INTERRUPTED BY THE U.S. MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT

[NOTE - This is one of the cross-posts from Demokat which Paul asked me to post here (I will put up the other cross post Saturday or Sunday as it is a large post). This post is my attempt to put a personal face on the state of the health care industry in this country and is just as applicable today as a few days ago when I posted it.]

There will be no posting tonight due to the sorry state of the medical system in the U.S.

I lost my health insurance at the end of August when my employment was terminated, after being disabled for a year due to a rare and mysterious disease. I applied for an extension with Aetna, but it is November and I am told it may take another month before I know if I'm approved. The extension would last only until August, so the 1 year extension is now down to 9 months. I imagine if I get 6 months of coverage, I'll be lucky.

I tried skipping one of my medications yesterday because I'm down to 7. What I have now, is only due to samples begged off my doctor. I'll be asking for more, soon, which is humiliating but unavoidable. Anyway, I'm not feeling well enough after skipping that one medication to do much tonight. So, this is the best I can do.

I've been out of my most crucial medication for over a month now. Aetna tells me that I can pay for it up front, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get reimbursed.

One month's dosage costs $689.00.

That's right. $689.00.

Another is $570.00

I have that in spare change out of my 60% of salary disability check, you see. And that's only 2. Here is a breakdown of what my medicine would cost, out of pocket:

$689.00
$570.00
$106.00
$164.00
$ 89.00
$ 78.00
$ 80.00
$ 78.00
$102.00
$ 88.00
$157.00
$ 30.00
$2,231.00 TOTAL, monthly

That is $27,772.00 annually.

I think. One of the symptoms is that sometimes I can't do details, math, or retain memory functions when my body is producing massive amounts of excess chemicals.

Needless to say, I'll be going without most of all the medication it takes to make me feel halfway decent, insurance or no. The co-pays on some of the most expensive are more than I can afford. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some through the PPA program once I for sure don't have insurance any more. Thank goodness I don't have a disease that is life-threatening in and of itself. I may feel like I want to, but I won't die if I don't have some of my medicine (except for maybe the Epi-pen). It is possible that lack of proper medical care will contribute to this blood disorder/auto-immune disease causing the development of leukemia or a number of other possibilities. No one knows yet. It just happens sometimes. No one knows a whole lot about it yet.

They are doing stem-cell research. In Sweden.

Because it's against the religion of the far right Christian conservatives in America to help sick people. Oh my. What would Jesus do?

Oops, I see I left off one more. It's $187.99 a month. You add it, I can't.

And our Congress gives pharmaceutical companies millions of our tax dollars and God knows how much in tax incentives and tax breaks.

Please, people. We have got to have national health care and stem-cell research in this country.