#even with insurance i had to pay so much out of pocket for my most recent set of glasses

[alectoperdita]

maybe i should try and see if i can get lasik

[ms-demeanor]

So I have vision insurance again which means I was able to go to the optometrist and get glasses through insurance for the first time in 11 years (instead of paying out of pocket and getting glasses from zenni) and here are my notes:

It's *NOT GREAT* that Luxotica is mentioned by name on the insurance card printout

I know everything got more expensive in the last ten years, but frames also got a lot more expensive and for some reason there was a huge gap in prices - my insurance covered $130 for frames and the office had a bunch of frames for $70 and a bunch of frames for $150 but basically no frames between those two price points.

When you say "I can't afford to go over the allowance" on XYZ thing they are not even *considering* the cost of progressive bifocals. So I was like "no coating, cheap frames, no extras" and then they were like "okay so the progressive bifocal is going to be over a hundred dollars more" and I was like "how much is the bifocal with a line" and they were like "oh that's only $15 but we don't consider that appropriate for your age, we recommend this other kind of lens" and it doesn't matter what you consider age appropriate for me, I can't afford that so we're not doing that.

The seventy dollar frames are all kind of trash. Super thin, super bendy, and not in a good "flexible fit" way but more in a "if you fall asleep in these you will wake up with broken glasses" way.

They wrote down my reading prescription wrong? For the last ten years I've been slowly creeping up from +.25 to my current +2.50; they told me it had increased but the printout said +.75 so either my prescription has been wrong for a while or they missed the 2 at the front of that number and my glasses are going to show up with a low magnification. (I noticed after I'd left the office but before the glasses arrived).

Given all of that, with insurance: $25 for a pair of glasses, which included the office copay.

So then of course I went to zenni and ordered glasses anyway because I've been wearing the same frame design for seven years and want another pair that look exactly like that.

Progressive bifocals WERE the most expensive part of the order, and because my prescription is stronger they are getting progressively more expensive - initially the upgrade to bifocal cost something like $30 for a lower magnification, now they're $85 for the stronger prescription.

And that's it, that's the expensive part. Fifteen dollar frames, five dollar anti-reflective coating, total for bifocals was around a hundred dollars; I got a pair of single-vision sunglasses for under $20.

Part of the reason I decided to spend more at zenni than at my optometrist's office was because I was able to get good, sturdy frames that I know fit my face and will survive mosh pits and me falling asleep on them without cracking. In order to get the same thing at the optometrist's office I would have had to pay thirty dollars more for lenses as well as forty more for frames so I would have walked out of there paying more for a pair of glasses with frames that I wasn't super excited about (there was a pair that was *okay* but not great that were similar in construction to my current frames but more bulky and square) than I did for glasses that I know I like and a pair of sunglasses.

I did end up paying less out of pocket for the visit than I would have without the insurance, and $15 for a pair of back-up glasses isn't bad. But it was all-in-all a frustrating experience.

However: I've been wearing the same pair of glasses for three years and the anti-reflective coating is worn away in some places and they're so scratched that they're impossible to actually clean in some places and large bastard looked through them last week and was like "OH! No wonder you can't tell when you need to clean your windshield! You don't get to drive at night until those are replaced" so no matter what glasses I'm wearing next week they're going to be an improvement.

[dokries]

always

pairing: choi seungcheol (s.coups) x gender neutral reader

genre: comfort, established relationship

word count: 589

warnings: reader cries and feels insecure/embarrassed, a couple of kisses, kkuma is mentioned because i love her (she is always the true main character)

author note: thank you anon for requesting this!! i hope you like it <3 lots of love !

masterlist

maybe you were expecting too much from an interview that you had gotten hold of at the last minute. of course, you were referred, and honestly? it would’ve been perfect for you—it had good pay, a location you could easily get to, and good benefits in general, with the company’s medical insurance being one of the best in the area.

but now as the glaring letters on your laptop screen tell you that you weren’t accepted, you simply stare, absorbing the information in like the last twenty minutes. maybe…maybe it just isn’t meant to be, and that’s okay.

seungcheol enters with his hands in his pockets as he walks towards you before he pauses, seeing your face properly in the dimly lit bedroom. “baby, wanna check out the new clip i got kkuma today—baby?”

your boyfriend’s immediately at your side, the bow clips previously in his grip now on the table in front of the two of you, as his hands now hold your arms gently.

he looks up at you concerned, and you can’t help but let out a sob as he pulls you into a hug, rubbing small shapes in your back to help calm you down, and murmuring softly. “it’s okay. you’re okay.”

eventually, your breathing evens out and when you lean back to look at seungcheol, you immediately miss his warmth, so you hold onto one of his hands.

he frowns at your red eyes and lightly wipes the leftover tears on your face with the hand you’re not holding. “do you wanna talk about it?”

his comforting smile almost makes you cry again, and you nod, staring down at your intertwined hands as you speak. “i…i applied for this job and didn’t tell you because i was scared it wasn’t going to work out, and i didn’t want to embarrass myself.”

as seungcheol opens his mouth to interject, you shake his head to stop him. “yeah, yeah, ‘you shouldn’t be embarrassed because you’re my partner and i love you no matter what.’ that’s what you were about to say, right?”

your boyfriend nods slowly, pouting as you move your head to nod toward the tab you have open on your laptop. “i got that today and i…i guess i still was expecting it to work out?” you sigh deeply, squeezing his hand. “i’m sorry i didn’t tell you, cheol.”

seungcheol listens to you intently before speaking softly. “it’s alright. i’m glad you told me now, and that you were honest about your feelings—that’s what’s most important, right?” he gently rubs his thumb over your palm, as he continues. “i know this is basic but there will always be more opportunities, and i’ll be there to support you, always.”

he raises an eyebrow, asking for you to agree with him, and you nod with a chuckle. “and i’ll always be there for you too.”

satisfied, your boyfriend smiles and he hesitates before picking up the forgotten clips he wanted to show to you in the first place. “maybe you should take a little break? as much as i hate to admit it, i know kkuma would love it if you came to watch tv with us…and maybe we could try out these on her?”

you smile before placing a kiss on his cheek shyly, embarrassed that you cried in front of him, no matter how supporting he always manages to be. “thank you, cheol.”

he grins and pulls you up, keeping your hands interlocked as he gives you a peck on the forehead, whispering, “always.”

[macgyvermedical]

I'm in the middle of a career change and a tentative asthma diagnosis (ie. no tests yet but it's on my record and my doctor is approaching it as such). What was healthcare like before protections were in place for people with pre-existing conditions? What should I do if I can't get health insurance? Should I try to get undiagnosed or something??? My symptoms are sporadic and usually mild so I can get through it without the inhaler if I had to, I'm just worried about losing access to all healthcare (also afab 😓) and want to be prepared to navigate things since I know it was way worse for chronic illnesses before the ACA.

The ACA was gigantic and it would be hard to talk about every aspect in this post.

Generally speaking, prior to the ACA, you essentially had three options. You could get health insurance through an employer, you could get health insurance through the state (medicaid), and you could get health insurance through an individual plan.

Seems pretty similar to today, right?

Nope.

See, the easiest way to get health insurance would be through a job. But if you had a pre-existing condition, including pregnancy or even simply being AFAB, in most states nobody legally had to cover you- including your employer. And if they did, they could say "you have health insurance for everything except the treatment of your chronic condition(s)" or make you pay significantly more for your premiums. Or, y'know, both (the idea being- if you sought medical care for one thing, you might do it again, and that would cost the insurance company profit*).

When you applied for health coverage through an employer, you had to disclose every medical problem you had ever had, including one-off problems like ear infections or broken bones. Anything could be grounds for not covering you at the outset. BUT if you didn't list a problem, and it was discovered (and they really went hard to find things), that could be grounds for rescission- the process of kicking you off insurance and forcing you to pay back money that the insurance had previously paid out for you.

If you didn't have a job or made extremely- and I mean extremely- little money, you might qualify for the state-sponsored medicaid, assuming you fell into a category that medicaid covered in your state. These categories included low-income children, some parents of children who lived at or below 64% of the federal poverty line (though in some states the parents had to have income as low as 15% of the FPL (less than $4,000/year for a family of 3)), older adults who had few assets or income, people on disability, and pregnant people up to 60 days post delivery. If you were a childless, able-bodied (at least in the eyes of the government) non-pregnant adult between 19-64, even if you made next to nothing? Pretty much forget about getting medicaid.

As far as I know, there were not a ton of changes made to medicare, the other major government insurance program for people over 65 years of age or who were severely disabled).

So what about individual plans? Well, first off, there was no marketplace (you couldn't compare plans from different companies) and no guaranteed coverage. Similar to plans through an employer, there was nothing protecting you from rescission or denial for even minor medical problems.

Most states, however, allowed something called "high risk pools" i.e. people who had pre-existing conditions and were looking for insurance could pay double what "healthy" people paid in premiums (often literally thousands of dollars per month) in order to have insurance. Even with these exorbitantly expensive plans, it would often be 12 months before they would start covering any pre-existing conditions. This meant that people had to pay their premiums and also out of pocket for their chronic care management for the first year of having insurance.

So what do you do if you're one of the near quarter of Americans who didn't have insurance through their employer, didn't qualify for medicaid, and couldn't afford the private insurance market?

You went into debt, or you died.

No, like, literally. You either agreed to medical care costing 10's or even 100's of thousands of dollars, or you didn't. For yourself or for your kids. Think about that- Would you pay (read, put yourself or your family into debt) half a million dollars for a surgery that saved your life? Your kid's life? These were the kinds of decisions that had to be made.

Back to your question:

Should you try to get un-diagnosed? Well no. That's asking for a rescission if the ACA is overturned. Contact me directly if you want more personal info about planning.

*and it's not like they aren't making a 10s-of-billions profit even with the ACA protections

[like-it-or-not-i-am-alive]

Sitting and thinking about how we have absolutely no idea of what is to come.

This could be a stressful four years of financial difficulties. They could literally take away our human rights. Or both.

People are either in the streets celebrating or crying in their beds. There are people playing optimist saying it couldn't possibly be that bad. There are people saying it's WWIII coming.

I don't know what to expect. I want to be realistic. I don't care about cutting corners and sparing feelings. I want everyone to be prepared. I just... I don't know what to prepare for except for the worst. It's so much better to be prepared for doom and meet nothing than it is to realize too little too late that doom has come to your door.

I have witnessed how quickly things can change when they want to. Florida was once a very queer friendly state. At least in major areas. I used to pride myself in Ybor's strong drag history. Our large pride parades and our ample youth support. There were bad patches, of course, it's always going to be rough outside of the cities... and lets be honest, safe for queer people didn't mean the same thing fifteen years ago that it does now. Safe for queer people fifteen years ago was facing less harassment and leading somewhat normal lives.

When I was in high school, gay marriage was legalized across the country. Most states, including Florida, had discrimination protection. Things were getting better.

It took only a year for things to hit the fan. So quickly, Desantis was able to rip my safety away. It took no effort. None. People STILL struggle to get gender affirming care. They tried to ban it even for COUNSELLING.

I wasn't yet on HRT when that happened. It was one of my big motivations to start. I had the privilege and luck to start HRT because I am on my parent's health insurance plan. Plus, I was able to pay out of pocket for the prescription so that if something like this happened I wouldn't get dinged.

Even with my privileged access to insurance and ability to drive a long distance, it took me a long time to start. I wanted to start months before I was able to.

They then tried to criminalize trans people with updated gender markers. They attempted to target trans people by enforcing all Florida IDs to have their AGAB gender marker. Those with updated licences could face a fine or even jail time.

That was VOTED IN. THEY VOTED IT IN.

The only reason it did not fly was because a (very merciful and kind) judge shot the fucking bird as it flew. Stating it was CLEARLY targetting and therefore against the state constitution.

Did you know I didn't even know about it until it was voted in? They snuck it in. They could do it because they wanted to.

When we entered 2024, one of the first deaths of a transgender person was in Florida.

It took only a year for Florida to go from a safer state for queer people to being marked UNSAFE for queer travel.

It took only one year.

I don't trust the "it won't happen" anymore. I was told that so many times, and then it DID. It DID happen.

I don't know what to expect from this. Like I said, I want to be realistic. I just don't know where to look for direction anymore.

I'll be working on some resources.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I may be able to answer them. If not, I'll at least post it so someone else might be able to.

Keep your heads up, kids. Keep your ears sharp and your eyes focused. We will be ready to face this. Whether that means facing rising grocery bills or facing a militia, we will be ready. Together.

[lycandrophile]

super curious how much your insurance got charged, my top surgery was billed at almost $60k but I think my insurance paid like $6-7k, and I paid like $350? And I haven’t met anyone whose was more expensive than mine but also most of my trans friends didn’t use insurance so it’s harder to compare

mine was billed as $90k for the surgery itself and $72k for the hospital/anesthesia costs so $162k total that my insurance has to pay, and i also had to pay $7k on top of all of that.

i'm guessing costs are calculated differently when insurance is paying vs when you pay out of pocket because the highest out of pocket estimates i ever saw for my surgeon were in the $20-25k range (someone who knows more about how insurance works, let me know if that is true or if i just made that up because i know basically nothing), but even if that is the case, holy shit i’ve never heard of top surgery being that expensive.

but yeah, i wasn't kidding when i said you could buy a house with the amount of money that’s going toward this surgery. don't you just love the us healthcare system?

[midnight-pluto]

COFFEE: PG.00 — 8 Shots of Espresso

COFFEE: Tim Drake x gn!reader

SYNOPSIS: Tim meets a barista that gives him what he needed most - a large coffee with way to many shots of espresso. Though what happens when just a single action changes the other’s life, forever?

coffee master list || next

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 2023 — 11:32 PM

'WHY WAS I scheduled these hours? Hell, why did I even decide to work here?’

Oh, right, you need money. Just living in Gotham was expensive, not to mention the fact that villains and vigilantes stormed the street at hours like this and insurance can only cover so many villains. You’re almost bound to have a window or two broken. Though luckily, most of the vigilantes offer to pay for the damages caused or someone else offers to pay for them.

Checking your phone’s lock screen, you see that the time was 11:34. The cafe you worked at closed at midnight but there were still a few customers scattered around, most of them being students studying for upcoming exams or projects most likely.

Hearing the ding from the door you turn to look at the person who entered the door, “What can I get for you?”

The boy that stood before you was wearing wearing a dark attire - black pants, matching boots, and a simple red hoodie - all of the dark tones complimented his light blue eyes but they were clouded with something you couldn’t put your finger on; it didn’t help that their were dark bags underneath them as well.

Snapping out of your daze you look at him for his order, “A black coffee but add fives shots of espresso to it,” he deadpans. Before adding that to his order, you pause.

You slowly turn to look up at him to see if he was serious. He was very serious. “Um, y-you do realize that you’re asking for seven shots of-“

“Yes.”

“Alrighty then, um,” you swallow thickly out of pure fear at what had driven this poor boy into needing that much espresso in his coffee. You have met some insane individuals in your lifetime - mainly because you live in Gotham - but none of them have been driven to this extent, “Anything else?”

“No, that’s it,” he replies, shoving his hand into his pocket for ( what you hoped to be ) his wallet.

“Name?”

“Tim.”

A few seconds of processing payments and discussing sizes later, you’re on your way to creating a large drink that could possibly kill the very customer you’re making it for.

Meanwhile, said customer is actually relieved and really grateful for you on the inside. Tim had been running at max four hours of sleep for the past week while working on a case nonstop, and on top of that, he had patrol duty in 20 minutes.

Originally, he had left at eleven for his cup of coffee but unfortunately, his previous requests have been denied because apparently giving customers that much of espresso in their coffee was against company policy even if a Wayne was asking for it.

Multiple coffee shop stops and rejections later, he came upon the cafe you worked at and was able to get the coffee he so desperately needed.

A few minutes later, you gently slid Tim’s drink towards him with a small, “Enjoy.”

Thanking you with a nod of his head and a small smile, he took a look at your name tag - Y/N L/N.

TIMESKIP

The next morning later, you wake up at eleven thirty, feeling like a bag of shit. Turning over on your back with your arms extended outwards and legs barely touching each other; like a shy starfish.

'Is this my punishment for not applying for colleges the moment I graduated high school? Probably.'

After a few more moments of doing absolutely nothing, you decide to attempt to be a productive member of society. Grabbing your phone from your bedside table, you see that you have multiple message notifications, twitter notifications, and that it was now 11:42.

Checking Twitter first, you see that Tim Drake had tweeted something.

'Wait hol' up, wait a minute. Why am I mentioned in that tweet and why am I mentioned by so many other people? Also, how did he manage to find my twitter?'

Smiling at the comments that replied to your tweets, you decide to try and attempt to be a productive member of society.

Starting by brushing your teeth.

SPECIAL NOTE: this is a repost of my old post but I’ve now re-created it in a slight smau format that it was originally supposed to be in this could be read as a standalone oneshot still tho so yk

Also please ignore the fact that none of them are verified, I was to lazy to change them so I apologize once again

[larjb3]

So for anyone who believes the medical system is relatively simple to navigate, here is how my afternoon has gone so far:

Called my insurance for help answering 5 questions. The first question took about maybe 50ish minutes to only sort of get an answer? And that was after the agent repeated back to me, several times, saying "As I previously explained" followed by an explanation that did not answer my current question. So that took a while. Then I went on to my next questions. Two of them apparently did not make sense to the agent either (in addition to me), based on the claims, and so they had to go talk to another department while also transferring me to another different department. They also were confused by another one of my previously appealed claims, and so they had to do their own digging as to what was going on. This entire call lasted just over 1 hour 40 minutes.

THEN I got to call ANOTHER number for a different hospital service because my account online wasn't showing a balance, but the letters I have received said I do have a balance. The agent who answered the phone for this call also didn't know why my balance was not showing online. This question got squared away pretty quickly, running just over 11 minutes in call time.

So now think of this: I am a (reasonably) well-educated person, with a PsyD in Clinical Psychology, and have been closely intertwined with the medical system since 2017 when I finally got one of my diagnoses. I have, in recent years, been even more intertwined with the medical system, with applying for Medicaid at one point, managing which doctors I see due to them actually being in-network with my various insurance providers through the years (not sure any of you notice, but finding an in-network provider, ESPECIALLY when on Medicaid, is extremely difficult), managing various prescription costs, talking to insurance as to why certain medications are suddenly no longer covered, advocating for myself when meeting with different providers (which they absolutely do not like but it 100% is necessary), calling insurance when something doesn't make sense on a claim (e.g., why a service, that was not specified, is suddenly not covered under an in-network provider), finding the right department to contact for insurance, trying to send messages with insurance and getting answers that pretty much say nothing with regard to answering my actual question (which then results in having to call insurance, which is not really all that fun), and there's probably more that I'm missing.

I'm also a relatively privileged individual, with a (mostly) stable wi-fi connection, a phone that can be easily charged and is currently connected, and a way to jot down notes both before and after calls (before: what questions I have; after: what the agent(s) said regarding my questions).

Now think about those in poverty. Do I have the most money? No, but I have a stable place to live, food, and water, and I have support from others (including you all!) who have helped me tremendously through financial support. But do those in poverty often have those things? Not always. Then put on top of trying to fend for basic survival necessities (which should probably be a pretty high priority) the medical system. This includes insurance (or lack thereof) and, if someone has it, paying consistently for it. This includes paying out-of-pocket costs with probably minimal money. This includes somehow getting to appointments on time with methods of transportation that may not be the most reliable, or they may cost a lot of money. This includes picking up and paying for prescriptions on time. This includes (if at all possible) communicating with one's insurance regarding claims that may not make sense. THEN we add on possible kids and have all the same barriers previously mentioned. THEN we have the possibility of someone having a job (if they're lucky enough to hold one), while managing medical things for both themselves, and if they have them, their kids. If they don't have a job, then we're looking at figuring out how to get on disability or SSI (both of which are TREMENDOUSLY difficult and tedious to get on and takes months to years to actually successfully do it). Now we're looking at if this person even has an advocate or case worker to help them. If they don't, or don't know how to get set up with one (because actually knowing what services you're entitled to, especially with different insurances, is exceedingly confusing), then they're on their own trying to navigate this vast landscape of things to manage. Oh, and we also have to consider that if someone IS on Medicaid or disability, they can only work a certain amount and take in a certain amount or else they lose their coverage. I'm not entirely sure the number of hours one is allowed to work on disability, but I want to say maybe around 15/week? (If someone actually knows this number please reach out to me and let me know!)

So we have all this mess. And think, I spent just under 2 hours on the phone with various insurance and medical providers today, but someone who is super struggling and under-privileged likely doesn't have the 2 hours needed to whatever questions they may have. Which can unfortunately result in frustration, hang-ups, and not getting an answer that can be understood in layman's terms which can result in more frustration and potentially just giving up on advocating for oneself.

It's a mess, and there are so many layers that are not discussed or even thought about by so many different people. I feel as though this needs to be said and at least somewhat recognized by others, potentially to help provide compassion to those so closely intertwined in the medical system.

[techmomma]

Various things I have learned while working at this mitigation company:

different insurance providers are more or less willing to cover more things. some companies are real lenient and will give you a lot of leeway. some will absolutely not and will find every means possible to not pay. we tend to keep an unofficial list (at least among employees) of which ones we love to work with (aka which ones will approve and pay for the most and be easiest to deal with) and which ones we hate working with (they will usually reject the claim meaning NO mitigation work is done at all because you think most regular people can afford $20K mitigation out of pocket?). you can ask us which ones we like working with.

if the overhead sprinkler system is activated, then even if nothing burned, you will still need so much mitigation. modern sprinkler systems aren't just full of water, they have various fire-fighting chemicals in them that should not come into contact with people for extended periods. and definitely not food.

not every business is willing to pay for fire sprinkler mitigation. sometimes they just decide to paint over it! one of the local grocery stores decided to do that! remember what I said about exposing those chemicals to food?

mold can start growing from a water leak within like 48 hours. faster if it's a sewage leak. if you had a leak and you waited a week to call anyone, you need a mold inspection too.

we get screwed over by churches so, so much.

all houses must be tested for asbestos before any mitigation can begin. it used to be that we only really needed to test on houses built before about 1990, but as asbestos was used in building materials LONG after that, they've finally cracked down and now all houses needed to be tested. my coworkers aren't as happy about this as I am.

if the building was built before 1978 though then we have to test for asbestos AND lead! I think we should test them all for lead frankly but the law says 1978.

asbestos and lead usually have to be removed by special companies. we use subcontractors for that since we don't have the equipment ourselves.

subcontractors! your mitigation company usually can't do everything themselves, so they'll enlist the aid of another company. so for example, when we have to test for asbestos and lead, we use a subcontractor who has the equipment to analyze samples.

generally, if you can see damage, whatever is inside the wall is so, so much worse.

there is so so much mold in like every building

even with industrial cleaners and professional equipment, mold is so hard to actually get rid of permanently. if it's gotten into an organic material like wood or cloth, you can count that as pretty much permanently affected. they will almost always be unsalvageable.

this counts for say, the wood beams of your house. we can clean them down and spray mold killer and seal them, but it'll ever be a 100% guarantee, ESPECIALLY IF YOU LIVE IN A WETTER CLIMATE. LIKE, IDK, WASHINGTON.

houses on the water are so full of mold

if you have a sudden Emergency, please make sure you decide if you're going to use a mitigation before you actually call us. especially for emergencies where there's water like actively flooding your house. please, for the love of god, don't call us and say "we have an emergency and need help cleaning this up" and then call a short while later saying "well, actually, can we be put on hold, we're not sure if we'll go with mitigation yet...". our technicians are almost always working on a job, we don't have anyone just sitting around the office we can send at any time. and sometimes those jobs can be like an hour away from our office

that means the tech has to pack up their equipment on the site (meaning making sure the site is secured especially if it's going to rain), get back to the office (remember the hour drive from before), get the right equipment for your emergency, and head out there. if they've been pulled from their previous job site they had to drive an hour for, we're not going to fucking send them back.

meaning if you cancel, that's like half of our day wasted and now that other job is going to be behind, too, because they're minus an extra five hours that could have been spent doing the work for that job

please. please don't do your own mitigation work. oh my god.at the very least because sometimes insurance companies get super super picky about that and might reject your claim for it.

if you can see water damage on the other side of a wall, it means the water has gone through the drywall. the longer it's wet and uncared for--I'm talking like, 2 days or more--the more likely things will need to be removed and/or demolished. certainly after 2 days the insulation will almost certainly need to be removed and new insulation installed. this will cost money.

the older the building, the more likely anything in that building will fail at any given time. sure maybe the piping lasted 100 years but that's because it took 100 years to eat away the piping until it finally gave out on the 101st year

meaning the older the building, the more likely it becomes that you'll experience pipe bursts, leaks, electrical mishaps, sewage leaks, etc. etc.

when it comes to water mitigation, there's two kinds: cleanwater and blackwater. cleanwater is what comes out of your tap. blackwater is poopy sewage. blackwater is, without fail, a gazillion times more expensive because it will, as a requirement, involve some form of demolition. it should. that's a health hazard man. you don't know what (else) is in poopy sewage water.

if you can't have the water turned off to do any mitigation, then you HAVE to get a specialist before we can do any restoration. if the pipe is still leaking, then mitigation work will kind of be for nothing.

if you're planning on filing any claims, do that FIRST before you call anybody. the insurance company will have a list of people to call and will tell you how to go about things so that your claim is solid. filing online is fine but it's usually a good idea to have an actual name and contact information for an adjuster (the person who'll be looking at the damage and seeing what needs to be done)

don't fret. sometimes even things I thought would be totally unsalvageable were salvageable! they have lots of tips and tricks, and the technicians and their managers are usually happy to talk about their trade with you

a lot of these technicians really do care, even if they're mostly in it for the work. so many of these guys would do this because this kind of work is pure enrichment for them, but they got families to take care of. it gets genuinely frustrating sometimes to know what work needs to be done and wanting to do so, but the insurance company won't pay out, so nothing can be done.

if your insurance company is giving you the reach-around and you think they're fucking you over, there's something called the insurance commissioner. they're who you can report insurance company fuckery to and the commissioner is usually pretty on top of it. I've seen customers be fucked over for months by their insurance company call the commissioner, and within a few hours the insurance company ~*~magically~*~ has a fire lit under their ass and just so so happy to help you out.

you get what you pay for. whether construction, mitigation, whatever. you pay for cheap mitigation work, you will get cheap results.

something you really don't want cheap results for: mitigation work

things landlords are absolutely fucking notorious for: wanting cheap mitigation work. don't listen to any stupid schpiel they give you about caring or whatever work they said they put in. sure they did pay $10k for restoration work--because it was a job worth about $20k, and they went with the rock-bottom contractor who put a half-assed half day's work in that will fall apart in a few years

fuck landlords and property managers. but you already knew that if you follow me.

Lastly, if you have time to spare and want to make a technician's day, ask them what their worst or most fun job was. they are so happy to tell you.

they have so. many. stories.

[compassionatereminders]

I am a diagnosed schizophrenic and been living unmedicated for almost two years due to not having insurance last year and have been so/so with being able to stay calm about what I go through and experience in my reality. For some reason, I’ve been declining more and more recently, and have been trying to get back on meds for months. However, my insurance came back two months after the initial medication request saying my primary care provider cannot prescribe the medication and I will need to see a psychiatrist. Originally, I had an appointment to see a psychiatrist and was on a waiting list to see my primary care provider, and my pcp called me saying they had an availability and would be able to prescribe me my medication before my psychiatry appt so I cancelled the appt with my psychiatrist. I was able to schedule a new appt December 4th (their soonest) On Monsay, I hallucinated a car was trying to drive me off the road when in *actual* reality I was the only one on the road, and my therapist told me for the safety of others I shouldn’t drive anymore. Is getting medicated difficult where you live or is it just the US insurance and health system fucking me over?

🪦 (I hope this emoji isn’t taken I don’t remember if previous anons I’ve used I used it)

Here it is mainly a challenge to get on controlled medications, like stimulants or benzos. Even though there might be waiting times, seeing a psychiatrist is covered by our universal health care and the process often gets sped up in emergencies. I've had a mostly opposite problem actually, where me NOT desiring antipsychotics hasn't ever been treated like a valid option. In Denmark, accessing therapy is generally much, much harder than accessing psychiatric medication, because therapy usually isn't a part of the universal health care package while seeing a psychiatrist about medication is covered. Most of us do have to pay some money out of pocket for the meds, but it's usually quite affordable, and there are some additional options if it isn't.

[booklove22]

Last night, my 47 year old “otherwise healthy”brother died of Stage 4 colon cancer. He was diagnosed 6 months ago at age 46 and did not have a single symptom until 8 months ago. The tumor in his colon was the size of a softball and his liver was covered in several inoperable tumors that had spread from the first one.

The first line treatments did not work (which is quite common unfortunately- the chemo options for this type of cancer often aren’t effective) and his liver began to fail just a week into his 2nd line treatment (which was even more unlikely to work anyway). He leaves behind his wife and two teenage sons, his step-daughters, my devastated parents, and me and my other siblings.

The age for colonoscopy screening in the US starts at 45. Even if my then-symptomless brother had gotten a routine colonoscopy screening on his 45th birthday, he still would have been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. His oncologist estimated he’d probably had this cancer for the past 7 years or so. Its extremely slow growing and a “silent cancer” - meaning it typically doesn’t present symptoms until its Stage 4 and considered “incurable”. Most people diagnosed at Stage 4 die with a couple of years of diagnosis. My brother got 6 months.

This cancer used to be uncommon in people under 60. However people are now being diagnosed in their 20-40’s because of factors primarily related to the problems inherent in the food we eat (processed, pesticides, and microplastic contaminated).

The point is, getting a routine colonoscopy at 45 would not have saved him.

I’m taking every opportunity I have to beg people to start getting colonoscopy screenings much earlier than 45. Here is what you need to know (FYI this is United States specific):

1) If you are 45, insurance will cover routine colonoscopy screenings (which generally occur every 5-7 years). Screenings last about 30 min and occur under some level of anesthesia (from “awake-but-loopy” to “fully unconscious” if you prefer that). You can opt to do it without anesthesia too, if anesthesia makes you nervous.

2) If you are under 45 with no symptoms, you can still request one. If you have the money to do so, you can pay out of pocket (you should be able to get an estimate beforehand).

3) If you are under 45 and have any symptoms (for example: GI pain, blood in your stool, recurring diarrhea, etc.), you can request one and it will be covered by insurance. I’m not encouraging lying about having symptoms to get insurance coverage. 👀

4) Likewise, if you have a family history of colon cancer (particularly a 1st degree relative), age is irrelevant and insurance will cover it. I’m not encouraging lying about having a family history to get insurance coverage. 👀

5) Some people are afraid or embarrassed to get a colonoscopy (they stick a camera up where?? 🍑 ) but please I can tell you that all it really amounts to is a really good 30 min anesthesia nap, some residual gas, and a day off from work. Compare that to watching my brother slowly and painfully die these past 6 months.

6) Also important: getting regular colonoscopies actually prevents you from ever getting colon cancer. Colon cancer always begins as a non-cancerous growth called a polyp. Those polyps sometimes stay non-cancerous but sometimes they evolve into cancer. Any polyps found during a colonoscopy are automatically removed by the doctor during the colonoscopy, thereby preventing you from ever getting colon cancer at all. This differs from say, a mammogram, which doesn’t prevent you from getting breast cancer, but does provide an avenue for catching it earlier if you do develop it.

7) Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in both men and women (Top 3 most common) and one of the most deadly.

This has been my PSA for the day.

There are so many cancers that we are simply at the whim of, this doesn’t have to be one of them. And don’t let garbage age minimums for screening get in the way.

[lovevalley45]

#fictober24 - day twenty-seven

"Let me remind you."

original fiction (power payback)

word count: 902

For a moment, Sprout had thought she had forgotten the way to her family’s nursery. 

Of course, once she pulled up to the parking lot, she knew she could never forget it. The first sixteen years of her life had been spent here: watching her mom work her botanokinesis to create plants that could withstand the harsh desert heat, sitting with Magni under the gazebo near the back of the property to do homework under Primrose’s watch, working the counter during the summers for extra allowance. 

Crossing the gate, ignoring the CLOSED sign, felt like breaking a rule. The sun was starting to set, the darkness making the plants look more menacing than beautiful. Sprout tucked her hands into her pockets, pulling them closer to her. 

She went to the shop and knocked on the staff only door, already feeling her heart pounding in her chest. 

This was a bad idea. Thinking she and Magni could strike out on their own was a bad idea. Coming back here was a bad fucking idea. 

The door swung open. 

“Daisy?” Primrose asked. Despite the fact that her sister had probably been here since opening, she still looked pristine in her smart pale pink dress. It helped that she’d claimed handling the paperwork and keeping her own hands clean once their grandmother had passed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Hey.” She took out the folded HELP WANTED sign from her pocket. “Heard you were looking for a part-time cashier.” 

Primrose sighed. “Before I tell you no, let me remind you. Grandma said you weren’t allowed to work here. Ever.” 

“I hate to remind you, but Grammy Rosemary’s been dead for, I don’t know, eight years now.” Sprout crossed her arms. “You can just tell me no. I kinda knew it was a lost cause. But if you hear me out-” 

“This is highly unprofessional. Come in.” 

She followed her sister inside to the small break room. Luckily, it seemed like it just been her; no sign of their parents, her brother-in-law, or, what she was most grateful for, her own brother. If Basil had been here, there was no chance Primrose would have even tried. Not that she blamed him. 

Primrose sat at the table, picking up the mug that had been there, still steaming. “Did you fill out an application and bring your resume?” 

“Yes, and yes.” She pulled them out from another pocket - thank God for cargo pants. It might not have been professional enough for her sister to unfold them, but she had more tact when it wasn’t with family. And wasn’t sure she was walking into failure. 

She took the papers from Sprout and smoothed them out. Her face was still as stone as she read them. She wasn’t sure what Primrose could learn from her resume that she hadn’t learned from family gatherings where her dull job verifying insurance claims was one of few safe topics. 

“Hm. You graduated magna cum laude from UNBC’s criminal justice program. Very promising.” 

“I’m sorry that it wasn’t summa cum laude. My statistics professor at Bright City College was a hard-ass.”

Primrose glared at her from over her resume. It was a smart ass comment, she knew, but Sprout couldn’t hold her tongue. 

“I hate to inform you, but the position’s already been filled,” Primrose said, finally setting down the papers in her hand. 

Sprout balked. “So why did you have me come in here to string me along?” 

“Because I know why you came here. I heard about you and Magni’s detective business. I can’t give you a job, but I can try to help. Consider it… part-part-time.” 

She sighed. “It’s better than nothing.” Straightening up, she continued, “I mean, thank you. So much.” 

Primrose passed her resume back over. “I’m just surprised you actually came to me. You refused to let Mom and Dad help you pay for your first apartment, or Bright City College. And I know Dad had to pressure you into letting him co-sign your student loans.” 

It was true. She loved her family, but she didn’t want to feel obligated to them. Once, she had placed her whole future in upholding their legacy. Now she knew, even in this capacity, she would never be a part of that. 

“It’s rough. Magni and I don’t have many savings, and it’s hard to find cases when you’re newbies on the scene. Lots of PIs, you know, they were already with police, and have some credence there. Magni at least worked for Hillson, and people know him there. But he can’t take too many technopathy cases and I- I feel like I’m not doing anything,” Sprout confessed. It was the most raw she’d been with her sister since she had her burnout. “I just want to keep our bills paid.” 

She stood up. “I’ve always admired that about you. That you just… don’t give up. It’s annoying as hell sometimes, but you don’t like to accept defeat.” 

Sprout leaned back in her chair. It was rare that she got the chance to look up at Primrose. “I accepted defeat when Grandma banned me from working here.” 

“But you came back.” 

She grinned. “Okay. I did.” 

“Don’t block my number. I’ll call you when I need you.” Primrose picked up her mug. “And… I’ll break the news to Mom and Dad.” 

“And Basil?” 

Guilt washed over her face. “And Basil.”

[theereina]

Rant Ahead 🤬:

My mother just found out the younger cousin she was constantly comparing me isn't who she thought they were. She wanted me to "work" as hard and get my stuff "together" like her.

We found out that this cousin's mother has been lying for her. Her mother is the brains behind her business, and she is really just the face. Her mother makes most of the sales. Her mother comes up with most of the business ideas and does most of the execution. As far as school, her mother does a lot of her university assignments and essays. Yes, my cousin is smart that is something I will never take away from her. However, her mother is there to "help". When it comes to her lifestyle, her mother pays a majority of her bills (rent, groceries, car note, insurance, etc.). Nothing was what it seemed.

It's crazy because I spent so much time feeling like I wasn't enough. I felt like I was behind in life. All the while, I finished college with no help. I worked my ass off to keep and apply for scholarships/grants. My mother didn't pay anything out of pocket. My mother can't even tell you what my degree was in. Every business venture I thought about was shot down. She told me that I was wasting time with them. I was never encouraged. Even if she saw me practicing or working on something, she always felt the need to talk about how I wasn't making any money so... It was not important to her.

The biggest difference is I was being compared to someone who had a support system. I was by my fucking self battling depression and suicidal thoughts while being compared to someone else. I was going to school and working through disabilities (mental and physical). I never got an I'm proud of you or keep going. I only got reminders of how she was doing more.

This has been my life for years. No, she hasn't apologized or admitted her wrongs because she could care less. This is just another piece of trauma that I will be left alone to work through.

No, I don't know my cousin's story, but hopefully... you get the point.

*I'm sorry for ranting.

[acespoliticalwaffles]

Finally got a call back from the autism assessment people. And what do you know? They said that insurance wouldn’t cover it so if we want to actually get me in to get tested it’ll be 4,000 US$ out of pocket. My parents said we can’t afford that right now.

This is what we mean when we say diagnosis is a privilege. Because in the US, it literally costs thousands of dollars for them to even look at you. And even if you can afford that, or your insurance will pay for it (most probably won’t), you still have to deal with doctors who have a very narrow view of what autism looks like, both in how it presents itself symptom-wise, and in how the people who have it look physically. If you do not fit the stereotype of Smart, but Socially Awkward White Boy, there is a chance they will reject you outright.

“Diagnosis is a privilege” doesn’t mean that only privileged people get diagnosed, or that your life must have been easy and perfect if you yourself were able to get one. It means that not everyone with certain conditions/disorders/neurodivergencies is able to get diagnosed with them for a variety of reasons that don’t include “they’re faking it”. And that is literally just a fact.

Like, seriously, what do people who think diagnosis isn’t a privilege think getting diagnosed is like? Like, with some disorders it’s much easier. I was diagnosed with depression the first day I saw my first psychiatrist. But most of the disorders they always claim people are faking (autism, adhd, did) are actually very difficult to get diagnosed with just because it takes so long and can often be very expensive. Like, I’ve literally been waiting to get diagnosed for almost half a year. And now they say they won’t even try unless we fork over $4,000. People who are against self-diagnosis are so fucking dense. Like, what do you want me to do? Say I don’t have autism because I couldn’t pay them to check??? Cause only rich people can have autism I guess./s

Knowing that I’m autistic has helped me understand a lot about myself that I didn’t before. It has helped me realize that some of my weak points (not being able to work with vague instructions, being very sensitive to criticism, etc.) have a reason behind them and other people experience them in similar ways. I am autistic. I do not have any doubts about being autistic. And I do not have to prove to strangers on the internet that I am autistic before I get to talk about my experiences with it without being relentlessly scrutinized.

Edit: Been seeing some ppl talk about this phrase in a way I hadn’t before and I want to clarify: getting diagnosed is not always actually good, especially when you’re very young and you don’t get to decide whether you want it or not. What I meant in this post is that access to diagnosis is a privilege. Hope that clears things up if you had questions. This was mainly meant to demonstrate that ppl who are against self-dx need to get their facts straight. I’m not actually here to talk about the privilege aspect very much either (I didn’t realize there was discourse there), but in short: it’s complicated, but it is often a result of some privilege that ppl are able to get diagnosed, especially later in life. I also want to make it clear that it’s very valid to not want a dx. I actually went back and forth on it myself bc of all the fucked up laws and discrimination and stuff. (Which is yet another reason self-dx is valid and sometimes the best option) So yeah. Idk, just wanted to make it clear what I’m trying to say.

[isthisjackie]

So rn I’m on unemployment and no longer have health insurance bc my insurance ended when my contract ended. I applied for Medicaid, but I may too much money on unemployment to qualify. Last time I was look at options in the market place (bc my old insurance was terrible, I had just hit my deductible in July after paying 2k+ out of pocket) an insurance plan that covered all of my meds was like $750-800. Which is almost half of my monthly income rn. I already felt very strongly about socialized medicine, like for as long as I was able to form an opinion about it. But I’m even angrier about it now, which I didn’t know was possible lmaoo

I knew the income threshold to qualify was low, but I didn’t realize it was 20k a year. That’s about $1600 a month. The average rent in my state is $1300/month. Last year I made around $3700-3900 a month after taxes and health insurance, which I was paying $360 a month for myself and required paying 2k out of pocket before they would pay for anything and wouldn’t cover my therapy sessions bc it was out of network. So I was paying probs $600 or more a month earlier for meds plus $200 a month for therapy and $250 for any drs appointments. I was at this job for 3.5 years.

Before this job, I made 16/hr. Before taxes, that’s a little over 33k. This was considered on the higher end of pay in my area for my field. In the job before that, I made $12/hr which is almost 25k per year before taxes. These two jobs were some of the most high stress positions I’ve had, and the second one in particular gave me a ton of vicarious trauma that took literally years to work through.

Thankfully, I was on my parents’ insurance still during these two positions, but was barely scraping by. My partner at the time and I were able to afford rent in a nice apartment that had been remodeled, but we were paying almost $900/month for a studio loft apartment in a smallish college town. (The college was big, but the town itself is pretty small.)

I just checked their website and the smaller version of our old apartment is listed as starting at $810 a month. We had one of the smaller, un-remodeled apartments first and it was literally infested with mice. The management wouldn’t do anything about it, and we had mice crawling through our kitchen drawers and counter tops and on top of our fridge and in our laundry. Like genuinely we could not use the kitchen for months and no matter what we did we couldn’t get rid of them. We paid about $650ish for this apartment in like 2017.

My younger sister and her fiancé want to move out of their parents’s houses and I want to be supportive but like. I genuinely have no idea how they’re going to afford renting, let alone buying a house.

I’ve been saying this for a long time but this country is becoming/has become unlivable and it is exhausting to see everyone I love also constantly have to struggle while working full time jobs. I’m just like emotionally burnt out

[singsongraptor]

I am hurting so much today. I still have to walk to my kid's school to pick her up & walk back. I have a hard time walking slowly (my natural pace is pretty fast), & I can't help but think of how much better shit would be if I could use my wheelchair more.

I haven't even eaten today bcuz I needed to save energy to shower, and that meant not using energy on going up and down my steps. But also, I've had wicked shoulder and arm pain all weekend, so my wheelchair would be hard to use anyway. Can't win for losing.

What sucks is there's ways to mod my chair for more comfort & ease of use, but that's thousands I don't have or an exhausting fight with drs and insurance on top of waiting for things to be approved, processed & delivered. None of this addresses the fact I can't leave my home.

If I went to full-time wheelchair use, I'd be unable to leave or enter my home unassisted. There's stairs at both entrances, the back steps being steeper, longer & narrower than the front. I've already fallen down my front steps twice with my rollator. The wheelchair would be worse if I fell carting it up and down the steps. I'm lucky I can even do that.

I'm just tired. Tired of always being in pain and making all this mental calculus just to take a shower and eat twice a day. I can't even move, cuz where would I go? 90+% of housing is inaccessible in some way. I'm a renter bcuz racism and classism in housing and mortgages.

So, while technically & legally, I could get a ramp for where i live, practically speaking, it's a waste of money (bcuz we're likely not staying more than another year here) & we'd have to come out of pocket to install it and uninstall it bcuz adapting homes lowers property value.

And while our landlord is better than most, he's still a landlord and isn't going to pay to have the ramp removed to keep his property value. Just another reason renting is bullshit, bcuz we can't actually freely renovate our living spaces to be accessible despite legal rights.

Anyway, I'm done bitching for now. Help a dinosaur out, yeah?

Wheelchair Funf