Protected: What a difference a year makes

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Healthcare- the need for a public option

If you met me, you’d have no idea that I have ever had any health problems.  I’m still fairly young, just 30.  I have managed up to 60 employees at a time, but I currently chase a toddler around all day.  I teach an English class at a local community college at night and have been described as “energetic” and “ethusiastic” by a number of students.  Now that I’ve been on a “getting healthy” kick, I exercise daily.  I bike my daughter around the neighborhood or do floor exercises or a killer workout video for about 30 minutes a day.  I love swimming and singing and dancing even though I’m not particularly good at any of these activities.  Yes, if you met me, you’d have no idea that my medical expenses are about $28,000- $30,000 a year for a fairly rare, potentially debilitating, chronic condition that I have now had for 8 years.

 There is no doubt in my mind that without my expensive medication, without my awesome specialist, and without the expensive tests done to me on a yearly basis, that I would have gone the way of most patients with this condition in years past.  Without these treatments and tesys available, most patients were severly disabled by now.  Mobility is often one of the first things to go, but blindness may also ensue.  In fact, if I had been diagnosed about 10 years earlier than I was, I probably would have been told to go ahead and sign up for unemployment and disability because there was little the doctor could have done. 

Isn’t amazing what a difference 10 years makes? 

However, I was only fortunate enough to receive these treatments, tests, and care by a specialist because I have been fortunate enough to not only have continuous health insurance but to have enough knowledge that I knew when and how to fight the insurance company’s inevitable denial of my claims. 

Over the past 8 years, my husband and I have been careful to make sure that our coverage continued with his employer or my own employer and to make sure that there was never any gaps.  Also, about 6 years ago, I became a licensed insurance agent.  This gave me just enough insight on insurance law to figure out when I had all ready had coverage wrongly denied in those first 2 years and when doctors had illegally tried to charge me for the amount of money that they wanted despite their agreement with my insurance company.  I also learned just how to avoid these situations in the future by systematically providing appropriate documentations of coverage to my insurance company and repeatedly calling my doctor’s bluff to send me to collections for something that I didn’t owe.  

If one of those two things had not occured, either the continuous coverage or the gaining of insurance knowledge, I am positive that I would have long ago not had access to the treatments and tests that have allowed me to be symptom free today.  I may have easily run myself into so much unnecessary medical debt that I would have had to declare bankruptcy and/or depend on the government welfare system due to disability from lack of treatment and poverty due to medical bills. 

Yes, I am a fortunate one. 

However, I can see how easily I could have not been so lucky.  I have seen just how hard insurance companies, doctor’s offices, and hospitals try to play a Vegas-like game with suffering patients who are in their weakest momments.  They are counting on the odds being in their favor.  They are counting on testing the limits of laws of which the patients aren’t aware.  They are counting on dealing with people who are going through emotional and physical strain and are simply unable to find the answers that they need.  They are the house, and they hold all the cards.  We, the American people, are the chumps losing our life savings to the slot machine that we call health care.

This is why Americans deserve a public option.  Americans deserve a way to tell the insurance company and the doctor’s office and the hospital billing services people to take a hike.  People who have diseases that can be treated deserve to have those diseases treated without harrassment by these people.  They deserve to be productive members of society without fear of ending up bankrupt or on welfare.  They deserve to have the opportunity to experience  many years without symptoms, just as I have. 

That is my personal story.

On a not so personal note, this policy is even smart for small business owners who are trying to attract the best and the brightest, but have little to offer.  A public option makes these small businesses more attractive and more competetive with large coorporations.

Really, the only downside here is for large corporate interests, insurance companies, and skeezy doctor’s offices and hospitals. 

Please consider signing this petition or taking some other action to make a public health care option available.

http://georgiademocrat.org/healthcarepetition

Other brilliance from Caroline

I should also note that yesterday Caroline added the word “exactly” to her vocabulary.  She even seems to have some idea of the meaning of the word, saying “exactly” while putting a puzzle together.    More and more she is speaking clearly and in 2,3, & 4 wordsentences.

Counting Caroline

Caroline couted out 10 blocks today multiple times with only a bit of help from Mommy! (She tends to forget the numbers 4 and 7) Pretty dern good for 19 months!

Protected: I’m so slack

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Protected: Months later

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Caroline speaks

Caroline’s first words were Mama and Dada.  Very sweet.  Now, she says over 20 words adding cat, dog, puppy, bottle, shoe, sock, book, ball, block, juice, no, yeah, wow, uh oh, yum, up, down, Hello, Bye Bye, Grandpa.

Recently, she has just moved on to a couple of 2 word sentences.  In the past, it was only “Up, Mama.”  “Down, Mama.”  Now, she has two sentences that are not commands.

“Who’s that”

This sentence started in the bank one day.  Daniel and I were at the teller window, when suddenly Caroline points to the teller and says “Who’s that?”

“That’s the teller,” I replied, “She is helping us.”

She then pointed to the people in line behind us and happily shouted, “Who’s that?”

“Those are people waiting in line.  Now, stop pointing.  It’s rude.”

This morning, she was pointing at her Grandpa, and asking “Who’s that?”

 This first real question is a bit rude, but I was very impressed when it came out of her mouth.

The second sentence- “I know.” 

The first time she said this, I was getting up off the floor.  My back was aching from carrying her around all day and playing on the floor with her, and I exclaimed, “I’m old!”

Caroline happily replied, “I know!”

Again, kind of rude, but I was floored when it came out of her mouth.  “Did she just say ‘I know’?”

My only consolation is that she did the same thing to Daniel when he said that he was old. 

So, basically, my daughter is a busybody who wants to know everyone’s business and who enjoys pointing out the faults of others.  Clearly, I am a success as a parent.

Life Books

If you are not familiar with the concept of a life book, here is a link with a good description- http://www.comeunity.com/adoption/adopt/life-books.html

Basically, a lifebook  is usually a book that documents a child’s story from birth until whenever the writer decides to stop; it is often created for an adopted child.  Usually told in first person from the child’s perspective, the life book is supposed to open the door to discussion about the child’s adoption and help him/her answer some questions about his/her birth and adoption.

Most of the time, it is done with scrap-booking materials.  Some people add to the life book forever, adding pages at major milestones.  While I do think this was the original intention of life books (since the life book was developed for children in foster care so the children could have something permanent, even if they were bounced from home to home) and I do think that it is very sweet and special to take this approach, I know that I am simply not organized enough to go this route. 

One thing you have to understand about me is that I rather loathe arts and crafts.  I do not draw well; I do not scrapbook well; I do not sew well; I do not do anything “handy” well.  I am simply too impatient for all the visual detail work that is involved.  I can spend hours studying a poem or an essay or a song or a scene in a play or movie, mulling over the words again and again, but I absolutely cannot stare at a drawing or a scrapbook page or a cross stitch pattern for the length of time necessary to developing a finished  product.  I just can’t do it.  I have tried many times, and I have failed miserably each time.

So, what is one to do when it comes time to develop a life book for one’s child?  Why, turn to Snapfish, of course. 

Apparently, I can make a hardcover coffee table style photo book using pre-formatted layouts and choosing from a number of backgrounds without ever having to attempt to cut a straight line or glue anything “just so” or frustrate myself with choosing the right borders and stickers.  Hallelujah.

So,  I have spent the last few days working on Caroline’s Life Book on Snapfish, and I am now satisfied with the 34 page book that I have created and have ordered it.   I’ll have to take some pictures and post them when I receive the book.  I’m hoping that it really will look polished and lovely and be something that Caroline can treasure for years to come.

Protected: Christmas photos

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Protected: Right of Conscience regulation

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