About me

I am a 41-year-old female living in Los Angeles, CA.



In 2004, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 34.



At the time I had full coverage health insurance through COBRA as I had recently become happily self-employed. I was fortunate in having this insurance (BC/BS of CA) during the entire course of diagnosis/treatment and follow-ups.



In 2006, I was abruptly dropped (my former employer had changed plans) and subsequently found myself unable to obtain insurance from any carrier anywhere in the US. I have been essentially "naked" since 2006, paying for what I can out of pocket and going to any free clinics that I can find. I went to a Remote Area Medical free clinic here in LA in May 2010 and even became a guinea pig for a pharmaceutical company in 2008/2009 just to get a modicum of care.



My greatest hope is that America will eventually have Universal Health Care for All. We are the only industrialized nation on Earth that does not care for the sickest and weakest among us. If you are sick and don't have the money and don't qualify for state or Federal programs, like myself, then you are shit out of luck.



Since losing my insurance I have been subjected to a lot of ill-treatment from health care professionals and just a tiny fraction have been sympathetic. The lack of compassion I have met on this journey is truly shocking. Sometimes I find it hard to believe I am in America sometimes.



This blog is my small way of trying to document my struggle and hopefully get the word out that the system, as it stands now, is only meant for the insured and wealthy among us.



"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." - Dr. Martin Luther King









Saturday, October 3, 2009

Been neglecting my blog lately :(

Okay, here's the scoop, now my teeth, as a direct result of all my horrible medical conditions are going bad really, really fast. I am in so much pain right now.

I am going to the ER tomorrow, bills be damned, I can't take it anymore, and no dentist will work on me pro bono - I asked 3 already. All I have is a $1,000 credit line on a Care Credit card and that is nowhere near what I need for my dental issues. It sucks.

Since I last posted many things have happened, the Town Halls raged on, I posted a diary on DailyKos that made the diary rescue, yippee!!! Celebutante for a day.

The campaign finance comittee has skewered and shredded any hoipe for real health care reform, Max Baucus has taken yet more money from the insurance and big pharma co's and Alan Grayson of Florida is my new hero, calling out the craptastic health plan of the Repug party, which is: Don't Get Sick, and-
if you get sick, Die Quickly! That sounds about right. Those bastards.

Today, John Boehner said he has yet to talk to any American in favor of a public option or with any serious health industry issues. What a dick! After that uninformed dickwad comment he of course got thousands of twitters, emails and phone calls from all the USA and his own constituents in his district who had repeatedly contacted his office with their health care horror stories, only to receive the usual form reply emails and a staffer on the phone saying, "gee thanks for calling, con't forget to contribute to the campaign." Again, Dickwads.