#I currently pay $500 a month for insurance and I have no income so that's fun

[thresholdbb]

Keep reading posts about US healthcare news while "Critical Care" plays in the background, which reminds me I have to pick which company is gonna gauge me for coverage next year while denying every claim I submit

[kikml2]

URGENT FINANCIAL HELP NEEDED.

I will keep this short and sweet. I'm a disabled adult with POTS, Chronic Fatigue, asthma, autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety, heat intolerance, back problems, the list goes on. I have zero income and my disability hearing isn't until next month, if I even win. I do have a lawyer so hopefully soon I won't need any financial assistance, but currently my parents are unable to help me pay the rest of this month and next month's bills.

I need about $500 to help get me through until at least my hearing. This will cover food, medical appointments, pay any credit bills, the water bill, medical insurance, medication, and more.

Please, please reblog if you can.

Any amount of financial assistance helps:

Cash app: $kikml2

Venmo: @kikml2

PayPal: @kikml2

Zelle: message me!

$0/$500

[infiniteglitterfall]

For real. $17k is poverty. The poverty line in the US is always lower than it should be, but...

HOLY SHIT, as of March 2024, the federal poverty level (FPL) in the United States is $15,060 per year for an individual and $20,440 per year for a married couple.

What the PENGUIN-SHARPENING PURPLE FUCK.

As I was about to say, it doesn't draw a line in the sand where "poor" ends and "rich" starts. Guess that's even more obvious now.

I live in one of the most expensive parts of the US. I can't even apply for jobs that pay $65k, because that's around $4000 a month after taxes, insurance, whatever.

My mortgage is hella low for where we live: I got an inheritance right at the rock bottom of the housing market, which was the only way I was ever going to be able to get approved and buy a house.

It would still take half my income to stay in my house. I don't know how I would pay back the $14k I currently owe on the mortgage, which is in foreclosure for the third or fourth time.

I have my kid full-time because my ex's disability stuff is too much right now for them to do weekends. And extra full-time because our kid's sensory stuff plus anxiety is too intense for him to tolerate school, which we're working on.

But it means that I can barely do any work. And it means I have to be able to afford food and clothes and stuff for him. Saving for college, retirement, or emergencies would be really difficult if I only had $500 a week left to spend. That pays, let's see... If I were paying all my bills, another $800 or so would be going to bills. Not to mention the debt on water, trash, and power.

Then we'd have uhhh $1200 left to pay for a month of groceries for two people, cat food, cat litter, any vet visits, any repairs around the house I can't do, gas, any car repairs, kid clothes, kid fun (birthday presents for him, for friends, games he sometimes wants, he needs pants, etc), and all the things we've just been doing without but really do need. Like hand towels.

Obviously nobody's retiring around here and he can just go to community college for the first two years, but also, shit is gonna happen and I won't be able to pay to deal with it. And I'm already doing that... Under the belief that it will get better.

If I was making $65k long-term, I would be almost as screwed.

I'd be losing the food stamps I now get, the ones I should be getting that have been going to my ex, and the cash aid for needy families that has also been going to my ex, who's now on disability.

I'd be replacing that money out of my salary, and not making enough more to cover all the predictable, recurring, but random expenses that come up all the time

And I wouldn't have time to look for better-paying work.

To me, people seem rich when they can save up for anything they might need, pay their bills, have extra income for whatever they want, and have extra savings for whatever they want.

I've done the math. Around here, and with a kid, I need to be making more than $100k to cross that line.

I'm lucky because -- omg, I just realized that millennials and Gen x have a shittier version of "baby boomers were lucky because."

We're lucky because you used to be able to rent a place with roommates and afford to live if you made like $15 an hour. (Idk what that number was anywhere else. But here it was about 1.5x-2x minimum wage; maybe it was similar or lower elsewhere.)

I've seen tiny, tiny apartments near me go for $1,600 a month. For one bedroom or a studio. In someone's backyard.)

Now, idk how anyone would afford to not live with their families during their 20s.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[big-fi-little-re]

Current Financials: August 2024

As for the money, here's a rough look at what I've got. The market took a little tumble between last night and today, but that's ok as most of my earlier calculations were still with figures less than where they sit now.

Investment Accounts: ~400k

Cash Accounts: ~45k

An additional $3k has been set aside for business expenses. There is also technically a couple thousand floating around in various crypto, but I don't check it and don't really care to anymore because it makes my taxes too hard.

My expenses are roughly $1k per month on average. Some months I spend like $400, other months I spend close to $2000. As mentioned before, I am currently living with my family and taking care of my sick parent, so expenses are low. Even when living alone, I just don't really spend that much money beyond the cost of housing and health insurance.

I am expecting about $15k in a final check to come within the next few weeks. I will be living off of this money for the next year and have not factored it into my above accounts. I will also not be collecting unemployment.

The game plan is, generally, that I will not touch the above investment accounts (brokerage, IRA, 401k that I'll probably roll into my IRA) at all. My cash accounts are effectively an emergency fund for myself and my loved ones. I recently had to loan a dear friend several thousand dollars to help her out of a bad situation that was in no way her fault and I am glad that I chose to keep so much in cash for immediate availability.

I will likely put any additional income into my cash accounts and continue a $500 per month deposit into my investment accounts. It would be nice to have a large chunk of cash on hand for a down payment in the future. I know I could put it into my investment accounts and withdraw later and pay the taxes and all that, but I like simplicity. I know it's not the best move in terms of financial min-maxing, but again, simplicity. Most of my decisions err on the side of whatever causes me the least amount of stress and paperwork. I don't plan on ever doing a Roth Conversion Ladder in my life, sorry.

Onward to whatever comes next. I will update in a few months I think.

[yourmoonmomma]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLpE624Q/ i didn't watch til the end but is it true? It's heartbreaking

Absolutely that is the case right now. The majority of us cannot afford to live right now. Jayson & I got this apartment via a lease takeover, so they couldn't raise the rent as much as I imagine they would have liked to. Currently, our rent (which includes heat & water & a parking spot), is $1350. For a very, very small one bedroom. They rent out these same apartments now for $1600-$1800+. We still pay for hydro (which hydro took a leap too, despite saving on electricity as much as we can, we pay $200/month for it). Plus renters insurance, which is mandatory, which is $30/month. Plus internet, which admittedly we do pay a bit more for good internet, so I can upload videos and stream, but our internet & Jayson's phone bill combined I think are like $200 or $250? Plus my phone, $80/month. Plus car payments, about $500/month. Plus, for a while, car insurance, which was another like $250/month. However, Jayson paid a few times late, as he doesn't have a job, so our car insurance got cancelled and we now have to somehow find $2600 to pay upfront for a year of insurance, or have the car repossessed or whatever they do when you can't get it insured lol. Like, in bills alone, we pay probably easily over $2000/month, just for housing with electricity and internet, and a car because we don't live in a world with easily accessible public transport.

That estimate does NOT include the cost of groceries. We used to be able to feed the two of us on at MOST $350 or $400 a month. Now, those same groceries, we pay easily $800+ on groceries every month. Plus the cost for the cats, plus the cost of gas (which is probably another $150+ every week), plus an sort of emergency savings.

Truth be told, I have no idea how Jayson & I are staying afloat. I have good credit, for now, so I'm getting as many credit cards as I can, because I know we don't have any active income flowing to us currently. Is that a smart decision? Probably not. But there's nothing else we can do. Jobs here do not pay enough for you to live alone, and if you live with someone, and you both work, then you likely make enough to have your bare essentials covered. Meaning most people are a couple bad pays away from being homeless. It's really, really scary right now.

[bell-arina271]

Day 34, 35, and 36 of Building Elsa’s Ice Palace

So after watching a loooooooooooot of youtube videos, I think I have the terminology of what I’m looking for.

I’m going to become an income investor. That means I’ll be investing primarily in dividend stocks that will pay me out either every quarter or every month. This will increase my income and eventually support me without having to work.

I’ll be diversifying my portfolio and investing in the financial sector, business development, AI, and the industrial sector.

Let me break that down for people who didn’t understand any of that:

Basically there are certain stocks that payout their shareholders from the profit they make. Each company changes the amount they pay out, and it can fluctuate depending on how the company is doing, but mostly it’s like the company paying it’s owners for the profit. And if you invest enough money, then hypothetically you can be completely supported by this payout income.

What I did was watch several videos by different people about dividend stocks, then cross referenced multiple mentions. If a company was mentioned more than once, I starred it, because it meant the company had a good reputation and was recommended by multiple people.

It’s important to diversify your portfolio to decrease risk of loss and make a reliable profit, so I’ll be investing in several industries that I think will do well and are mostly recession proof. EFTs are funds that basically collect stocks from multiple companies. People buy into these funds and are automatically exposed to different companies, which decreases the chance of losing money, and is much more likely to pay people consistently and reliably.

Like I mentioned before, I’m in a unique situation where I don’t have to pay rent, and I’ve already paid off my car, so besides insurance I don’t have any huge payment obligations, and can pour more into investments, without having to pour in hard physical labor (besides my usual job, that is).

The reasoning is simple: increase my income, and increase the amount of a loan I can be approved for, without stressing about finding a second job.

With my current salary, I could invest 10k dollars in each of these sectors in about 2 years, if I pay into the investments aggressively. It’s a relatively short term plan and I think would give me a good foundation to start building actual wealth.

Granted, this isn’t going to make me “rich” quick. This would only increase my income by about $500 per month (after I invested $50,000) but again, it’s a start and a foundation. I just have to keep working, put my nose to the grindstone, and keep my eyes on the prize.

In other news, I was inspired to make another youtube short, which hadn’t happened for a while. I feel really good about it c:

Here's the link if you want to check it out:

And with that I'm off to bed. Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

[blackwoolncrown]

SEMI URGENT HELP NEEDED

!Before July 23!

🧿

Hey good people, I have two main issues right now. If you want longer details (ex: I’m actively fleeing the US) pls see my pinned post.

1. I will be leaving the US to do preparatory work like insurance + rental scouting in my target country and will be out of work at that time. I will return for a few months where I will be continuing to sell my belongings then leaving on a tourist visa then applying for a DM or temporary visa. One of the requirements I must meet is making at least 2.3k a month for 6-12 (depending on visa/consulate) months uninterrupted. If I fail to meet this I will have to come back to the US where I have limited access to survival.

(Context I do not and have not had any family or beneficiaries to help me due to DV)

2. To make this a reality I work very hard to develop multiple income streams but that also requires time I barely have and startup funds I as a marginalized person have v limited access to. Unfortunately in this process I have ended up working for months selling items and my money (over $400) is being held by the platform and is months late. I have been paying for materials and shipping with nothing in return yet.

These things together make it very scary to deal with the fact that I have much lower funds this month than I usually have and currently won’t make rent (2.4K, part of the reason I am leaving). If I have to dig further into my savings acct that will harm my ability to meet the consistent income requirements for my visa as they will be checking my bank account.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to my Gofundme. Currently the $816 or so raised has gone towards my $600 relocation services bill and towards my $500 plane ticket. I’ll be having to come out of pocket for my stay;

If at all possible please please donate to my gofundme especially before July 23rd as I really need to be able to meet rent and keep something in savings that so I can make these requirements and stay out of the US. I need $550 between now and then to clear this jump.

Pleaesee help! Boost + Donate, please- your action will make a difference.

I am just trying to get out of the US- once I leave this place I will be able to afford living and not need to make these asks.

🧿

0/550

CLICK HERE: https://gofund.me/09e40e5f

[jimmyneutronrevival]

JIMMY NEUTRON REVIVAL PROJECT: UPDATE 33

Hi folks.

I wanted to take some serious time to discuss the events from December in this blog so that everyone, cast included, can better understand my situation and my circumstances. L.A. COMIC CON AND MY 2022 LIFE

Before I get to the L.A. Comic-Con itself, let me discuss my 2022 in a nutshell.

In April of 2022, I developed a weird tiredness feeling that I have had for many months. I had been in and out of doctor’s offices trying to figure out what it is and was put on a waiting list for an Endocrinologist who will see me on March 9th. I also suffer from depression which has plagued my personal life for many years. I have been seeking help through a talk therapist and a medication therapist who, try as they might, haven’t been able to do too much. But I am now on a medication (Wellbutrin 300mg) that has given me a little bit of my energy back which is something. However, the amount of money I have had to fork over for these visits has been anything but cheap. My insurance covers a lot of it, but the rest of the cost is up to me.

Additionally, I had been mulling over the prospect of returning to school. My current degree wasn’t helping me as far as my career prospects were concerned and I wanted to work on a business degree to improve my chances of landing a fulfilling career. As I was a gig worker and part-time online test scorer, I didn’t have a lot of money. And at the time, I had made zero plans to make any trips for the year or do anything else that would set me back financially. So, I made the decision to take the plunge and I applied to college. I was accepted and began my studies online in the fall of 2022. I spent close to $7000 on my first semester and the spring semester so far has been roughly the same, give or take a few hundred dollars.

Now, let’s go back in time to the Jimmy Neutron panel at L.A. Comic-Con which had been formally announced on October 28th. This gave me barely a month to prepare. I was scrambling to find low-cost airfare, a reasonably-priced hotel, and transportation. I did my due diligence and researched every site I could, including popular sites like Orbitz and Expedia. The airfare was going to set me back almost $500 ($400 + fees). I was able to find a hotel on the L.A. Comic-Con website, but it would have been about $700-$800 plus a large hospitality tax. The one good thing about it is that it was on the same street as the convention center and within walking distance. Then came the dilemma of finding a cab or an Uber/Lyft to get me from the airport to the hotel and the hotel back to the airport, which would have been at least $50-$75 both ways. Add food, money for souvenirs, the actual cost of two badges for the show plus fees since I would have attended 2 out of the 3 days, plus autographs and it was going to cost me close to $2000.

By the time I had the knowledge that a reunion panel was happening, $7000 was already gone due to school. I did not have enough discretionary funds I could use as far as taking any kind of a trip was concerned.

I am in the lower-income bracket along with so many other millennials. Some of us got lucky and found good careers while others like myself have had to struggle. There are probably more articles on the Internet about the struggles many of us millennials have went through than I can count. For people like me, life has been tough.

Because I am in the low-income bracket, I have to budget a lot of the things that I do. School was a major cost factor as far as my budget for 2022 was concerned, and I knew that any little bit of money I did have left would have to go to the other bills and responsibilities I must pay for each month.

In the end, after crunching the numbers, I did not have the $2000 I would need to make the journey out to the convention, and I had to make the difficult decision of informing all of my followers that I would not be able to attend. This broke my heart more than anyone could possibly realize. I was extremely upset and sad about it.

I decided to take the initiative to finish the petition so that it could be displayed at the show if the cast wished. I spent several weeks in about 3-4 settings working 3 hours at a time to edit the fake names and duplicate signatures out of the petition as well as the odd comments and duplicate comments on the petition comment page. On November 27th, at midnight, I finished everything and sent it off to the organizer of the panel and that was that.

There were a couple of people who thought that I was going to attend which caused quite a bit of confusion. I did my best to try to clear up any misunderstandings. Even though I did explain that I wasn’t coming on my socials, I know not everyone sees these posts which I totally understand.

The weekend of the show was extremely difficult. It got to a point where I had to shut my notifications off on social media so that the pictures and other notifications bombarding me about the show wouldn’t send me spiraling into a deeper state of depression. Unfortunately, I fell apart. I had been able to keep it together for so long, but the weekend of the show, I was no longer able to remain that stoic person I always try to be. I broke down several times and felt absolutely awful. I have had many days of sleepless nights and still feel absolutely guilty. I felt like I had let people down and it hurt like hell.

While I hope this is not a one-time deal, if it ends up being that way and I missed out, all I can say is I am sorry. I am sorry that the funds were not there for me to attend. This was something that I wanted to do and had I had more advance notice I would have moved mountains to try to get the money. I wish I was one of those people who could drop everything to do something like this. But unfortunately, I am not.

In order for me to attend anything like this in the future, should that happen, I would need advance notice that is more than a month, so I have the time to prepare. Otherwise, it will be hard for me to get a plan together along with the proper funding.

Also, I will try to set aside a savings account for trips so I can be a little better prepared in this way.

I hope that this explanation is helpful to my followers, the cast, or anyone else who may be reading this.

Thank you all for your understanding.

[fraks]

i hate making posts like this, but i am honestly at a loss as to what to do, and maybe someone here has an idea. for the record: i live in germany, so solutions that might work in the united states probably won't work for me.

i'm the child of a mentally ill mother and a neglectful father. growing up, i was systematically abused, both psychologically and emotionally, by my father's girlfriend while he stood and watched, and still to this day denies it ever happened. i developed c-ptsd and social anxiety disorder as a result. i had two rounds of cbt years ago, which, while good for me, didn't "cure" me, and all the meds i tried didn't help either.

that's not even the problem though, only necessary background info. in august of 2020, my partner of 13 years suddenly up and left me for someone else. unable to sleep or eat, i was put on sick leave for a few months, which cost me my job and, subsequently, my apartment. with the housing market being what it is, plus the covid situation, i wasn't able to find a new place and have been officially homeless since march 2021. i stayed with my little brother for a bit, but my "family" eventually abandoned me, too, when i didn't get better fast enough, and threw me out.

none of my "friends" were able or willing to help, either, until i reconnected with an old internet buddy on the other side of the country who, without any hesitation, offered me her guest room for however long i needed it. i hate having to rely on near-strangers (we hadn't been in contact for years), but i was in no position to refuse. so i am currently staying in said guest room. the problem? my friend and her husband are ultra-religious evangelical nutjobs. as in, if they knew i was queer, i would be thrown out immediately. and as in, they hit their toddler when she doesn't obey them because proverbs say it's okay to hit your kids. and of course my friend isn't vaccinated, just to complete the picture.

i don't know how much longer i can survive being here. my friend lives in a tiny village (population of 720), so there's no public transport and i'm stuck inside this house (and mainly this one room) nearly 24/7. my social anxiety disorder makes it impossible for me to just apply for unemployment benefits—i'm trying, but the system isn't meant for people who are unemployed and homeless at the same time, and i'm falling through the cracks. i need to get back to my hometown of berlin (so i can finish my engineering degree), but to get an apartment there, i need to prove i have an income, and to get an income, i need a proper place to stay. i also need to prove i've paid my rent for the past three months, but as i haven't lived in a rental place of my own since march, i don't have that proof, which means my application for apartments automatically gets thrown out for being incomplete.

and amidst all this chaos, my brain has decided now is the perfect time to relive all the childhood trauma and i get at least one major panic attack per day. i don't remember when i last spent a day without crying. and ofc i can't see a therapist because i need to know where i'll be staying for a few months before i can be put on any therapist's waiting list. oh and i'm about to lose my health insurance cause unless i get unemployment benefits or find a new full-time job, i'd have to pay nearly 300€ a month, which i simply do not have, especially given that i'm already paying 500€+ a month from my meagre savings for a storage unit that has all my stuff in it.

until now, i've survived by talking to online buddies like @justplainsalty and @leliesblou and @cminerva and others in the mfmm+leverage fandoms in particular, and reading posts by @wilwheaton and @furiousgoldfish on abuse and trauma to reaffirm i'm not crazy, but i am so profoundly lonely in this place, and i honestly don't see myself surviving long beyond the new year.

so if anyone has any ideas or advice on what to do, please reach out, and feel free to reblog or share in other ways if you know anyone who might be able to help.

[brilapse]

MAN actually fuck the Canadian gov

prepare for rant I'm sorry

TL;DR for rant below: I'm now unemployed and incomeless because of stupid government workers :)

I was on EI Sickness Benefits on sick leave from my job because well, I've been having a hard time, my anxiety and PTSD was getting bad because of the stress from my job, we were understaffed, therefore working 3 hours overtime involuntarily everynight because there would still be people waiting in the phone queue at 6:30 when we closed, so no new people could call in, but anyone who called in before 6:30 and was waiting in queue for an agent, they would stay waiting in queue until they were all taken care of (which is dumb bc every other call centre I worked at closing time, anyone still waiting had to call back the next day AS IT SHOULD BE) so yeah, being understaffed, busy as fuck all day, back to back to back calls, no break inbetween, being forced to clear the queue 3 hours past closing time every night, management being toxic AF, and the company we outsourced HR for, which I can post about now cause I ain't an employee and more GENERAL FUCKING ELECTRIC BIG ASS FORTUNE 500 COMPANY taking advantage of us, made so many changes that fucked our job up, not giving a CRAP the shit we went through for their mistakes and their problems, it was just a shit show.

ANYWAYS, my sickness benefits ran out after 3 months, and I was either forced to go back to work there or quit with no pay. I spoke with my doctor and she said well, you cannot go back to work there, it is detrimental to your mental health, and I will attest to that. I called EI about extending my sickness benefits for a bit while I apply to other jobs because I cannot go back to work, and they said we cannot do that but hey did you know if you have a doctor's note from your doctor stating that you are able and ready to work just not at the job that you are currently at, we will pay you out regular EI benefits? And I was like awesome, that's great, I don't have to go back to work there while looking for another job and I quit LIKE MY DOCTOR TOLD ME TO AND LIKE THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CENTRE TOLD ME TO. GREAT! All you have to do is apply and send us your drs note. Okay awesome I can do that!

I did that. Got a call today saying I was being DENIED because the note wasn't specific enough, the note said "Brianna is able to return to work but not in the same capacity as her previous job" Apparently it needed to say something like " ME DR BLAH NLAH FORCED BRIANNA NOT TO GO BACK TO WORK BECAUSE SHE WOULD DIIIIIEEEEEEEE, SHE CAN WORK ANYWHERE ELSE THOUGH"

And I was like????????????? I wasn't told my note needed to be specific like that, I wasn't told any guidelines, THREE OF YOUR AGENTS AT THE EI CALL CENTRE told me I would just need a drs note saying j can't return to work at where I worked. And she was like oh yeah hahahahah we have a problem with agents telling people stuff like that, and I was like that's not my problem????? Train them better. YOU ARE THE GOV. THEY MAKE 55 000 A YEAR AT A CALL CENTRE!!!! I MADE HALF THAT AND HANDLED PEOPLES TAXES AND PENSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. NOT EVEN CANADA.

anyways so I was like ugh fine whatever, I can get a more precise drs note right now, what's your email to send it to you? Or do I just upload it the same way I did the first one?

YOU KNOOW WHAT DIS BITCH SAID??? OH NO SORRY. YOURE DENIED. I CANT TAKE A NEW DR NOTE. You have to appeal my decision and attach the new drs note on the appeal. Which btw can take 2 weeks to oh only 8 MONTHS!!!! :) :) Oh and we only accept appeals BY SNAIL MAIL YOU CANT UPLOAD IT LIKE NORMAL EI.

So yeah, here I am now jobless and income less because of the stupid fucking government :)

I mean Im applying to a bunch of places but who knows how long I'll be before I get a job? If my anxiety and PTSD was getting bad before, I'll lose my wits by the end of this week :)

[fullcirclehealthreview-blog]

Health Care Reform - Busting The 3 Biggest Myths Of ObamaCare

In the last few months we've seen a lot of Health Care Reform rules and regulations being introduced by the Health and Human Services Department. Every time that happens, the media gets hold of it and all kinds of articles are written in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the TV network news programs talk about it. All the analysts start talking about the pros and cons, and what it means to businesses and individuals.

The problem with this is, many times one writer looked at the regulation, and wrote a piece about it. Then other writers start using pieces from that first article and rewriting parts to fit their article. By the time the information gets widely distributed, the actual regulations and rules get twisted and distorted, and what actually shows up in the media sometimes just doesn't truly represent the reality of what the regulations say.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about what is going on with ObamaCare, and one of the things that I've noticed in discussions with clients, is that there's an underlying set of myths that people have picked up about health care reform that just aren't true. But because of all they've heard in the media, people believe these myths are actually true.

Today we're going to talk about three myths I hear most commonly. Not everybody believes these myths, but enough do, and others are unsure what to believe, so it warrants dispelling these myths now.

The first one is that health care reform only affects uninsured people. The second one is that Medicare benefits and the Medicare program isn't going to be affected by health care reform. And then the last one is that health care reform is going to reduce the costs of healthcare.

Health Care Reform Only Affects Uninsured

Let's look at the first myth about health care reform only affecting uninsured people. In a lot of the discussions I have with clients, there are several expressions they use: "I already have coverage, so I won't be affected by ObamaCare," or "I'll just keep my grandfathered health insurance plan," and the last one - and this one I can give them a little bit of leeway, because part of what they're saying is true -- is "I have group health insurance, so I won't be affected by health care reform."

Well, the reality is that health care reform is actually going to affect everybody. Starting in 2014, we're going to have a whole new set of health plans, and those plans have very rich benefits with lots of extra features that the existing plans today don't offer. So these new plans are going to be higher cost.

Health Care Reform's Effect On People With Health Insurance

People that currently have health insurance are going to be transitioned into these new plans sometime in 2014. So the insured will be directly affected by this because the health plans they have today are going away, and they will be mapped into a new ObamaCare plan in 2014.

Health Care Reform Effect On The Uninsured

The uninsured have an additional issue in that if they don't get health insurance in 2014, they face a mandate penalty. Some of the healthy uninsured are going to look at that penalty and say, "Well, the penalty is 1% of my adjusted gross income; I make $50,000, so I'll pay a $500 penalty or $1,000 for health insurance. In that case I'll just take the penalty." But either way, they will be directly affected by health care reform. Through the mandate it affects the insured as well as the uninsured.  Get More Info Full Circle Health reviews

Health Care Reform Effect On People With Grandfathered Health Plans

People that have grandfathered health insurance plans are not going to be directly affected by health care reform. But because of the life cycle of their grandfathered health plan, it's going to make those plans more costly as they discover that there are plans available now that they can easily transfer to that have a richer set of benefits that would be more beneficial for any chronic health issues they may have.

For people who stay in those grandfathered plans, the pool of subscribers in the plan are going to start to shrink, and as that happens, the cost of those grandfathered health insurance plans will increase even faster than they are now. Therefore, people in grandfathered health plans will also be impacted by ObamaCare.

Health Care Reform Effect On People With Group Health Insurance

The last one, the small group marketplace, is going to be the most notably affected by health care reform. Even though the health care reform regulations predominantly affect large and medium-sized companies, and companies that have 50 or more employees, smaller companies will also be affected, even though they're exempt from ObamaCare itself.

What many surveys and polls are starting to show is that some of the businesses that have 10 or fewer employees are going to look seriously at their option to drop health insurance coverage altogether, and no longer have it as an expense of the company. Instead, they will have their employees get health insurance through the health insurance exchanges.

In fact, some of the carriers are now saying they anticipate that up to 50% of small groups with 10 or fewer employees are going to drop their health insurance plan sometime between 2014 and 2016. That will have a very large effect on all people who have group health insurance, especially if they're in one of those small companies that drop health insurance coverage.

It's not just uninsured that are going to be affected by health care reform, everybody is going to be impacted.

Health Care Reform Will Not Affect Medicare

The next myth was that health care reform would not affect Medicare. This one is kind of funny because right from the very get-go, the most notable cuts were specifically targeting the Medicare program. When you look at Medicare's portion of the overall federal, you can see that in 1970, Medicare was 4% of the U.S. federal budget, and by 2011, it had grown to 16% of the federal budget.

If we look at it over the last 10 years, from 2002 to 2012, Medicare is the fastest growing part of the major entitlement programs in the federal government, and it's grown by almost 70% during that period of time.

Because of how large Medicare is and how fast it's growing, it's one of the key programs that ObamaCare is trying to get a handle on, so it doesn't bankrupts the U.S. Medicare is going to be impacted, and in fact the initial cuts to Medicare have already been set at about $716 billion.

Medicare Advantage Cuts And The Effects

Of that $716 billion cut, the Medicare Advantage program gets cut the most, and will see the bulk of the effects. What that's going to do is increase the premiums people pay for their Medicare Advantage plans, and reduce the benefits of those plans.

Increased Medicare Advantage Costs

Right now, many people choose Medicare Advantage plans because they have zero premium. When given a choice on Medicare plans, they view it as an easy choice because it's a free program for them, "Sure, I get Medicare benefits, I don't pay anything for it; why not." Now they're going to see Medicare premiums start to climb, and go from zero to $70, $80, $90, $100. We've already seen that with some of the Blue Cross Medicare Advantage plans this year. It's going to get worse as we go forward in the future.

Reduced Medicare Advantage Benefits

In order to minimize the premium increases, what many Medicare Advantage plans will do is increase the copayments, increase the deductibles, and change the co-insurance rates. In order to keep the premiums down, they'll just push more of the costs onto the Medicare Advantage recipients. Increased premiums and reduced benefits are what we're going to see coming in Medicare Advantage plan.

Fewer Medicare Physicians

And then if that wasn't bad enough, as Medicare doctors begin receiving lower and lower reimbursements for Medicare Advantage people, they're going to stop taking new Medicare Advantage recipients. We're going to see the pool of doctors to support people in Medicare starting to shrink as well, unless changes are made over the course of the next five years. So Medicare is going to be affected, and it's going to be affected dramatically by health care reform. Everybody's kind of on pins and needles, waiting to see what's going to happen there.

Health Care Reform Will Reduce Healthcare Costs

The last one, and probably the biggest myth about health care reform, is everybody thinking that ObamaCare will reduce healthcare costs. That's completely hogwash. Early on in the process, when they were trying to come up with the rules and regulations, the emphasis and one of the goals for reform was to reduce healthcare costs.

But somewhere along the line, the goal actually shifted from cost reduction to regulation of the health insurance industry. Once they made that transition, they pushed cost reductions to the back burner. There are some small cost reduction components in ObamaCare, but the real emphasis is on regulating health insurance. The new plans, for example, have much richer benefits than many plans today: richer benefits means richer prices.

Health Care Reform Subsidies: Will They Make Plans Affordable?

A lot of people hope, "The subsidies are going to make health insurance plans more affordable, won't they?" Yes, in some cases the subsidies will help to make the plans affordable for people. But if you make $1 too much, the affordable plans are suddenly going to become very expensive and can cost thousands of dollars more over the course of a year. Will a subsidy make it affordable or not affordable is really subject to debate at this point in time. We're going to have to actually see what the rates look like for these plans.

New Health Care Reform Taxes Passed On To Consumers

Then there's a whole ton of new health care reform taxes that have been added into the system to help pay for ObamaCare. That means everybody who has a health insurance plan, whether it's in a large group, a small group, or just as an individual, is going to be taxed in order to pay for the cost of reform. Health care reform adds various taxes on health care that insurance companies will have to collect and pay, but they're just going to pass it right through to us, the consumer.

Mandate Won't Reduce Uninsured Very Much

During the initial years of health care reform, the mandate is actually pretty weak. The mandate says that everyone must get health insurance or pay a penalty (a tax). What that's going to do is make healthy people just sit on the sidelines and wait for the mandate to get to the point where it finally forces them to buy health insurance. People with chronic health conditions that couldn't get health insurance previously, are all going to jump into healthcare at the beginning of 2014.

At the end of that year, the cost for the plans is going to go up in 2015. I can guarantee that that's going to happen, because the young healthy people are not going to be motivated to get into the plans. They won't see the benefit of joining an expensive plan, whereas the chronically ill people are going to get into the plans and drive the costs up.

Health Care Reform's Purpose Is Just A Matter Of Semantics

The last portion of this is, one of the key things - and it's funny, I saw it for the first two years, 2010, and '11 - one of the key things that was listed in the documentation from the Obama administration was: Health Care Reform would help reduce the cost that we would see in the future if we do nothing today. That was emphasized over and over again. That was how they presented health care cost reduction, that it would reduce the future costs. Not today, but it would reduce what we would pay in the future if we did nothing about it now.

Well, that's great, 10 years from now we're going to pay less than we might have paid. And we all know how accurate future projections usually are. In the meantime, we're all paying more today, and we're going to pay even more in 2014 and more in 2015 and 2016. People are going to be pretty upset about that.

Conclusion

Those three myths, that health care reform is only going to affect the uninsured, that it won't affect Medicare beneficiaries, and that ObamaCare is going to reduce healthcare costs, are just that. They are myths. There's nothing to them.

It's really important that you pay attention to what's happening with health care reform, because there are more changes that are coming as we go through this year, 2013. Knowing how to position yourself so that you're in the right spot to be able to make the best decision at the beginning of 2014 is going to be really important for everybody.

[adeleymccormick1990-blog]

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[jxckspxcer]

So here’s your Official Nightmare Update !

PLEASE CIRCULATE (use non-rp blogs if you wish).

BOLDED ITEMS FOR MAXIMUM SKIMMAGE

Current Issues in Murs Life Outside Their Control:

My STEPMOTHER, who I live with, IS GOING TO DIE. It is certain she will, they just don’t know how long it will take. It could be a month, she could make it til the summer, but we know she’s not going to make it. 

SHE PAYS A MAJORITY OF OUR BILLS and her name is on a majority of the things we have (apartment lease, the car (none of us have licenses except her), the phone, the cable, even the cat is hers). 

My dads cancer is getting better, but he’s still weak and still has COPD. He’s trying to get on disability, but I AM ESSENTIALLY HIS PARENTIFIED CHILD, because I have to take care of him (make him food, maintain the house, clean his dishes, wash his clothes, call people for him, keep track of phone numbers, organize his phone, fix electronics he doesn’t understand and deal with his constant anxiety and complaining and nagging about how shit sucks like I don’t know). 

Meanwhile I recently started antidepressants because my depression was getting so bad I was having EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWNS on a regular basis, dropping to the floor and sobbing and twitching and losing control of my mind and capacities. I also have to deal with ADHD; PTSD; Social Anxiety; Years of Childhood Neglect Making Me An Incapable Adult; the fears of being a queer, low-income, mentally scattered and addiction-prone adult—— And I’M ABOUT TO BE SHUNTED INTO INDEPENDENCE. Maybe not right away, but even now, I’m essentially the head of house. I’m the new head of house. That’s so fucked up man.

Without my stepmom, I don’t know how we’re going to do anything. WE CAN BARELY AFFORD OUR BILLS NOW. 

We’re trying to hash out what we’ll do when Susan kicks the bucket and THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW: 

When she dies, all her stuff is mine, because my dad doesn’t like material possessions and her family sucks egg. So I have a lot of furniture at least.

I can either get a new cheaper apartment with my dad (I told him I don’t want to, I don’t want to be responsible for him medically, and the idea of waking up one day to him dead in my home freaks me out. He says he could make it a few more years easy if the cancer is gone, but we’re on the fence, because the only other option is he goes into assisted living and--) Or I can get a room mate and move out on my own. 

GETTING A NEW JOB IS TOP PRIORITY. My current job keeps slashing my hours, and the hours available are already poor (2hr chunks, 3 times a day, like twice a week ? its not good money, even a full-time minimum wage job would be better). I’m sending out hella applications, but I haven’t gotten any call backs and I’m in a horrible state because of my situation and I worry I’m going to fuck up interviews at this rate.

IN GENERAL FINANCES AND OUR SITUATION ARE SO SKETCH AND TERRIFYING AND UNPREDICTABLE AND I’M LOSING MY MIND ! !!

I CAN’T PREDICT, I CAN’T PLAN, I CAN’T PANIC, I CAN’T RELAX.

Even on the antidepressants I’m starting to have nervous breakdowns again, and that’s not a good sign. I’ve also started my period, for the first time in three years, due to the drug cocktail in my body and skimping on my testosterone cause I don’t have enough ROOM on my DRY SKIN for BLISTER INDUCING PATCHES, so who knows when that’s going to stop!!!

On top of that, our washing machine is broken, I have tooth pain, I need to go to therapy and work, I need to Not Die, I need my DAD to Not Die, I have to take care of our depressed cat, and so many more minor inconveniences that my emotional dysregulation CANNOT HANDLE!!! 

Also my birthdays MARCH 7th and I’Mmmm

Did you know all my mother figures have died in my birth month ? I’m never going to be able to celebrate my birthday again at this rate !!

sO PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO MY EMERGENCY SAVINGS!!

CURRENTLY I HAVE $500 IN EMERGENCY SAVINGS.

I dO NOT KNOW WHAT A GOOD AMOUNT OF EMERGENCY SAVINGS IS!!

RENT IS $1600, CARETAKERS ARE $550 BUT PAID THROUGH MY DADS INSURANCE FOR NOW, MONTHLY TRANSPORTATION IS $80. BILLS?? GOD IF I KNOW, THEY CHANGE SO MUCH AND MY PARENTS CAN’T/WON’T KEEP MY IN THE LOOP, PROBABLY LIKE $400, AND IF ANY POINT THE POLITICAL SHIT GETS OUT OF HAND, OUR MEDICAL SITUATION WILL SURELY BE WORTH OVER $3000 A MONTH COMBINED, BUT THAT’S THE FUTURE SO HHH

DONATIONS AS SMALL AS $5 ARE A BLESSING AND EVEN A REBLOG GOES A LONG WAY.

PAYPAL / KOFI / IDGAF-- AMAZON

PAYPAL / KOFI / IDGAF-- AMAZON

PAYPAL / KOFI / IDGAF-- AMAZON

PAYPAL / KOFI / IDGAF-- AMAZON

PAYPAL / KOFI / IDGAF-- AMAZON

I WILL BE OPENING COMMISSIONS SOON, AND ANY KOFI DONATIONS WILL BE GIVEN A PAPER SKETCH OF WHATEVER THEY WANT. MULTIPLE DONATIONS CAN PUT THAT TOWARDS COMMISSIONS, OR EVEN A FUTURE OF  D E B T IDC MAN I NEED THIS. 

I don’t take assistance lightly, every donation is taken very seriously, and I will fucking APPRECIATE you man. If I am ever capable of helping you in the future, I will. It’s mutual aid, help those in need when you’re capable and hope that the world will help you in your time of need in return ! 

FOR THE FOLKS I RP WITH:

I may or may not disappear in the next few months, I may or may not just keep acting natural on my blog and occasionally wincing about my life, but I promise things will go back to normal eventually. Please just keep in mind this stuff is my safe place, my favorite hobby, my comfort du jour,, and my struggles do not define me, I’m still your friend and I’m still here for you, even if I’m in dire straits and the semi-responsibility of a blog (i know it’s a hobby but i want so badly to make sure we’re all having fun) can stress me out sometimes. I’m really trying to be positive, and be proud of what I’m doing in terms of taking on responsibility and keeping our life organized, but it’s... it’s hard and I don’t want to bring anyone down, but I want you to know it’s happening, at the same time.

I know the best of you can be understanding. But I’m still, sorry for all this I guess.

[maisstories]

I Need Your Help

To be more precise, my girlfriend needs your help. The reason I am the one writing this text is because right now she is so depressed and discouraged that she doesn’t have the strength to believe asking for help would make a difference, and that… that terrifies me.

For those who don’t know us, I am Mai, and my girlfriend is Kari. Under different circumstances, we should have our lives all nicely sorted out, but as we are all aware, we live in the kind of dystopian world society at large likes to pretend only happens in fiction. Especially Kari. You see, I’m from Spain, and Kari is from the US. This means an entire ocean separates us (otherwise I would’ve bundled her up and brought her home, believe me).

Kari is a poor wlw who lives in a very conservative area (as in, Bible Belt conservative). She has ADHD, which went untreated most of her life, hampering her at every turn. First, because she grew up in a very conservative Catholic family and most Catholic families just Don’t Believe in Those Things. Now… well, now because she has no medical insurance and can’t afford to pay for medication. Cute, isn’t it? And that’s not even the best part. Kari has depression, that I mentioned, but this whole situation, and the hopelessness it causes her, has brought forth suicidal ideation. I don’t have the words to express just how scared I am by this. It paralyzes me. There is nothing, physically nothing I can do if they ever get the better of her.

To add to this, it has been made abundantly clear to Kari that her parents won’t help her if she becomes homeless. They didn’t want a child to begin with. A gay child? Yeah, no, forget about it.

(On a bit of a bright note, Kari has two adopted cats, which are the cutest fur balls over. They’re her closest emotional support most days, and I am very grateful for them. I can’t cuddle her or be physically there for her at all, but I can at least ask her to go cuddle them. They’re not even on the particularly scratchy side for cats).

Currently, Kari has a job, but despite taking on as many extra hours as possible, she cannot make enough money for rent. In fact, she cannot make many other basic necessities, which I will list here because they’re important, I am worried sick, and we really do need help:

-Work: Kari lost her previous job for one of those completely absurd, US-only reasons back in late October. I say absurd because any company trying to pull that shit here in Spain, and most likely anywhere in the European Union, would’ve been fined out of business. But hey, Country of Freedom and all that, isn’t it? She finally found a new job mid-November. Lower pay, though, which means it doesn’t help her cover full rent.

-Rent: As many people in the US will know, and others not from the US will have heard, rent outside of isolated areas is ridiculously expensive, especially for such a large and unpopulated country. The Wonders of Capitalism. As such, Kari is forced to pay a truly monstrous amount of money for a minuscule space to live in, one that ate up most of her previous salary and that surpasses her current one.

-Bills: Let’s not forget these. She rations. As much as she can. Electricity, water, internet… she goes for cheapest and least use, so far as to monitor her use of water during showers, but this still adds to her expenses.

-Food: Now’s where things get to a truly awful degree. When she moved to the place she lives in now (and if anyone wants the story that led to this move, please ask, because that’s an entirely other level of fucked up), she had to apply for food stamps, because she had barely no money left to feed herself and her two adopted cats after all the mandatory expenses. Food stamps people don’t look at the money you have left after bills, they just look at your income, so she was allotted $16. Useful, right? Anyway, fast forward to late October: Kari loses her job, so, obviously, one of the first things she does is contact the food stamps people to update her situation and have her allotment reevaluated. No response. Contact again. No response. This keeps going on. Mid-November, she gets a new job (still no response from the food stamps people despite the many attempts to contact them). Last Friday, her food supplies consisted of a bit of chicken, two fish fillets, and a couple eggs. I do not kid you. Today, the food stamp people finally answered her call: they won’t look into her case until, at least, December.

That’s it for the basics. As you see, it’s a wonderful situation.

Now, my role in this, as I’m sure some of you are wondering.

Let me start by saying this: I am a heavily disabled woman (nearly blind) living in an isolated area with the worst public transport system this side of the Mediterranean Sea. I am incapable of even getting out of home without assistance and someone to drive me at the moment. This means, having a job where I currently live is out of the question (I’m working on getting a job somewhere else where I’ll be able to live on my own. Sort of). My only source of income right now is my Patreon account, the earnings of which go fully to Kari because my girlfriend’s wellbeing matters to me much more than anything I could ever need for myself. I may say whatever I want about my parents’ belief that my relationship isn’t real because they don’t believe you can forge real connections through the internet (or the fact they want me to have a BOYfriend because they want grandchildren), but at least they’re so terrified I’ll break the moment I step outside on my own that they take good care of me.

Still, unfortunately, I’m only a writer, and a writer’s Patreon doesn’t make enough money to cover for such serious issues.

But Kari is the most important person in my life. I’m not exaggerating. I never thought I’d fall in love. I’ve always been the weird one out, the blind kid teachers coddled too much out of pity so other kids disliked and picked on, the one who was so odd that didn’t even fit with the weird kids in school. That happened everywhere, anywhere I went. Even in some fandom groups. It came to the point I stopped trying. It came to the point I thought once my parents died I wouldn’t have anyone. I’d stopped making plans for the future. There was no future for me.

And then I met Kari. She can make me smile with a silly gif and an obscure quote I thought no one else knew at 3am when I’m on the verge of tears because I feel trapped in my own house; she can get me excited about doing a joint cosplay in the distant future when I’d given up on cosplay years ago because I had no one who wanted to go to cons with me; she listens to my stupid history rants and even shows interest in them, when the most I’m used to getting are eye rolls and a change of topic.

Kari is the best that’s happened to me. Ever. And I want her to be happy. I want her to not have to worry about rent; I want her to be able to buy herself a chocolate bar because she feels like it without having to feel guilty for wasting the money. I want her to be able to live without the fear of being evicted every month, without having to worry about tomorrow’s meals because she ran out of food stamps and the fridge has only a can of soup left for the weekend. I want her to be able to go to the doctor when she’s sick and buy the medication she needs to get better.

But I don’t have the power to do this. Not now, not yet. So I’m asking you, everyone out there, to please help us. Help her.

And, I’m afraid, November is an awful month for Kari. Due to the late date at which she found her new job, she is missing a large chunk of rent. I’m doing everything in my power to gather money, and I ask —no, beg— you to help. Donate something, anything. Even if it is small, many small donations can make a difference.

Originally, we wanted to do a GoFundMe page with a three-month goal of 975 dollars to cover that period’s expenses (yes, guys, we’re missing about 500 this month. It’s that horrible), but every single crowdfunding website we have found works through bank accounts. Banks in the US are sharks; they tax you for not having enough income, for not having enough activity… Basically, if you’re poor in the US, you have to pay to have a bank account that will never have any money in it because the bank will eat it up. So, until we find an alternate crowdfunding site that allows to collect through paypal, we have set us several other safe forms through which you guys can donate to help Kari.

Paypal.Me: https://paypal.me/findyourwaycrafts

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/findyourway

Kari has a crafts store, because she is a fantastic artist (and you should totally check it out), with much stuff already on it and other stuff planned to come:

Store: https://findyourway.storenvy.com/

Store Tumblr: https://findyourwaycrafts.tumblr.com/

However, these things take time to take off, and we are running out of time in November. So please, please, help us cover the remainder of Kari’s rent for this month. Even if it’s just a dollar, three, five, a purchase of a necklace. Anything. Please, help us. Help Kari keep a roof over her head this Winter.

[heksenhaus]

on the economics of disability.

let me be as clear as possible, now:

the current rhode island minimum wage, in 2020, is $10.50/hour (which, were i working full time, would amount to $1680/month, which, as most of you will point out, isn't anything near a living wage in these times when many states are in the process of moving to a $15/hour wage [which is still not nearly enough.])

my disability benefits are $920/month (which comes out to $5.75/hour as a an hourly wage or just over half the minimum wage [and just over one third of the minimum wage that many states are moving to.)

along with that cash benefit, most of my healthcare costs are taken care of through medicare and my state's medicaid program (however! the latter pays my medicare premium and is entirely based on income so it's always tenuous and neither pays for the over the counter meds that i need to sustain myself.)

now, in order to retain my state benefits i can never have a total of $2000 in any combination of cash, bank accounts, or personal assetts (so, in order to actually receive proper healthcare and not die in a ditch, i am forced to remain in poverty and am not allowed the luxury of saving up for things like car repairs/insurance, simple vacations, or even emergency contingencies.  i am allowed to own a car and a house but not allowed to buy one and, in theory, if the state really wanted to be an asshole they could deny my benefits because i own books, records, and other personal possessions that would value more than $2000 if bought new.)

so, as you can imagine, it remains a struggle to simply stay above water, especially when things like travel are brought into play as i live in a rural area with no access to public transportation and the cheapest car insurance available to me is about $500 every six months (and even though i am still able to have a living situation where i am not forced to pay a level of rent that far surpasses anything like the minimum wage but that's incredibly tenuous as both of my parents [why i live with and have been taking care of] age into an eventual death where i will, most likely, find myself homeless due to the fact that public housing in this country is generally impossible to acquire without spending years on a waiting list [all of which are closed to new submissions] and are also generally really poor in quality.])

all of this has made it clear that i am part of the american institution of the forced underclass- people who are intentionally kept in crippling poverty which allows the working class to see itself as 'productive' compared to us and an ownership class that exploits workers, in part by using this forced underclass as a cautionary tale.

we're seen as parasites, as layabouts, as 'lazy,' rather than as meaningful contributors to culture and society and our best efforts to better our lives are bested by legislation and increased policing.

we are kept on the edge of death as a warning to workers- 'work hard or become the dregs, like us.  enrich the rich or be punished, like us.'

but we are not parasites.

the wealthy are by keeping both us and the workers under their heels, tantalising us with the occasional glimpse of the gold plated pigshit of aspiration and that lie of a notion that, if we just work 'hard enough,'  we can all overcome whatever obstacles there are (while the rich continue to shore up those obstacles.)

...

in the past few decades, since first receiving disability benefits, i have been able to build some semblance of a life.

i have and have had good friends, good partners.

i have grown a decent career as an artist, critic and philosopher.

i have been able to participate in and work with communities both local and scattered across the globe.

i know exactly what good things i've been able to build without needing the toxic myth of 'luck' to guide me.

but none of it will keep me alive when the lights go out and i find myself alone.

and none of it helps me to take care of myself in the way that so many americans (even those in poverty) are able to do.

and, frankly, that is unacceptable.

.

.

.

(thank you for taking the time to read this and i hope you'll take something of value away from this.  and please consider contributing to my patreon as every single dollar really does help a great deal in regards to things like feeding my cats and being able to afford even meager supplies to continue my work as an artist.)

.

email:

heksenhaus@gmail.com

patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/heksenhaus

bandcamp: heksenhaus.bandcamp.com

snailmail: s.j. bagley

p.o. box 2842

providence, ri

02906

[hustlemeanokay]

Warning - this got a little long winded... but it’s something that I just... I get long winded about lol. Also - I’m not trying to rag on anyone in the UK who dreams of living here... though I don’t understand it. It’s just - you should be aware and I don’t see this said enough. Yes, it’s delivered in a very passionate way, because it’s shit that is frustrating for people who live here. And I know the UK is far from perfect but the things that y’all do have down, y’all have it down pat. 

Okay, I get that the US isn’t a completely horrible place to live, currently. Like, we don’t get jailed for saying Trump’s a complete and total fucking moron. See, I can say that and not have my door busted in and be hauled off to some hole in the ground as a political prisoner. 

But when I hear people who live in, like, the UK saying they want to move to America... I swear my left eye twitches just a little bit. Like, I get it - the grass is always greener and all that but... seriously? Are... are they serious when they say that? They... they’re aware of the problems... right? 

Not the social and political problems - those are everywhere. There’s racism and sexism everywhere, there’s corrupt politicians everywhere. That’s not what I’m talking about - yes those things need to be worked on but their virtually identical no matter where you are. 

I’m talking about things like... health care. Paid time off. Employment laws. The cost of college. The cost of retirement. Fuck, the cost of living. Those things. These systemic problems that are just... glazed over. That effect every single person in this fucked up country. Unless you’re of the super rich - every single one of these things are a problem for you. 

Health care. They’re trying to get the whole pre-existing condition thing rolling again. Where, and I’m not even kidding, Trump’s dumbass admin is trying to roll back the Affordable Care Act - which would once again put pre-existing conditions back into play... which pregnancy was considered a pre-existing condition. I wish I was making this up. That’s just a small window into how fucked the system was and could so very easily be again. By the way, the ACA didn’t happen until the mid-90′s. So my generation is the first that was able to actually get pregnancy fucking covered under insurance with no bitch-sessions. And, just for comparison - for the UK peoples out there, we paid over $4000 for the delivery of our son over ten years ago and we had extremely good insurance then that we paid over $800 a month for at the time. That was just his bill, not mine. Just for him. Also - for example... we have insurance, it’s not great insurance but it’s insurance. We pay about $100 a week for it through my husband’s company now. And, to date, this year... we’ve paid... out of pocket, not including the company’s one time benefit of $1500 on an HSA card which is nice but ultimately gone in a heartbeat, so, out of our pocket... not including premiums... we’ve paid almost $10,000 in medical expenses. Only $1000 of it is out of ordinary, for my husband’s procedure that he had to have. The rest has all been RX’s, doctor’s visits, and labs. So yea. There’s that. 

Paid time off. You’re fucking lucky if you get any of that here. That’s why companies tout it as being a benefit. “Oh, this company has good benefits” Good benefits = they actually offer insurance, doesn’t mean it’s good - and you get some semblance of paid time off. Companies here aren’t required to pay you anything extra for working on national holidays and they don’t have to give you any paid vacation or sick days, at all. They are only required to give you maternity leave of 6 weeks or paternity leave, if you request it but none of that is required to be paid either. There’s Family Leave, also not paid time off. And, they will and can do anything to get around paying time and a half for overtime. And, getting into the whole Employment laws thing - companies rely on people not knowing the laws so they can get away with shady ass shit. This happens everywhere, from the corner store and the fucking McDonald’s all the way up to corporate offices. 

College. HA! There are a million bright brilliant people in this country that don’t have a degree because they couldn’t afford to go to college. Or, their parents made just a smidge too much for them to qualify for financial aid and they didn’t want to be burred under a mountain of debt. We’re talking tens of thousands of dollars of debt, what a way to start your life out, huh? Four years at a University? You’re easily looking at $40,000 plus. Easy. Like, wouldn’t be hard to do at all and that’s not even the “best” University either. That’s just like... that one over there. Oh, and student loans? Yeah, interest is charged on those bitches too. Can’t pay them? Oh don’t worry, you can put them on hold for like 36 collective months or something, but they’ll still accrue interest the entire time. And that interest isn’t fixed either, it’s variable. So, good luck with that. 

Retirement? Fuck that. You better hope and pray that social security is still around. For some, even if you do what you’re supposed to and can actually squirrel some away for retirement - you can have some rich fat fuck in an office somewhere decide that he wants your money instead and bam, your retirement is just gone. And that’s assuming you can even afford to have any of your paycheck set aside. Because the cost to live in this country can be insane. True, there are rural places where the cost of living is cheaper but you also don’t get paid shit there either. 

And you still have medical bills when you’re old. What about Medicare, you might be wondering? Oh - you mean medical insurance for the elderly? That shit’s not free anymore. Sure, going to the doctor might be. But if you need an ambulance, you’re still fucked. If you need a prescription? You’d better hope you signed up during that small window for your prescription drug plan, which carries a monthly premium, so you can get your prescriptions. Because, old people never need those, right? And what about care? Well, Medicare will cover some care, like certain kinds of home health care. But not all. And if you need to go into a nursing facility for longer than 100 days? You’d better hope you got buku bucks because Medicare only pays for 100 days. Then, you’d better magically grow younger or some shit. Or, hope you’ve been paying for nursing home insurance. And, hope you’ve been updating that policy to reflect the insane rising costs of those places. Or, if you’re lucky, hope you’ve got family that will help take care of you. To get Medicaid though, you can’t have more than $2000 in assets, at all. That includes life insurance policies with cash values. You can keep your house and like one car but that’s it - and you can’t rent that house out or sell that car once you get Medicaid or you’re benefits can be interrupted because somehow, you can turn $500 into $2000 or something. And - this is the really shitty part, say you are in a nursing home and you do manage to get Medicaid. Medicare still won’t pay a dime to the facility but Medicaid will. But... they’ll also take your entire social security check minus $60 a month. So, if you do still have a house and a car to worry about that you cannot rent out, you’ll have to somehow make that $60 pay for any incidentals you might need (think soap... toothpaste... deodorant... your favorite candies... you get the idea) and for property taxes... insurances... all of that. So... good luck with that. 

Basically... the slogan here is that you can have the American dream if you work hard. But what they don’t tell you is that even if you do get it? You’re probably not going to be able to keep it. 

You can work your ass off your whole life, get that house, build a small business, make it. Not get filthy rich, but do okay. And then you get old and can’t work anymore but it’s okay - you’ve managed to save a little and you’ve got your social security so you’ll be okay. Until you get sick. Or your health starts to go downhill. Then, you’ll watch all that you worked so hard for have to be sold off just to pay your medical bills and go to pay for your care. If you’re lucky, you’ve got kids that can help. But someone, either you or them, is going to have to lose something in order to pay for your care. 

If you aren’t rich, you’ll still not be able to make it. There’s never a break.

For a country that’s all about freedom... you’ll never have a single moment where you’ll be free. 

And for those in the UK starting to go off about VAT. We still pay taxes. We pay sales tax, property taxes, extra taxes added to our gasoline, to the liquor, to the tobacco products, to fucking tampons! We pay licensing fees, renewal fees, tag fees, registration fees, vehicle sales taxes and title fees. We pay federal income taxes, many states pay state income taxes, fuck - some cities have city income taxes. We have toll roads and toll bridges. We still pay taxes on top of all of this. So give me fucking VAT any god damned day of the week if it means I can go to the fucking doctor and not drop $200 fucking bucks just for them to renew the same fucking prescription I’ve been on for years so I can go to the pharmacy and pay $30 for a generic RX for one month.