goth-ginger-witch

[goth-ginger-witch]

MERRY CHRISTMAS (and happy holidays!)

[goth-ginger-witch]

This time of the year is really difficult. The last couple of years I've had a roommate around to at least buffer some of the loneliness, but I'm unexpectedly on my own again for the holidays this year. I have very few good childhood memories of the holidays, and I've tried to make them my own, but there's only so much I can do while I'm managing my symptoms. Mostly, Christmas time is just very triggering. Especially the music.

Send a thought my way, if you have a minute or two? And maybe check in on your disabled friends, your homebound friends, or go make some!

[goth-ginger-witch]

Being chronically ill and disabled truly is just constantly battling a hydra. You finish a doctors appointment and two more get scheduled

[goth-ginger-witch]

physically disabled people who are also fat deserve mobility aids just as much as physically disabled people who are skinny.

we also deserve to have mobility aids that fit us, we shouldn’t have to settle for ones that don’t meet our needs. whether it’s having a high enough weight limit or being wide enough or being sturdy enough, we deserve that.

it doesn’t even matter whether a person is fat because of their disability/ies or if they’re disabled because they’re fat. that person still deserve good mobility aids that meet their needs.

[this is a post about fatness and physical disability, derail and i will steal your mail for three months and two days]

[goth-ginger-witch]

[goth-ginger-witch]

Doctors when they hear about my chronic illness but don't want to be responsible for treatment

[goth-ginger-witch]

You ever been in a state where you physically have no energy, but you're bored and socially understimulated so you kind of wish you could just invite people to come over like this:

[goth-ginger-witch]

I’ve got my tumblr inbox turned off so I really have to commend the person who actually emailed me to let me know they don’t like the things I’ve posted about the UnitedHealth CEO being murdered on their commitment to their beliefs.

But seen as how you emailed me from a dud email that appears to be bouncing back replies and I really wanted to address something you said to me about violence begetting violence:

My migraine medication, the medication I was given for my debilitating neurological disease that has gotten so bad I spent most of this year actively suicidal, costs $1300 a month.

My insurance covered it. But only because my doctors office went to fucking war for me because I’m a high anaphylaxis risk for the drugs the insurance wanted me to try.

Because that’s the thing.

My doctors knew, based on my documented medical history, I likely wouldn’t be a good fit for the “first line” of preventative migraine drugs, but because of insurance, I had to be given drugs that were contradictory to my other life threatening conditions, because otherwise insurance wouldn’t cover anything else.

I failed them. Spectacularly and with an anaphylactic reaction to one of them. And I was still warned insurance would fight me because I hadn’t tried the remaining drug they wanted me to try.

A drug which I would have to take in an ER waiting room because my mast cell disease is unpredictable but insurance wouldn’t cover in-patient treatment to let me try it safely under medical supervision.

Is that not violence?

Were all the times I was denied coverage for vital and necessary procedures that could have prevented my disabilities from worsening not violence?

Maybe not in the sense you mean. But I assure you it felt very much like violence to me.

Do I condone murder? No, obviously. But I’m also sick and tired of people pretending that what is happening to the American people every day isn’t eugenics through class warfare.

Violence begets violence.

It sure fucking does.

Maybe these insurance companies should have thought of that first.

[goth-ginger-witch]

I hope we don’t miss the point here. Like I hope we don’t fall into jokes and “oh no he’s hot” and leave it at that.

Providers in primary care miss operable cancer because of insurance. Children fall into status epilepticus because of insurance. I’ve seen more than one diabetic patient present in ketoacidotic organ failure because of insurance. People die or are permanently maimed because of insurance.

Those who have the audacity to live are saddled with debt so immense it would take lifetimes for the average person to pay it off. If you don’t have experience with this, download the Charge Description Master file for your local hospital and scroll.

These immense prices are not a flaw in the system. This is all by design. All this money goes somewhere.

[goth-ginger-witch]

Rod Hochman is the highest-paid health care executive in the Pacific Northwest, earning $9.5 milllion in 2021.

This Washington resident, working for Providence, gave the top 14 executives raises exceeding $14 million in 2017 (latest numbers we have). Their total compensation jumping 59 percent in a single year. 

Providence is one of the largest health care providers in the country.

People in the U.S. owe at least $220 billion in medical debt & the bulk of that debt is owed by people with over $10,000 in debt.

This year the State Attorney General’s Office announced an agreement with Providence to resolve a lawsuit that claimed Providence trained its staff to aggressively ask for payment from patients with low incomes who were actually most likely eligible for financial assistance. They also billed them without determining if they really qualified. In thousands of cases, Providence knowingly sent low-income patients, including Medicaid enrollees, to debt collectors. The more than $137 million in medical debt they must forgive and the refund of more than $20 million to patients is a drop in the bucket, considering Providence rakes in $1.8 billion on just fee's alone on its members in a year. 

Providence is one of the largest health care providers in the country, with a total of 51 hospitals, 34,000 physicians, and 1,000 clinics.

“Nonprofits” like Providence get tax breaks & many other benefits with the law's expectation that they are working to provide access to affordable health care. Providence, a healthcare giant led by one of the nation's highest-paid executives, has been exposed for predatory practices against low-income patients. CEO Rod Hochman's exorbitant compensation stands in stark contrast to the company's decision to aggressively bill and even sue vulnerable individuals. While hospitals claim financial pressures, Providence's lavish executive compensation and venture capital investments paint a different picture. The company's prioritization of profits over patient care is a betrayal of its mission as a nonprofit status organization. It's time for a fundamental shift in healthcare. We need leaders who prioritize the well-being of patients over corporate profits. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's demise serves as a cautionary tale, demanding transparency, accountability, and ethical conduct from ALL healthcare providers.

[goth-ginger-witch]

Urgent: Help Ola’s family raise money to escape Gaza

- Trying to escape Gaza to reunite with husband/father in Egypt

- Border opens this month

- $10,000 per person to cross

- Herself & 3 children means $40,000 to cross

- Gfm is currently at €17,626

Goal for today (December 11) is to reach €17,700

-> Donate here <-

Every little bit counts, even $5 helps! Please donate and share!

[goth-ginger-witch]

“It seems like almost all of those people don’t have HIV,” said Jennifer Kates, HIV policy director at KFF, a health-research nonprofit. “If they did, that would be substandard care at a pretty severe level,” she said.

Ya’ll. United Health just got accused of $17 billion in medicare fraud.

Basically they made up diagnosis which are improbable or impossible, “forgot” to remove ones which had been cured, and overall allegedly stole billions from taxpayers.

The government pays insurers a base rate for each Medicare Advantage member. The insurers are entitled to extra money when their patients are diagnosed with certain conditions that are costly to treat.

… About 18,000 Medicare Advantage recipients had insurer-driven diagnoses of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but weren’t receiving treatment for the virus from doctors, between 2018 and 2021, the data showed. Each HIV diagnosis generates about $3,000 a year in added payments to insurers.

… He said internal company data for 2022 showed a treatment rate for patients UnitedHealth diagnosed with HIV of more than triple what the Journal found. He said the pandemic disrupted care, lowering treatment rates during the period analyzed by the Journal, and that the analysis failed to account for patients who started treatments in future years.

The Medicare data, however, show UnitedHealth’s patients with insurer-driven HIV diagnoses were on the antiretrovirals at low rates even before the pandemic, and hardly any started the drugs in the years after UnitedHealth diagnosed them.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/medicare-health-insurance-diagnosis-payments-b4d99a5d

I bet United Health really wishes it was a different week right now.

[goth-ginger-witch]

I am making this post on behalf of @kakebezijacinta, a trans woman in a refugee camp who was robbed of necessities such as food, clothing, phone, and money.

She cannot work due to the transphobia where she lives, and is in desperate need of help to replace what was stolen. She also needs help to be able to feed her rescued kittens.

Her goal is to raise €5,000, and she is still $1,400 away from that goal. She has received no donations in the last 24 hours.

-> you can donate here <-

currently at $0 / $1,400

Please reblog & donate if you are able 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🫶

[goth-ginger-witch]

Help my friend Laila! 🇵🇸

- Has a 1 year old to feed & a baby on the way

- Living in a tent in middle of winter

- Only 1 donation in the last 3 days

- Currently at $1,475 / $20,000

Goal for today (December 11) is to reach $1,500

-> Donate here <-

[goth-ginger-witch]

Hello 👋,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is Aziz, and I’m reaching out with a heartfelt plea to help my family find safety and reunite with our mother. 😞

The ongoing war in Gaza has torn my family apart. My mother and newborn sister are stranded in Egypt, while I, along with the rest of my sex family members, am trapped in the midst of the genocide in Gaza. We have not only been separated but have also lost our home and are enduring unimaginable hardships. 💔

Your support can make a difference. Whether by reading our story, donating, or sharing our campaign with others, you can help us reunite, find safety, and start anew. 🙏🕊

Thank you, from the depths of my heart, for your kindness, compassion, and solidarity during this difficult time. ❤🍉

https://gofund.me/58268669 🔗

I can't do much other than share

[goth-ginger-witch]

If you've ever told a person who's had to be bedbound for a period of time that you wish you could "just stay in bed", DO IT.

Stay in bed. For days. But don't get up if someone needs you to, or you get bored, or you get antsy. Don't do anything other than rest. Just lie in your bed, whether you need to get stuff done around the house or socialize or anything else "productive". You'll have to cancel on people, you'll disappoint them, they won't understand.

And if you're thinking, "well, i CAN'T just be in bed. There's stuff that has to be done - I have plans", maybe ask yourself why you assumed a disabled person doesn't have plans or things to do or desires.

[goth-ginger-witch]

𝕺𝖉𝖎𝖓 𝕸𝖔𝖔𝖉𝖇𝖔𝖆𝖗𝖉

idk I just picked photos I felt led to