(no subject)
Sep. 26th, 2007 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03RW0KGmqc
Powersolo, a song about his cat.
Just in case y'all thought I was making that up, about the handlebar moustache.
Catchy tune, too.
***********************
Mostly I was posting to point out something uncovered in the course of recent events. Z and I finally closed that damn HSBC account and got one with online billing we can actually use. This was an excellent opportunity to make him take over the bill payment, as I've been in charge of it for about 4 years and have sucked at it throughout. As he set everything up, he realized this little tidbit:
Even on New York State's subsidized health insurance for low-income people plan, health insurance is our largest single expenditure every month. We spend more on it than rent, the car, food, heat, electricity, or even booze.
And neither of us ever goes to the doctor. Z hasn't received medical attention of any kind since 2003.
Something is wrong with this fucking country.
Powersolo, a song about his cat.
Just in case y'all thought I was making that up, about the handlebar moustache.
Catchy tune, too.
***********************
Mostly I was posting to point out something uncovered in the course of recent events. Z and I finally closed that damn HSBC account and got one with online billing we can actually use. This was an excellent opportunity to make him take over the bill payment, as I've been in charge of it for about 4 years and have sucked at it throughout. As he set everything up, he realized this little tidbit:
Even on New York State's subsidized health insurance for low-income people plan, health insurance is our largest single expenditure every month. We spend more on it than rent, the car, food, heat, electricity, or even booze.
And neither of us ever goes to the doctor. Z hasn't received medical attention of any kind since 2003.
Something is wrong with this fucking country.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 06:59 pm (UTC)Oddly, if you DO have a major problem -- say you get cancer or even something like a series of surgeries for a badly broken leg -- then you can max out this insurance that you've been faithfully paying all this time. Once you hit the max, which has nothing to do with how much you've been paying, as far as I can tell, you're just stuck. This is how even middle-class folks end up in bankrupcy for medical expenses.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 07:24 pm (UTC)But I just get so nervous, and anyway, roller derby won't let me skate without primary insurance.
It just seems to me like people could get better rates banding together and starting their own fucking insurance company. You know that used to be how it worked-- the first insurance companies were workers getting together and pooling their money to help one another pay for emergencies.
We'd be better off going back to that.
I'm actually seriously considering suggesting this to the roller derby leagues-- US Rollersports makes us buy their insurance but by now, the insurance costs like $500 a month, and there is a ten thousand dollar deductible. So you pay them a whole hell of a lot of money, and they give you nothing in return, and don't protect you if you're sued. And meanwhile I keep reading more and more and more stories and hosting more and more and more benefits-- the lastest is poor Tequila Mockingbird of the Windy City Rollers, who's now a paraplegic and has, you guessed it, no primary health insurance, and USARS is giving her, you guessed it, nothing.
We should all just fucking get together and start our own fucking insurance company that does something other than taking money. It's absolutely ridiculous. I know healthcare is expensive. But it's not that expensive.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 08:30 pm (UTC)The closest thing I know of to the sort of alternative health care system you want is the Itahca Health Alliance. It covers emergecies (broken bones, stiches, burns), provides discounts on preventive care and has a free clinic a couple of days a week. Not as good as real insurance, but it's only $100/year. I joined when I didn't have insurance during my first year out of college.
www.ithacahealth.org
no subject
Date: 2007-09-27 04:31 pm (UTC)Yep.