First,
Senator Pat Toomey (R-Penn) compared people with pre-existing conditions to
burning down houses, stating that it’s pointless to insure a house that’s
already on fire, and so the same follows that people who are already sick
aren’t worth insuring (1).
Then, Representative
Mo Brooks (R- Al) said that healthy people are people “who lead good lives” and
are those that have “done things the right way” (2).
And you’re
probably thinking what the what. Of all the stupid shit…
So if you’re
a sicko like me, I guess that means you’re a burning down house of a bad
person.
The
Government is trying to beat us at our own game. They are trying to make us feel
inadequate. They are trying to
reinvigorate feelings that you may have had when you were first diagnosed.
I know that
when I first got sick, I wondered if my life was going to be worth living. And I wondered what I had done to deserve
being sick. I thought I had been living
a life that would keep me from harm. But
I was wrong. And for someone to suggest
that any of us are to blame for our chronic illnesses is disgusting,
shortsighted, ill-informed, and just plain wrong.
What I have
come to realize over the last nine years is that, yes, my life is worth
living. And no, there was nothing I did
or didn’t do that caused me to get sick.
Other than living in this country, that is. If you’ve seen previews for “An Inconvenient
Sequel,” it makes me wonder if living in a country of privilege like America
has caused the uptick in autoimmune diseases.
And all of the other money that our government is cutting is just going
to make that worse. But I digress.
This is not
the country my great grandparents fled to from violence and religious
persecution. This is not the country
where I have had dreams of raising my future children. The past, present, and future hinge on the
decisions that our government will make about us and the worthiness of our
lives and our place in the fabric of America because we are sick.
We currently
live in a country where those in power think they have the right to say stupid
shit about people. Why? Because Senator Toomey and Representative
Brooks know that most of us with chronic illnesses are out living far better
lives than the ones they are. Minus the
money and influence, of course.
Our
government is building a wall, people, but it’s not between America and
Mexico. It’s between the healthy and the
sick. And maybe it’s a wall that has
always existed. I know that I have felt
envious of my healthy counterparts since the day I got sick. But the wall they’re creating is a bigger
than that. And it might ultimately mean
a wall between the living and the dead.
Dear Government,
One day, you’ll get sick. And while it’s likely that your money will
get you farther than my witty banter will get me, it won’t do everything. One day, your money won’t get you anything
but dead, just like we’ll all end up one day.
So here’s a few tips, because having money and
influence doesn’t make you a good person.
Neither does being involved in politics.
-
Think before you
speak. Now there’s an idea.
-
Words matter. The things you say matter.
-
Stop using big words you
don’t understand.
-
Take a refresher course
about how insurance actually works since you seem to be missing the point of
it.
-
Stop throwing shade at the
people who are paying for your unnecessary vacations while those very people
struggle to pay for the medications and medical care that keep them alive.
-
Power and influence don’t
matter if you don’t use those powers for good.
-
Having empathy and
compassion make you a good person.
Putting yourself in the shoes of someone whose personal experience is
completely unlike your own and trying to understand their situation is a
helpful life skill. People will like
you. Your mother will be proud.
I am not in
politics. I don’t desire to be in
politics. But I desire to create
change. I want to make the world a
better place. And I think that’s more
than can be said about a lot of the people that seem to be influencing our
government right now.
I know the
difference between right and wrong. I
know that what these politicians are saying is wrong. I know that the potential consequences of
their actions is wrong. I know that
providing access to quality healthcare for ALL is right. And I know that leaving out the sickest among
us is WRONG WRONG WRONG!
Yes, I
understand that I feel passionate about this because I am a “sick” person. I am also passionate because this negatively
impacts a lot of people I know and love.
But I’m also passionate because I was once a “healthy” person. And when I became a “sick” person, I learned
that the distinction between “healthy” and “sick” is a tenuous one. We unknowingly teeter on the border between
healthy and sick until we are no longer healthy any more. Then we are sick. And for some of us, we never become healthy
again.
But that
doesn’t mean that we did something wrong or did something to deserve our
illnesses. And it doesn’t mean that we
deserve to pay more money – money that we don’t have and can’t afford to pay –
for healthcare because we are sick.
The richest
among us are proving that they don’t want to share the wealth or the health. That they don’t play well with others.
Jimmy Kimmel
is brave. He’s using his powers for good
and not evil. And yet there are those
who are pushing back, who are saying that they do not want to pay their money
for his sick child (3).
But this is
the way insurance is and has always been.
If you’re healthy, you pay for insurance so that if something happens,
you won’t be bankrupt and destitute because of it. And if you are sick, you have insurance so
that your life doesn’t completely fall apart.
The reality is, we will all get
sick someday. And when we need it most,
we will want insurance to be there so our lives won’t fall apart any more than
they already have.
My today
could be some Republican’s tomorrow. Or
anyone’s tomorrow. No one is immune,
literally and figuratively.
I’m
lucky. I know that I’m privileged in
that I can stand on a soap box and don’t have to worry about losing my
job. Because my employer knows I’m
sick. They knew prior to day one. And I’m lucky that I didn’t fear not getting
my job because I am sick. But I know
that, that is a reality for many.
So I want to
speak for those who are frustrated, angry, and disgusted but do not feel they
can publically voice it. I am mortally
scared that employer-based health insurance will no longer be affordable and
that I will lose coverage, and as a result of that and my multiple pre-existing
conditions, I won’t be able to afford any insurance at all. And that will render me without doctors and
without treatment that will quite likely and relatively quickly leave me in
pretty bad shape. In unworkable and
non-functioning condition.
Premiums for
rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases could rise to $26,580 per
year (4). That’s one of the highest
premiums for any disease that isn’t cancer.
And that’s more than I make in SIX MONTHS PRE-TAX (so I don’t actually
take home that much at the end of the day at six months). So I would literally be working to pay for
health insurance. I wouldn’t be able to
afford food or rent or my student loans.
And I probably wouldn’t be able to work at all because it’s unclear what
spending all that money would get me, other than insurance, which would
literally be a plastic card that I could wave around with my arthritis-ridden
fingers.
So thank
you. Thank you Senator Toomey and
Representative Brooks. Thank you for
saying stupid shit about people with pre-existing conditions. Thank you for giving us a reason to use our
voices and fight for rights that we clearly don’t have but clearly
deserve.
(I could
have posted this a week ago, but I was going to be traveling and didn’t want to
risk the plane being shot down or ending up on the “do not fly” list)
#HealthHasNoParty
#Iamapreexistingcondition
(Photo credit @HugoOC and @TheLizArmy)
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