#also fuck the us healthcare system

[bouncing-flowers]

Ya know it would be cool to not feel pain (:

[mueritos]

i hope we continue to see more protests within the US military. i see a lot of leftists and folks who are anti-military who have such an open disdain for the people who are in the military, yet neglect to considering the conditions this country makes to produce ideology, poverty, and the illusion of choice to make all kinds of people choose to enlist in the military. You ever see those videos of ROTC kids recording each other asking why they joined the military and everyone's like, "healthcare", "it helped me go to college", "I was bored" or "free ptsd lol". I hate to remind everyone but folks who are in the military are people, too, and they are the same victims and perpetrators of violence as the rest of you, we have all been shallowly conditioned to view each other as enemies just because one person is wearing army greens and the other is not.

some of the biggest anti-war advocates are those who engaged in war. Veterans who genuinely believed they were protecting the US against "terrorism" come back with blood on their hands, and they choose to realize that it was US imperialism that forced them to carry out violence, instead of doubling down and shielding themselves from the fact that they too are capable of atrocities... This is a class of people who are intentionally conditioned to be as poor and as ideologically aligned to US imperialism so that the military has a never-ending pool to send their youth to destroy other country's youth. The only people I have ever heard say "do not join the military" are those who ARE military.

This is in no way to ever excuse or explain away any of the atrocious war crimes and violence this industry and its people have committed against others. What I am saying is that we absolutely cannot cast aside the individuals who have been victimized within US imperialism, even if they are wearing army greens. I was speaking with my Palestinian classmate last week and another classmate--a member of the US air force-- walked up to me and struck up a conversation. My military classmate showed me her new bird, bid both of us goodbye, and left. My Palestinian classmate asked me if I was close with her, and I said we talked quite often, and she said, "I never met a person who's in the military. I still hate the military, but I never knew that they did, too. I didn't realize that they were also victims."

If my Palestinian classmate--one who is actively watching her own community die--can understand that it is not individuals who are the problem but it is in fact systems, US imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism...why can't we all? And she has EVERY reason to hate any individual military member. A lot of online activism just creates more barriers. if your optics look bad, complicated, or contradictory, you are cast aside. Everyone has got the be the perfect activist, you can never make a mistake or share a half-baked thought, you should always believe every word from a marginalized persons mouth (because being marginalized doesn't mean you're not entrenched in white supremacy too!) and you should never question what you see...Do you know what you sound like? The very imperialists who are convincing poor whites to vote against themselves. Perfectionism is white supremacy. Black & white thinking is white supremacy.

I'd rather have a military member who genuinely believed in the US imperialism machine but was disillusioned after being deployed as my comrade than some leftist who cherishes the performance of "being a good person". I don't want "good people" in our movements. I want humans who care. I want humans who make mistakes and who learn from them. I want humans who accept the messiness of a person. I want humans who hold others accountable and allow themselves to take responsibility for their actions. I want people who change for themselves and others.

fight systems, not individual people. we can change each other, but if we're too preoccupied looking like the World's Perfect Activists, we will only consume each other alive. Connect to your fellow humans, forever and always.

[silvermoon424]

Btw he's in the rest of the comment section shitting on poor people and claiming that "people are just lazy, find a better-paying job or go to trade school if you want to stop being poor"

I'm so blackpilled on capitalism and its bootlickers at this point that I'm all for people like this being thrown into the gulag for the crime of being fucking stupid. And for upholding the systems that are killing us all.

[tj-crochets]

Turns out it was not an error at the MRI facility, my insurance (which is literally the best insurance available in my area as an individual) just won't cover it* That is incredibly frustrating, both because what's the damn point of paying so much for health insurance if it doesn't cover testing, and because I get so much stuff from the insurance company about how they support preventative testing and care but when it's time to pay out they won't put their money where their mouth is. *technically they are "covering" it in that it was approved and the total cost will only be what they've negotiated with the MRI provider, but the insurance company isn't covering any of that cost. At all. None of it.

[dreamingofneji]

I know I've promised to share the Naruto meta analyzing key aspects of the series through several academic lenses that I've been writing, and I have shared the rough draft of the introduction. I'm posting this to let anyone who's been waiting for it know that I'm going to have to take an indefinite hiatus. I need to focus on my health, which has rapidly been declining, with no answers. All of the tests and specialists I've been through; MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, bloodwork (a LOT of bloodwork), urine testing, everything. I've been to a rheumatologist, a neurologist, a gastro surgeon; hell, the emergency room several times. I was fired from a job I really liked because I was missing too many days due to health issues. I had to withdraw from college due to my health. Everything is coming back normal, but my health worsening is NOT normal. I can barely even get out of bed without throwing up or needing to almost immediately lay back down because my heart feels like it's going to explode, so naturally, writing has not been my highest priority; hopefully you can understand.

[abluescarfonwaston]

I visited a therapy place that said they specialize in trans healthcare (and the receptionist insisted they could refill medications) and they couldn't. But worse they didn't know any doctors who do. Suggested a place that does HRT out of pocket. Fine. Contact them.

First email.

Attached form:

Patient Form FEMALE.

Me, a trans man: I suspect this is going to go poorly.

[horrid-mothlegs]

Packer shopping makes my bottom dysphoria 10x worse bro just. Sedate me

[what-even-is-sleep]

Can’t wait for my drivers license to arrive so I can be driving legally again for the first time in 1.5 years!

[anarchypumpkincowboy]

I should be able to get a hysterectomy if I want one. Like I’m 23yrs old, I have endometriosis and pcos, I’ve been begging for a hysterectomy since I was 16 and I should be able to get one without some fucking doctor saying I need to have kids first

And I can’t even get the only fucking medication that helps because doctors are so fucking transphobic around here. like instead of testosterone, which has been proven to help me several times, the only medication they’ll approve is the fucking depo shot which makes me bleed nonstop and does nothing to help any of my symptoms

[devilatelier]

one day when the horrors release me i'll be back again

[timeisacephalopod]

When American politicians discuss doing universal healthcare in their country and start whining about the possibility of "medical tourism" where people would theoretically go to America to get healthcare I want to scream and shake them. That already exists- Canada is where Americans went to get their fucking insulin because their own government failed them so hard another country nearly had an insulin shortage a few times over the course of the pandemic alone.

If you want to talk about medical tourism and that """"straining""""" the American healthcare system then maybe take a look at the way Americans are consistently causing strains to Canada's healthcare!! And I assume Americans don't just travel here for healthcare either, so when American politicians act like they're Just The Best and everyone will go to America for healthcare I want to be like THE ISSUE YOURE BITCHING ABOUT EXISTS AND ITS NOT HAPPENING TO YOU ITS HAPPENING TO CANADA AND ITS BECAUSE YOU REFUSE TO ADEQUATELY SERVICE YOUR POPULATION AND MORE THAN ONCE CANADIAN DIABETICS WERE THE ONES WHO'D SUFFER FOR IT. Like you want to talk medical tourism without ever acknowledging your population using other countries healthcare, which I guess is fine because it's not America footing the bill, really?

[illogicalvulcans]

why is insurance so fucking confusing for no fucking reason

[iconsumeheadcanons]

WHY ARE PHONE CALLS SO FUCKING QUIET??? I HAVE MY PHONE AT FULL VOLUME EVERYTIME AND ITS RIGHT NEXT TO MY EAR AND I STILL Can't FUCKING HEAR THE PERSON I'm TALKING TO OR THE SHITTY ASS HOLD MUSIC I HAVE TO LISTEN TO FOR HALF AN HOUR EVERYDAY

[silvermoon424]

There's an actress named Ellen Barkin. Last night, she posted on her Twitter that her health insurance is no longer in service because the insurance company says that residual pay doesn't count. Btw Ellen Barkin is a senior. Boy, the USA is really ableist when it comes to people who are sick or elderly or both.

It's insane how ableist the US is and how ableist conversations around universal healthcare are. Like people will go straight up mask-off and say that they think people who don't "contribute" to society don't deserve to get healthcare if they can't pay for it themselves.

It always makes me laugh when conservatives cry about "death panels" in other countries (basically, they argue that with universal healthcare the government decides who gets to live and who dies) when in reality insurance companies are de-facto death panels in the US. Like you can literally have insurance, have been paying for that insurance for years, and they'll still decide helping you will cut into their bottom line too much. Fuck them.

[eldritch-bf]

Also my best buddy’s wife’s insurance refused to pay for her hysterectomy to resolve her reoccurring large and painful ovarian cysts for it being a “pre-existing condition” AND her work denied her short term disability claim. So no pay for the whole 8 week recovery and they have to pay out of pocket for the procedure itself.

The irony is what kills me. She has health insurance provided BY the state. She works FOR the state. Doing what? Accepting/denying applications for state health insurance!!!

[bluesey-182]

everything i learn about EDS has me more and more convinced that i have it. it literally explains every single health issue I've dealt with my entire life. and autistic people are more likely to have it. but i just learned hEDS happens in phases: hypermobility, pain, and joint stiffening. hypermobility is the "party tricks" like the fact that i was an insanely flexible child and was constantly showing off. and then the pain phase kicks in cause you've abused your joints so bad and now you're constantly injuring yourself. like how in the month of september alone i've hyper-extended BOTH of my knees cause they both decided to just bend way too far backwards out of the blue. and my chronic pain has been getting drastically worse throughout my 20s and i'm looking into getting a cane bc i have so many days i can barely walk. at this point i'd be shocked if i don't have EDS, but the only doctor in colorado (or at least my part of it) that diagnosis it costs several thousand dollars out of pocket. fuck my life