#the american healthcare system

[grissomesque]

STAR TREK: VOYAGER 1.04 Time and Again

[autistic--mothman]

The Americans healthcare system is so amazing it drops a person(my mother) who’s on hormone therapy to prevent breast cancer from coming back. Thanks Medicaid especially for not telling us until day of dropping us!

Also couldn’t they have at least waited till the COPD medication companies decreased their prices. The most discounted we can get from my mothers medication is 480 dollars

Here is a reminder to all that everyone should have free healthcare because people should be able to live.

[iconsumethesoulsofthedamned]

Julian bashir would love Penelope scott

[filthforfriends]

Me *for years*: I know I’ve been treated for anaphylaxis yesterday but there’s still something up with my throat. If feels like swelling and I’m supposed to come back if symptoms flare back up.

ER doc: So there’s no swelling. You look just fine. I think this is just anxiety.

Me: Well it feels like there’s swelling.

Mom: you’re so dramatic I knew this was a waste of my time.

ER doc: I can prescribe you a cortisteroid.

Me: I cant take prednisone it sends me into a psychotic break which is why it wasn’t prescribed yesterday.

ER doc: Well there’s really no replacement for prednisone.

Me: Aren’t you a fucking doctor?

My allergist in November 2021: so it looks like additionally there’s something wrong with your swallow reflex that’s making the sensations of your anaphylaxis feel a lot worse. It can feel like your throat is stuck or even swelling.

Me: I’ve said this to a dozen ER doctors and they gave me Ativan.

Allergist: …sorry.

[johannepetereric]

I got my new dose and now I’m Not Dying : D

So, a few nights ago, I did a last-minute risk. I only had 4 pills left, so to conserve Lifespan, I didn’t chew a second pill in half to make a whole dose, as I would’ve had only one day of life then than two.

I was running out of pills the last week, so I would’ve DIED in 2 days (or more) had Mommy not made consistent calls to the pharmacy about Where’s The Refill, and we got an appointment to get a new doctor, and we told him what happened, and the day after that we went to the pharmacy to get the pills and now I’m not dead!

So, uh, now I understand why the American Healthcare System was shit.

[tramontane-fire]

Tryna get meds thru telehealth cuz the new job does not insure until next August.

Wish me luck they're asking about blood tests.

[unicornbeck]

Something not about Good Omens

I've been having a hard week. I have been trying for the last 6 months to get my insurance to cover a medication my doctor prescribed to help me with weight loss. This "last-straw" bit started in September/October. Because of knee surgery that didn't take, it's been really hard for me to do... basically, anything I used to do. That's been for the last 2-3 years now. I haven't been able to hike, or climb hills, or run with dogs, or do any of the outdoor things that give me joy, in several years. We gave away our chickens (yes, to a good home) because I just couldn't keep taking care of them.

So because I can't physically exercise right now, I've lost a lot of mobility, and gained a lot of weight.

Finally, at the end of January, the insurance assholes finally approved the weight loss medication. Of course, at that point, due to shortages, only the higher doses were available. You know, the doses I would be on right now if they'd just approved the medication when my doctor originally prescribed it. So still, I waited... And waited... And waited.

Finally, Monday, the thing I was trying so desperately to avoid came to pass. My diagnosis changed from a lipid disorder with a torn meniscus to type 2 diabetes. So, my prescription changed, from the weight loss version of the drug to the diabetic version. (They separated the two drugs to make sure people who need life-saving medication have primary dibs on the supply. Makes sense.)

The weight loss version of the drug just came into stock.

I'm now waiting for prior authorization to go through on the other drug, though, so I can't pick up the weight loss version. My insurance won't cover both, and these meds are so expensive. I was quoted $1200/month, without insurance coverage.

So I'm still waiting. It's now the second week in March.

I've lost count of the phone calls and emails I've placed or sent, trying to advocate for myself without crying in frustration as I speak to low-level insurance representatives who can't do anything for me and receptionists at my doctor's office, all of whom are kind but not helpful in any meaningful way.

I broke down crying at work in front of coworkers the other day.

The United States should be ashamed. Our for-profit healthcare system is broken.

The Insurance Industry stands between humans and the care they need, not a bridge, but a wall, with snipers in turrets, strung with barbed wire and mined with explosives. The boards of these corporations siphon all wealth from helpless, suffering, sick or injured people into the pockets of like ten cis white men. I imagine these assholes with their own GDPs, standing on the broken fingers of the people whose care they deny; the people: sightless smoking wraiths, shadows of the selves they were before their ailments took them, begging for scraps, pleading for mercy, clinging to the sheer face of the cliff edge, while these ten fat bank accounts with egos crunch their victims' failing grip under expensive heels as they decide aboard which yacht they'd like to have canapes.

Our country has failed us. Deserted us. Betrayed us. Raised in faith that we were a Good Nation, "the best nation," we scrabble and scrape as our country turns its eyes away from the people to the dollar. Fuck the insurance industry. Fuck you, America.

I'm not advocating any sort of violence. No one should hurt others on purpose. Not for money, not for justice. Not for greed. The left is ineffective. The right is inhumane. If we fall like Rome within the next fifty years, it will be because we put profits before people.

[earthgeco]

The worst part of the Adderall shortage is that I need it to function, especially in a school setting, but my brain won't let me ask my doctor for it or call pharmacies to ask if they have it, because I'm so terrified of being labeled as drug seeking and being barred from ever getting it again and then I'll fail out of school again and won't be able to hold a job anymore and I'll die. Anyway what I mean to say is that I can need a drug without being addicted.

[bun-parade]

What is the point of paying $300/month for insurance when they still charge you almost $200 each time you go to any doctor until you hit these outlandishly high deductible rates. Literally what is the point.

[seasonaldepressionmp3]

There’s a Wendy’s in this hospital wtf

[winterstaryu]

Can't afford a ER trip when my partner throws up blood, but I sure can spend $25 to get a fucking stress pastry delivered

[macden]

[obsessedkuroi]

The American Dental system is a scam and the 6 minute, $18~ (18,800 won) wisdom tooth extraction I got just now in Seoul is all the proof I'll ever need

[dreamswillbeyourwintermeat]

Hello tumblr, would you like to know a secret? I have been off my prozac for roughly two weeks. Not intentionally! But I'm constantly on my sister's case about going off and on her meds so i can't say anything to my family because that would erode my status as a sanctimonious bitch. And i can't say anything to my doctor because I'm afraid of... getting in trouble...? Honestly idek what my deal is. But that's where i am! Let's all manifest that i will finally find the energy to get my ass to the pharmacy this week and get my fucking life together.

[featherwurm]

Y'all are nice about line cook Karlach you can have a bit more since I've got the brainworms.

Good Continuity: She works at a local brew pub after her military stint. She'll eventually take the place over (going on Sam Béart's headcanon she'd like to be running a pub if she wasn't adventuring.)

Bad Continuity: She works at a fancy bistro owned by Zariel where she's obligated to stay in her job to keep up her health insurance to care for her heart condition.

Take your pick! Or something else, I'm absolutely not fussed.