And now I'm crying.

[Joanne98]

This will be a short diary.

I just started a year of National Service through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. My pay is basically minimum wage, and I'm going into some of the most impoverished and crime-riddled neighborhoods in the nation, to try and make a difference in the fight against poverty. They mean it at AmeriCorps when they say it isn't a job, it's service. I'm not doing this for my benefit. I'm doing this for the benefit of my community, my nation, and the people around the world in poverty.

And I'm doing it alone.

Chicagoa's diary :: :: Two weeks before my year of service began, I woke up in the middle of the night with an incredible thirst. I drank pint after pint of water and I was still thirsty. The next day I went to the doctor (with no insurance) and paid $200.00 to be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.

At age 20.

With no insurance.

In the best shape of my life.

With no insurance.

I was scared at first, but I've been learning how to live with it. Then my year of service started, about two weeks ago from today. It was a whirlwind of trainings, paperwork, and meeting exciting new people. I was comforted by the thought that, having started my year of service, I was now under the umbrella of a federally selected AmeriCorps government health coverage plan. My medical concerns drifted to the back of my mind.

Until today, when I heard from my federally selected AmeriCorps government health coverage plan about my 30 day follow-up visit regarding my diabetes. It isn't covered. Want to know why?

It's because I was diagnosed 14 days before my coverage started.

My diabetes is a pre-existing condition.

I am now in service to the federal government, paid minimum wage ($850 month), and required to pay a $200.00 medical bill to survive. That's 25% of my income for September going to medical costs. And the worst part is, when politicians are counting who has medical coverage in the US, and who doesn't... I count as covered.

I'm not a concern.

Nobody gives a shit about me.

I cannot get Medicaid, because hell... I'm already covered!

Why would I need that?

WHAT THE FUCK?

If I lived in motherfucking Canada I would be fine! But no, I was born in this shithole, where I can dedicate a year of my life to fighting poverty and my congressman feels the appropriate health plan would deny coverage for pre-existing conditions!

Makes sense to me!

Apparently the political impracticality of single payer healthcare trumps the concerns of the little people. Big ol' fancy Congress just can't find time to deal with me. I must be an impudent little shit for taking on a year of service and expecting to be paid well enough to survive.

WHERE IS MY SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE DAMNIT?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/9/1/775307/-And-now-Im-crying.

[azurnoir]

1. The author of the diary should contact

the American Diabetes Association perhaps they can provide some assistance at least with the cost of meds testing supplies ect

http://www.diabetes.org/

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Good idea!

[TankLV]

14. The Author of this diary SHOULDN'T FUCKING HAVE TO contact the ADA!!!

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. We've got to keep pushing on for a _good_ healthcare plan that

will cover everyone. None of this "In a few years we'll be able to add more people" stuff, either.

[ParkieDem]

4. The AmeriCorps insurance is that stingy?

I have a great amount of sympathy for you. It was my understanding that most employer/group insurance plans, especially those provided by the federal government, had few if any restrictions on pre-existing conditions.

[truedelphi]

6. That was my understanding also. But somewhere along the line,

I imagine some top dog in the executive branch of said agency arranged for a different insurer for the AmeriCorp health insurnace.

I had the fortune (mis-fortune?) of being neighbors to someone who was a big shot in the insurance indsutry. I started to realize from discussions about his job that these top noch execs trade away this and that. After he made a health insurance deal for the insurance firm he worked at, he was put on the Board of Directers at a local hospital - the same hospital for whom he had arranged that said hospital would be the hospital of record for the employees of his former insurance firm.

All very tit for tat. Nothing more than the usual operation of the revolving doors of industry.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. There is usually a waiting period if there is a pre-existing condition.

They may cover pre-existing conditions after having the insurance for a year. Then again, they may not.

[noiretextatique]

16. my friend had to wait six months to have uterine cancer surgery

because she was diagnosed before she got insurance. she works for a community college district, which is a government entity. luckily she had a slow-growing cancer and she is fine, but it could have been much worse.

[AlphaCentauri]

5. The oddity in here is that the blame diffuser will blame immigrants

or anybody else for poverty and braking our health care system. It just looks like bureaucrats won't listen to the people.

[geckosfeet]

8. 50% or personal bankruptcies are caused by expenses associated with catastrophic illness.

75% of that 50% HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE at the onset of the illness.

They lose their jobs and coverage, coverage caps out, or are refused coverage for any number of reasons.

Point is, if you think you are covered, you aren't.

[ejpoeta]

9. and that is what i wish these idiots who are fighting reform with their loud mouths would understand

even if you have insurance, there is no guarantee it will be there when you need it. how many people have actually read their policies... and of those, who could understand them. they make them hard to understand and very long for a reason... they don't want us to read the fine print. and we won't know what's in that fine print until we get sick.

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. They ARE idiots, but more importantly, they are CRIMINALS.

[Laelth]

11. k&r for a righteous rant.

I have similar feelings, and they're justified.

:dem:

-Laelth

[applegrove]

12. I hope you post this story all over the place including the Free Republic.

[Turborama]

13. K&R This is the sort of story that should be made into a TV ad. n/t

[Vidar]

15. K&R.

[noiretextatique]

17. this is the "death panel" in action

denying medical care to sick people :puke: