I am Pissed and Possibly Offensive to Others ...

Once again I must veer from the lineal retelling aspect of this blog and into another rant, pity pot, ~smh~ moment. Ali recently received a fucking letter from our illustrious United States government. I am way too disgusted and exhausted to write a recap so here is a photo of it:

Okay ...my kid has not been able to work at a regular job for at least 2 years. I can verify that she has not been in a condition to hold down a job, despite numerous attempts to do so. She has survived thanks to those of us in her family supporting her, with a few dollars in food stamps more recently, and her doing odd cleaning/organizing work when she is not in severe pain or nauseated. As well as having multiple mental health issues that medication cannot eradicate. Let us not forget she is also in recovery for eating disorder ... apparently none of this is considered legit by the powers that be.

I try to tell myself the following:

1. I know, from being in the behavioral health field, the inside scoop on how these sort of government agencies work. Personnel are trained specifically to deny claims for any possible reason whatsoever. Of course, this is done to dissuade people from continuing the process, and to put off a citizen actually being paid any benefits. In other words, it is nothing personal.
 2. I also know, that Ali will appeal the decision and most likely, win in the end. This is also part of the process that one has to go through before receiving benefits. Again, it's nothing personal.
3. We are not desperate. We are blessed. I trust in the Universe to see us through.

But then I look at my tax returns over the past years while Ali has been battling her eating disorder, physical and mental health issues, and I am FURIOUS all over again.

I am not able to claim Ali as a dependent for tax purposes because she has not "technically" resided with me this past year due to being in residential treatment last year, and being over 24 and unable to be a student due to (name the issue:______________) while she is living with me, currently. So I am paying a tax premium (I won't even go into the whole "making too much to get any breaks, but not enough to get out the paycheck-to-paycheck grind" right now) as well as not having insurance at work, so having to pay a big penalty on my tax return.

And don't even get me started on the lack of insurance deal, and paying out of pocket for my own health care when I do seek it ... blah!

It is all very frustrating, for I am paying and paying and paying taxes, like a bottomless pit. But what I am paying for, my daughter, who really needs the benefits these taxes are supposedly going to, cannot get. So I am getting double-hit.

I am looking at homes in the Caribbean or even Puerto Rico. Less taxes, free healthcare, less violence, noise, and oppression. Maybe it's just a dream, but sometimes dreams are better than reality.

 

My First Official Post is a RANT.

So I never, ever thought about health care as a child. It was something I tried to avoid and my parents paid for and took care of making sure I got. Then as an adult, once I had children, I was either medicaid eligible or had insurance through work. So again, if I needed healthcare, I was able to get it.

In recent years, as a social work student, I became interested in the topic of health care, as far as a topic for presentations and research essays, as I discovered that not everyone in America had it so easy. I became a proponent for universal healthcare, right along with Michael Moore and President Obama.

I know, I know ... people say that Obamacare is so bad, but in my opinion, it really should be HouseandSenatecare because they are the ones who f---d up his initial policy as it was set out. And that is all I will say about that.

But okay, meantime ... here it is. I personally do not have healthcare insurance and I pay out of pocket for it when I get scared or something that herbal/home remedies won't cure. That wouldn't be so bad, since I am fairly healthy in general, but ...

I have a daughter who has TWO TYPES of insurance (one of which her grandmother pays a hefty amount for monthly, might I add), and diagnoses of severe eating disorder/struggles with mental health/physical issues that are all possibly mortally dangerous for her.

This has been ongoing with insurance for a long time, and I am only speaking right now of the last couple of months.  Ali had been sent to residential treatment after a relapse brought on by a PTSD disassociative episode in which she cut herself several times and should have received stitches. After being there around 6 weeks and starting to stabilize, but still in no way ready to leave, Ali was informed that there were issues with insurance coverage and she would have to discharge from the facility until it was straightened out.

This happened over 3 weeks ago. She went from daily treatment for 9 months to absolutely no type of treatment. Needless to say, I am feeling desperate and hopeless at times myself, so I can only imagine how hard it is for her to keep going forward at this point.

NOTE: I have nothing against any individual who is working within the healthcare field. Hell, I work in it myself. I understand that clinical staff does the best they can with what they are given. My daughter has had amazing care when she was receiving it. 

 What I do have issue with is the United States healthcare "system" that has failed so many people, my family included.

However, at least we are not socialist. Hooray for that.

I see how people fall through the cracks. I feel as if my daughter is slowly falling through one, and I am being pulled through it with her. I do not understand from a moral and humanity standpoint but I do understand it from a financial standpoint. I just know that I need to get the word out that this is not right. Human lives being sacrificed for the almighty dollar is not right.