Woeful Wednesday

Re: Woeful Wednesday

• banana468 member

  

  November 2024

  Chiquita asked me this morning, "So does this mean that like, the Affordable Care Act is gone now?  What will that mean when I need insurance?" 
  
  And I answered her with "I don't know but we'll get through it together." 

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• levioosa member

  

  November 2024

  One of my friends has a trans child. She was in a panic last night. I didn’t have any words of comfort to give. 

  
  

  I knew this would happen. This country is too broken and bigoted. This is just so…devastating. 

  
  

  Hugs everyone. Take care of yourselves. 

  
  

  
  

  

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• Casadena member

  

  November 2024

  I feel like i live in a liberal bubble. I'm continually surprised by the hate and bigotry and peoples ability to cherry pick the things that matter. I'm sick. 

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• banana468 member

  

  November 2024

  A friend of mine is bi, poly and definitely marches to the beat of her own drummer when it comes to appearances (as an example her hair is growing back from shaving it off).  Her brother texted her this morning (he lives in a red state) with "We'll come visit you if you don't feel safe coming out here."
  
  It's also telling me that in 3 years when Chiquita is applying to colleges I will not send her to one in a red state. 

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• charlotte989875 member

  

  November 2024

  Thinking of you all today. Checking in @VarunaTT and everyone else, especially in states that are dangerously for you. 

  
  

  A friend of mine, a trans woman, took down all her beautiful selfies, she was so proud of some of her outfits. My heart breaks for her. She asked us all to act as if we don’t know her pronouns, to act like we’ve only ever known her deadname. She’s in a state that went red. My heart breaks for her. For all of us. 

  
  

  
  

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• levioosa member

  

  November 2024

  Last year I stopped documenting pregnancy losses that were choices in my notes (you usually specify if they were spontaneous or not) and now I just put total number of pregnancies and total number of births and I still am torn to think even that could be dangerous. To think that my notes, to provide basic care, can be weaponized and collected as data makes me so nauseous. 
  
  @VarunaTT thinking of you. If you're at work and you're not sure if you can make it through the day, it's okay to go home and grieve. 

  
  

  
  

  

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• short+sassy member

  

  November 2024 edited November 2024

  ((Hugs)) to all of you.
  
  @banana468, This morning I looked into the general consensus of what might happen with the ACA.  It's what I assumed and not any different than what's usually been said.
  
  Control of the House of Reps is still undecided.  If it falls to a Democratic majority, the ACA will probably be safe.  Then we would worry they keep the majority two years from now also.  If it doesn't, it will probably be repealed within Trump's first 100 days in office because that has always been one of his and his party's biggest goals.
  
  He came so close to doing it in his first term.  Only John McCain's dissenting vote in the 11th hour is what saved the ACA.  Which was both interesting and surprising.  Sen. McCain had fought hard against the ACA.  And it was nicknamed after the man he lost the presidential election to, no less.  But he hated more the Republican party didn't have something else in place to protect the American people.  He ultimately voted no because to quote his words, it was "bullying the little guy".
  
  If it's repealed, it's expected medical insurance companies will go back to their pre-ACA playbook.  A 6-18 month waiting period to cover a pre-existing condition with a new employer's medical insurance.  Lifetime maximums.  If someone is unemployed and has a major medical condition, they will often need to go uninsured because there are no other choices.  Either the medical insurance premiums are too astronomical or they can't buy ANY kind of medical insurance at ANY price.
  
  I'm sorry to outline such an ugly picture on an already awful day.  But I had T1 diabetes for 16 years pre-ACA and that's exactly what it was like.
  
  I remember occasionally being laid off.  I'd call a few local medical insurance brokers and beg them to sell me just catastrophic coverage.  No coverage for a pre-existing condition and a high deductible before they cover anything.  Something like that would have been fine.  I would literally say to the broker, "I'm only trying to protect myself from financial ruin if something crazy happens and I have a 5-6 figure medical bill.  Like I fall and break my leg or need emergency surgery like an appendectomy."  But NO.  I couldn't buy even that kind of shitty and useless "except in a blue moon" type of insurance.
  
  Fortunately, I never had anything major happen during the brief periods of time I had no insurance.  But I felt so helpless I couldn't buy such a NEEDED type of insurance.
  
  Edited: To clarify the waiting period info.

  

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• banana468 member

  

  November 2024

  Yeah - at this point I'm feeling like DH and I will need to see what happens.  And then should it go through, we will need to start to squirrel away $$ for the expressed purpose of funding Chiquita's healthcare once she's forced to be off our insurance.
  
  And now we talk to her about the need for her to consider a career that is stable and has good benefits. 

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• levioosa member

  

  November 2024

  banana468 said:

  Yeah - at this point I'm feeling like DH and I will need to see what happens.  And then should it go through, we will need to start to squirrel away $$ for the expressed purpose of funding Chiquita's healthcare once she's forced to be off our insurance.
  
  And now we talk to her about the need for her to consider a career that is stable and has good benefits. 

  I was finally diagnosed with JRA at 14 although my symptoms probably started a decade earlier. I specifically avoiding careers in things that I had passion for because I knew they could never give me the lifestyle or even the basic needs that I might and probably will require. It is a hard pill to swallow, to realize that not only do you have to make a pragmatic choice at a young age, but also that you're giving up a piece of yourself to survive. And it's infuriating to realize that as a country we don't value art, or science at all, and especially in ways that are able to keep up with COL. I want to cry for all of the young people who are not only facing unregulated AI and all of the implications that it brings for their future, but who have to make such awful and hard decisions about the trajectory of their lives when they are so so young, just because they happen to have an autoimmune disease, or some other illness or chronic condition. 

  
  

  
  

  

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• banana468 member

  

  November 2024

  levioosa said:

  banana468 said:

  Yeah - at this point I'm feeling like DH and I will need to see what happens.  And then should it go through, we will need to start to squirrel away $$ for the expressed purpose of funding Chiquita's healthcare once she's forced to be off our insurance.
  
  And now we talk to her about the need for her to consider a career that is stable and has good benefits. 

  I was finally diagnosed with JRA at 14 although my symptoms probably started a decade earlier. I specifically avoiding careers in things that I had passion for because I knew they could never give me the lifestyle or even the basic needs that I might and probably will require. It is a hard pill to swallow, to realize that not only do you have to make a pragmatic choice at a young age, but also that you're giving up a piece of yourself to survive. And it's infuriating to realize that as a country we don't value art, or science at all, and especially in ways that are able to keep up with COL. I want to cry for all of the young people who are not only facing unregulated AI and all of the implications that it brings for their future, but who have to make such awful and hard decisions about the trajectory of their lives when they are so so young, just because they happen to have an autoimmune disease, or some other illness or chronic condition. 

  The careers she's floated now range from nurse to music teacher which are luckily ones that usually have benefits tied to them.  Some are more stable than others and if we can continue to live in a blue state with a high value of education and the arts those are a likelihood that she can succeed in what she wants.   
  
  
  

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• charlotte989875 member

  

  November 2024

  banana468 said:

  Yeah - at this point I'm feeling like DH and I will need to see what happens.  And then should it go through, we will need to start to squirrel away $$ for the expressed purpose of funding Chiquita's healthcare once she's forced to be off our insurance.
  
  And now we talk to her about the need for her to consider a career that is stable and has good benefits. 

  I worry about this with baby J. Our doctors think it’s likely he’ll grow out of it but also maybe he won’t. We’ve already talked about cutting spending and upping our savings and HSA contributions because who knows what’s going to happen. 

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• banana468 member

  

  November 2024

  I'm lucky that DH's HSA contribution is covering the deducible and copays we have thus far.  
  
  But we also know this is a long haul.  So at some point we need to make sure he's putting enough in that to cover Chiquita's plus everyone's expenses (it's not like DH Is feeling fantastic.   Dude has his own set of health issues that thus far do not approach the daughter's in cost but he's not someone who only sees the PCP once a year).  
  
  And then I think we need to look at the long haul depending on how the ACA goes.  We're lucky at the moment that we aren't in a rough financial shape but my thought is that if it is repealed we need to start building an account that can be invested with stable growth to cover what should be a few months of treatment for the event that she's not insured on his plan or a future plan.  
  
  

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