Where’s MY Obama Money?

American healthcare

Couldn’t help myself.

When President Obama was first elected there was this little lady being interviewed on television, she was talking about all the good things that were going to happen for her since Obama was elected. One of the things she kept talking about was how she was going to get a new cell phone and a better apartment ’cause of Obama Money that would be coming to her.

When she was asked where that money actually came from she said she didn’t care, ’cause it was Obama money and Obama was going to make everything alright for her.

Myself and 300 coworkers layoffs were a direct result of President Obama and Congress having a pissing contest in late 2010 and early 2011.

Clearly BOTH sides forget that they are there to represent the PEOPLE not partisan interests.

Here we are in the election cycle again. The only thing that has changed, especially for people like me is that our unemployment is running out, we’re paying obscene prices for COBRA coverage ($600) a month and despite the media spin… things are improving at a snails pace.

WHERES MY OBAMACARE?

Guess what?

As usual, since I’m an American worker that has scrabbled and climbed to the middle class, contributed to the economy, paid my bills, didn’t use my house as a piggy bank, and have been responsible for myself and my shit.

I’m actually NOT ELIGIBLE for Obamacare… and won’t be until long after I’m destitute, homeless, masturbating under a bridge, and a burden on society. Which will happen a lot sooner than later paying out COBRA.

In general even in my 50s I don’t use $7200 of medical care per year. I’m extremely thankful for this. So why am I paying $600 a month to maintain COBRA? An even more interesting question is why does the Obama system make it illegal to not pay for insurance?

Between prescriptions, the occasional MD, Dentist, and Optometrist visit I’d say that if I were paying cash maybe I’d spend $3500 per year.

This is EXACTLY why so many employed folks CHOOSE to forego insurance. I went without insurance for YEARS… I paid out of pocket for services rendered…

And you know what???

Because it was a simple cash transaction I got pretty steep discounts and the same or better care BECAUSE the insurance companies weren’t involved. During those times… the Doc would say you need an antibiotic and hand me a bag full of physician samples. Great! no pharmacy bill.

I’ve been in an emergency room exactly once in my life. That was because I had a broken bone. I’ve been to urgent care twice. If there’s any way I can see my Doctor, I’ll call him drive to his office and wait. I’d rather have him look at me than some stranger anyway. 

So folks not having insurance are taking a risk but they do that every fucking day just driving on the freeways, especially now!

7 grand in my yearly budget would be a whole lot better than paying for coverage that I’m not fully utilizing. I’d imagine that the average American family could do a lot with 7K per year.

7 grand is 4 months of unemployment. Honestly, I’d rather have the cash.

So tell me again why we’re all paying so much?

OH Yeah! it’s to cover all the people who have no insurance, low incomes, and who regularly clog emergency rooms with non-emergency situations because they KNOW they will be seen by a doctor even if they refuse to pay their bill.

The disparity isn’t stacked in favor of the rich and middle class it’s stacked in favor of the poor.

So now here comes Obamacare <insert imperial fanfare here>. It does nothing for me. Insurance costs won’t be lower. My care will probably be degraded, and I’ll most likely end up paying out of packet to see the Doctor I want to see instead of some non-english speaking supposed doctor with whom I have nothing in common and whose instructions for my care, I can’t understand anyway.

The thing that annoys me probably most… is this wonderful debacle will put the country in even more debt and effectively lower the quality of care for everyone. Because after all mediocrity and socialism walk hand in hand don’t they?

I don’t shop a K-Mart for… well anything. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be forced into a K-Mart situation in health care. “We can do that required brain surgery for $500, but for $1500 we’ll sterilize the instruments.”

The liberal elite can’t understand why the middle class is pissed off!

It’s easier for them to call us selfish, and greedy rather than to take all their supposed intellect and actually understand the position they’re placing us in.

 

It Sucks getting old…

The Doc decided to add a medication to my regimen.

I took the first dose Friday morning and have discovered something that I never knew about before.

Hives!

Within 10 hours I’d broken out all over and I’m so itchy I’m loosing my mind. 

I will never ever tease my dog about having to wear the “Cone Of Shame” again.

All I want to do is scrub myself with steel wool, or just peel my skin off completely

My wrists, hands, feet were swollen and my hands hurt in a way I never knew was possible.

Forget water boarding give me one of these little pills and I’ll tell you ANYTHING.

The large welts on my arms are starting to go away but the itching on my legs is driving me crazy. I am frankly amazed that only little pill could cause this kind of annoyance for going on 3 days.

The itching has messed up my concentration so bad that I haven’t been able to read, write, or much of anything since Friday. I spent yesterday dozing with the assistance of Benadryl every 6 hours.

Problem is, there’s a lot of stuff I needed to get done this weekend.

So guys, before your Doc gives you some drug… as him if he’s ever taken it and what it did to him.

That unhealthy glow

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I’m a dumbshit! I totally admit it. Laugh all you want, I can take it.

Yesterday the sun was warm and the sky was blue, there was a gentle breeze and I thought;

“It’s a perfect day to spend a little time on the deck.”

So I took my glass of water, my Kindle, and my fat ass outside, without a shirt, and settled in a lounge chair.

I was only outside a little while… OK 40 minutes and my chest and belly are sunburned to beat the band.

I know better!

I never do shit like that without sunscreen on. 

So guys… learn from my stupidity, watch yourselves and your kids in the sun.

With the upcoming 4th of July celebrations we’re all going to be outside a bit more. 

Be a good example to your family, apply sunscreen with them  not just to them.

The annual exams of this old carcass are almost done.

vitruvianOnly one more MD appointment and then I’m hopefully done for the year.

Dealing with the medical stuff as we get older is a royal pain in the ass. I’m not in poor health, but even now I find myself longing for the days when I needed Zero help from any physician.

My eyes aren’t what they once were. My sinuses are a mess, and the doctors are always hounding me about my diet, exercise and a litany of other age related concerns.

None of the things the Docs are mentioning are “In the RED” they’re just little things that seem to happen as we age. Of course the medical profession says “we have a medication for that”. I’ll be far more impressed when the medical profession says we can fix that problem for another 30 years!

Yeah, give me a drug or procedure that reverses the issue for 20 or 30 years and I’ll submit to it. I’m not one of those people that is going to willingly take a fist full of drugs 3 times a day. Besides the expense, the side effects are usually murder.

I can tell you this… I eat meat! I’m not going to stop eating meat and if that means that I don’t live quite as long so be it.

What’s the point of living a long life if it’s a life devoid of the little pleasures? I’d much rather be happy than ancient and sad.

Like most men, my preferred death would be to pass on during the most mind blowing orgasm of my life. I’d like to arrive at the gates of heaven roaring in pleasure,  semi hard, and dripping.

I like that image for no other reason than it would be fun freak out all the pious religious people who missed out on so much because they lived in terror of an afterlife of punishment.

I’ve got this twisted view that God shakes his finger at you for not enjoying the gift of life and the joys our bodies were built to have. What a waste if you didn’t enjoy everything the world had to offer.

I know that’s not the mainstream view but then again… I’m not and never have been mainstream.

I hope everyone has a great Fathers Day. Now go find some time to do what made you Fathers in the first place.

Sometimes you can’t just “Walk it off”

For the past couple of months I’ve been having problems with my sinuses. I was annoyed and thought that I’d had 3 minor colds over the past four months.

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Like most guys I ignored it. I’d apparently get over the cold and be good for a few weeks then have a new minor cold again. These bouts were irritating and I was thinking “Wow, getting old is a stone bitch.” I’d begun to wonder if a cold a month was what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life.

Then about 2 weeks ago I developed yet another cold. This one however was different. I was coughing and hacking, my throat was swollen, I was sleeping sitting up and my sinuses were completely shut. If you’d held a hand over my mouth I’d have suffocated.

I was thinking, “OK, the previous colds have just run me down, now this one and all the pollen in the air has just combined to form a perfect storm”. Well After a week of getting a little better during the day then not sleeping at night… then a particularly rough night of coughing and hacking (I could get maybe one or two breaths between coughing bouts) I finally called my Doctor.

I described the symptoms including nose bleeds and colors of sinus discharges (who knew greenish yellow was bad?). The receptionist relayed the information to the Doc and he phoned in RXs to my local pharmacy.

After two and a half days on the meds I’m feeling pretty darn good. Most of all I’m sleeping… a lot! Tuesday & Wednesday escaped me. I happily napped and slept deeply both days and nights.

I really ought to pay more attention… My first clue that I was really sick should have been that I hadn’t been interested in sex for over a week. That’s sex of any kind… alone, with someone, naughty videos, nothing. I think the new rule is going to be if I’m not interested in sex… Call the Doctor stat!

I’m actually happy that the pollen and everything else brought this to a head. I’m planning some Summer trips and feeling crappy while you’re supposed to be enjoying yourself is never fun.

One friend described me as the Black Knight from Monty Pythons Holy GrailIt’s just a flesh wound“.

I’m antsy now. There are so many things that need to be done in the yard. The grass / weeds combination is out of control. I’m itching to get the weed whacker and go to town. There are a lot of little projects that I wanted to be done with already.

I suspect that’s how I’ve had a low grade infection for months on end… I’d start to feel better and then overdo it. So I’m going to relax… rest, watch TV maybe even a naughty film or two and wait for my body to finish the repairs.

There’s time enough to do the projects and those that don’t get done… well maybe they just didn’t need doing.