the doggie out.
Ta,
Bec
27.6.12
95% Are Covered? Since When?
A letter that I sent to Senator Ron Johnson this morning because he said 95% of Wisconsinites were covered/had access to health care. I say, give me a break.
Hi,
You stated on CNN this morning that 95% of the people in this state have access to health care. I'm sorry, but from my point of view here in the poorhouse it doesn't look that way. My family doesn't have health care because we can't afford the cost of it; HIRSP has given us the runaround because of preexisting conditions; my father's boss thinks it's too expensive to have insurance, and if my father, God forbid, had an accident tomorrow off of work, we would go broke trying to help him. I had to spend the last three months in pain because I was trying to avoid the bill that would ensue should I go to the doctor (or worse yet, the Community Care, which requests me to dredge up every scrap of information on myself so that part of my bill is covered.) I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went in, and the problem was a simple one that could have been fixed months ago if I'd only had the money to do it.
Sir, there are a hundred thousand people sitting on the Badgercare list, waiting for help. I had to re-submit mine after two years because they hadn't gotten to me yet. My cousin was immediately covered for having a child out of wedlock, yet because I went to school and acquired a Master's degree, I have no health care. I have preexisting conditions and therefore would have to pay an exorbitant price for my care; since I'm unemployed, I don't have the resources to shell out thousands for health insurance.
We are suffering, Senator. I'm so glad you have health care and don't have to worry about your family's problems, but if one of my family get really sick, it could mean we lose everything we own. Politicians seem to have forgotten the little people, the people who have to let their teeth rot out of their heads because they can't afford to go to the dentist or let their feet swell and ache because they're not covered for medical care. I see them every month at the Table, a free meal at the end of the month they hold here in Rhinelander- the poor and struggling people of this area who are grateful for a free meal offered by local groups. Would you go into that room and tell those people that they have health care; that 95% of them are covered? I think not. I think it's the other way around-95% of them are not covered, they are not taken care of, they are without health care and without a safety net.
Senator, we need something to keep my family from a health care disaster, to keep us afloat should my father or my sister get ill. At least someone out there is trying to help us. It seems like your friends in the GOP don't want to. I would rather pay high income taxes as the British do and know I'm covered should I get sick again, rather than be broke and scared that my illness will come back and bankrupt me.
There was a story a few years back of a young reality star in the UK who was dying of cancer. The difference between her final days and those of a U.S. citizen in a similar position were striking- instead of spending her time fearing for medical bills and worrying that someone might not be able to pay the price for dying, this young British woman was able to accept donations from the public for her two sons to go to college. She was able to go peacefully without financial worries. If that had been here, the money would have gone for bills. I have church friends that have spent two decades paying for their deceased daughter's final bills. Twenty years, Senator. And they had health insurance.
You need to come down off the mountaintop and see what's going on down here on the ground, because it's not a wine and roses party. Health care is something we shell out for all the time in my household, and it's too damn expensive. This is not a game; this is people afraid literally for their lives. If you and other politicians would stop fighting with each other and being so obtuse as to think we are swallowing these statistics when you toss them out, maybe then this country could get back on the rails again.
Sincerely,
Bec Koshak
By the way, the young reality star I mentioned mid-letter was Jade Goody. She died about three years back, but the thing that struck me was not that she was young like me (27 when she died) but that she could take the public donations given to her and bequeath them to her two boys, instead of having to hold a fundraiser to pay for medical treatment. NHS covered this woman to her last breath; the taxes of the people paid for her final days and she didn't have to worry about how much she was spending on health care.
I can only hope that he sees the issue at hand and doesn't toss me eight thousand barrels of statistics and bull.
Ta,
Bec
Hi,
You stated on CNN this morning that 95% of the people in this state have access to health care. I'm sorry, but from my point of view here in the poorhouse it doesn't look that way. My family doesn't have health care because we can't afford the cost of it; HIRSP has given us the runaround because of preexisting conditions; my father's boss thinks it's too expensive to have insurance, and if my father, God forbid, had an accident tomorrow off of work, we would go broke trying to help him. I had to spend the last three months in pain because I was trying to avoid the bill that would ensue should I go to the doctor (or worse yet, the Community Care, which requests me to dredge up every scrap of information on myself so that part of my bill is covered.) I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went in, and the problem was a simple one that could have been fixed months ago if I'd only had the money to do it.
Sir, there are a hundred thousand people sitting on the Badgercare list, waiting for help. I had to re-submit mine after two years because they hadn't gotten to me yet. My cousin was immediately covered for having a child out of wedlock, yet because I went to school and acquired a Master's degree, I have no health care. I have preexisting conditions and therefore would have to pay an exorbitant price for my care; since I'm unemployed, I don't have the resources to shell out thousands for health insurance.
We are suffering, Senator. I'm so glad you have health care and don't have to worry about your family's problems, but if one of my family get really sick, it could mean we lose everything we own. Politicians seem to have forgotten the little people, the people who have to let their teeth rot out of their heads because they can't afford to go to the dentist or let their feet swell and ache because they're not covered for medical care. I see them every month at the Table, a free meal at the end of the month they hold here in Rhinelander- the poor and struggling people of this area who are grateful for a free meal offered by local groups. Would you go into that room and tell those people that they have health care; that 95% of them are covered? I think not. I think it's the other way around-95% of them are not covered, they are not taken care of, they are without health care and without a safety net.
Senator, we need something to keep my family from a health care disaster, to keep us afloat should my father or my sister get ill. At least someone out there is trying to help us. It seems like your friends in the GOP don't want to. I would rather pay high income taxes as the British do and know I'm covered should I get sick again, rather than be broke and scared that my illness will come back and bankrupt me.
There was a story a few years back of a young reality star in the UK who was dying of cancer. The difference between her final days and those of a U.S. citizen in a similar position were striking- instead of spending her time fearing for medical bills and worrying that someone might not be able to pay the price for dying, this young British woman was able to accept donations from the public for her two sons to go to college. She was able to go peacefully without financial worries. If that had been here, the money would have gone for bills. I have church friends that have spent two decades paying for their deceased daughter's final bills. Twenty years, Senator. And they had health insurance.
You need to come down off the mountaintop and see what's going on down here on the ground, because it's not a wine and roses party. Health care is something we shell out for all the time in my household, and it's too damn expensive. This is not a game; this is people afraid literally for their lives. If you and other politicians would stop fighting with each other and being so obtuse as to think we are swallowing these statistics when you toss them out, maybe then this country could get back on the rails again.
Sincerely,
Bec Koshak
By the way, the young reality star I mentioned mid-letter was Jade Goody. She died about three years back, but the thing that struck me was not that she was young like me (27 when she died) but that she could take the public donations given to her and bequeath them to her two boys, instead of having to hold a fundraiser to pay for medical treatment. NHS covered this woman to her last breath; the taxes of the people paid for her final days and she didn't have to worry about how much she was spending on health care.
I can only hope that he sees the issue at hand and doesn't toss me eight thousand barrels of statistics and bull.
Ta,
Bec
25.6.12
It's Here ( With Extras Tacked On)
The game console arrived. Got the sensor bar with it, and when Anna went to turn it on, there was a Wii Sports disc in the drive. I can't use this disc because it works with WiiMotion, which I don't have, but Anna does and so I still technically came out on top. She's got the disc for now.
But the console itself is in marvelous shape for the little bit of money I paid, so anything from here on out is heaps of extras.
I am quite pleased with my purchase. Now I just gotta get some games for the thing.
Ta,
Bec
But the console itself is in marvelous shape for the little bit of money I paid, so anything from here on out is heaps of extras.
I am quite pleased with my purchase. Now I just gotta get some games for the thing.
Ta,
Bec
22.6.12
Wii!
I have bought a Wii.
It's a used one; might be missing the sensor bar, but it was 50 bucks on Amazon and when do you see current(ish) game consoles at that price WITH some accessories?
It's a splurgy kind of thing but I might enjoy it; if not, it can at least play DVD's.
And if I do leave the country, my sisters can use it as a home Wii (they each have their own.) That way they don't have to drag theirs back and forth.
I wrote some stuff on Prince Within but since my computer is still in the shop I'm feeling distinctly hogtied. Should be repaired by Monday. Thank God. I am missing that stupid thing so much.
Anyway, that's it on my end. It's raining again (for the fourth time this week.)
Ta,
Bec
It's a used one; might be missing the sensor bar, but it was 50 bucks on Amazon and when do you see current(ish) game consoles at that price WITH some accessories?
It's a splurgy kind of thing but I might enjoy it; if not, it can at least play DVD's.
And if I do leave the country, my sisters can use it as a home Wii (they each have their own.) That way they don't have to drag theirs back and forth.
I wrote some stuff on Prince Within but since my computer is still in the shop I'm feeling distinctly hogtied. Should be repaired by Monday. Thank God. I am missing that stupid thing so much.
Anyway, that's it on my end. It's raining again (for the fourth time this week.)
Ta,
Bec
16.6.12
Enrichment By Austen
I have screamed through the main portion of Jane Austen's works (that's 6 books) and I am now moving on to the last one. Sanditon is the one she didn't finish before she died, but since someone else finished it for her, I figure what the heck?
I adored Pride and Prejudice already and I loved Emma (but only after I saw the movie with Romola Garai, who will now and always be my idea of what Emma should be like.) The other four, well, they were all right. Sense and Sensibility was good, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey kind of enh, Mansfield Park too long in the tooth.
Now I have to watch the movies for the last three (Mansfield Park, Northanger, and Persuasion) in order to increase my knowledge and interpretation.
I figured if I'm going to sit around this house, I might as well enrich myself. I'm working on it. I just wanted you all to know how it's going.
Ta,
Bec
I adored Pride and Prejudice already and I loved Emma (but only after I saw the movie with Romola Garai, who will now and always be my idea of what Emma should be like.) The other four, well, they were all right. Sense and Sensibility was good, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey kind of enh, Mansfield Park too long in the tooth.
Now I have to watch the movies for the last three (Mansfield Park, Northanger, and Persuasion) in order to increase my knowledge and interpretation.
I figured if I'm going to sit around this house, I might as well enrich myself. I'm working on it. I just wanted you all to know how it's going.
Ta,
Bec
14.6.12
Tour Stuff
The Tour de France is shaping up to be very interesting this year. Contador is banned from competing and now Andy Schleck is out with a spine injury. The two best riders are down for the count. Thor Hushovd is skipping out, meaning if Cavendish competes he'll probably get the green jersey again. Leipheimer might be competing (he got hurt earlier this year.)
Oh yes, very interesting. With injuries and the Olympics this year, the best rider field is narrowing considerably.
Meanwhile, these stupid allegations against Lance Armstrong go on. Come on, USADA. They didn't find anything after 2 YEARS of investigation; do you really think you're going to find anything different? All those damned tests were negative all those years and you're still chasing him down.
Let it go, USADA. Let the man live in peace with his five children and his seven Tour victories. He has done nothing wrong and you're wasting valuable time that could be spent doing something like arresting baseball players for doing steroids.
So frustrating, really. I wish I could walk in there and berate these idiots for constantly beating this drum until it broke, but I can settle for complaining on my blog about it.
Ta,
Bec
Oh yes, very interesting. With injuries and the Olympics this year, the best rider field is narrowing considerably.
Meanwhile, these stupid allegations against Lance Armstrong go on. Come on, USADA. They didn't find anything after 2 YEARS of investigation; do you really think you're going to find anything different? All those damned tests were negative all those years and you're still chasing him down.
Let it go, USADA. Let the man live in peace with his five children and his seven Tour victories. He has done nothing wrong and you're wasting valuable time that could be spent doing something like arresting baseball players for doing steroids.
So frustrating, really. I wish I could walk in there and berate these idiots for constantly beating this drum until it broke, but I can settle for complaining on my blog about it.
Ta,
Bec
7.6.12
2nd Law
Muse have a new CD coming out in September called "The 2nd Law." I am not a scientist and I went to look this one up...it's Newton's second law of thermodynamics and it has to do with entropy.
Trust Muse to make me work for understanding. Even the album title is a complex and many-splendored thing.
The new stuff sounds good; bit weird and unusual of course but I wouldn't expect any different of them.
I got some Jeremy Brett and a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes (VHS tapes) this morning. Want to see what all the fuss was about before Cumberbatch the gorgeous showed up.
Ray Bradbury died yesterday; I hated "Fahrenheit 451" but I adore "Illustrated Man" (in my eyes, the most brilliant collection of short stories you'll find anywhere) and was sad to hear that he had died.
I have been rejected for two positions this week already. Yay me.
I might have to go shout at the neighbors; they're making noise while my mother is trying to sleep.
Ta,
Bec
Trust Muse to make me work for understanding. Even the album title is a complex and many-splendored thing.
The new stuff sounds good; bit weird and unusual of course but I wouldn't expect any different of them.
I got some Jeremy Brett and a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes (VHS tapes) this morning. Want to see what all the fuss was about before Cumberbatch the gorgeous showed up.
Ray Bradbury died yesterday; I hated "Fahrenheit 451" but I adore "Illustrated Man" (in my eyes, the most brilliant collection of short stories you'll find anywhere) and was sad to hear that he had died.
I have been rejected for two positions this week already. Yay me.
I might have to go shout at the neighbors; they're making noise while my mother is trying to sleep.
Ta,
Bec
2.6.12
Tired
Not much going on. Applied for a place in Nigeria (yes, THE Nigeria), and I have one ready to be sent out to Oklahoma.
I have been really tired lately and I'm sore from a ton of hard work yesterday, even after having taken a hot bath last night to soak my muscles so I wouldn't be stiff today.
The situation isn't helping me much; I'm feeling without purpose and it's wearing on me.
Prince Within's kind of stopped again; it's a lack of a place to work in quiet that's stopping me now. Sigh. I swear when I get out of here...
Let's hope everything fixes itself, and soon,
Ta,
Bec
I have been really tired lately and I'm sore from a ton of hard work yesterday, even after having taken a hot bath last night to soak my muscles so I wouldn't be stiff today.
The situation isn't helping me much; I'm feeling without purpose and it's wearing on me.
Prince Within's kind of stopped again; it's a lack of a place to work in quiet that's stopping me now. Sigh. I swear when I get out of here...
Let's hope everything fixes itself, and soon,
Ta,
Bec
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