#internet's still fucky but they're working on it!

[write-it-motherfuckers]

[sonicenvy]

I had another conversation with someone who didn't have health insurance today about ACA that she didn't know existed as an option. Ever since I got my first ACA plan last year after turning 26 I have been a big ACA fan because this piece of landmark legislation is the reason I have health insurance instead of being in thousands of dollars of medical debt. It bugs the ever living shit out of me whenever I see internet leftists saying things like "the ACA didn't do anything because it is not medicare for all." It really speaks to me about the privilege that these people likely have because they're not noticing the amount of monumental positive change and harm reduction that was made by the bill.

The ACA is a bill that is comprehensive, and walks, talks, and chews gum at the same time, and I think a lot of people who are either a.) too young to remember how health insurance in this country worked before the ACA or b.) have not had to get government subsidized health insurance because they have always had either their parents' insurance or employer insurance really and truly don't get it. I am obviously too young to remember how healthcare worked before the ACA because I am under 30, but I do have a mom who works in healthcare and lots of older relatives that talk about it a lot so I was pretty familiar with the concept despite this.

I am low-income, in school, and have an employer that doesn't offer me employer subsidized plans, so the ACA quickly became pretty important to me as a person with lifelong disability, higher than normal cancer predisposition and a need for lifelong psychiatric care.

Also, if you are in your 20s but under 26 and still on your parents' health insurance? Bam! You are directly benefiting from the ACA. Before the ACA you would not have been able to be on your parents insurance plan in your 20s.

Some things that the ACA did:

Made it affordable for people who are above the medicaid income limit and/or self-employed to independently purchase health insurance. Before the ACA premiums for independently purchased health plans could be $500+ for individual plans! If you were one of the many Americans who worked multiple part-time jobs that did not provide PT employees with insurance, you were basically fucked and uninsured. If you were a small business or self-employed, you were also fucked. The creation of the healthcare dot gov health insurance marketplace, which is open to anyone was a massive success of the bill, and millions of Americans benefit from it. During open enrollment (or after a specific life event such as "turned 26," or "became unemployed") a person can log on to health care dot gov, see a wide range of plans, and purchase one. The government then provides you with a premium subsidy (which is what your employer does for you if you have an employer plan) to lower the cost of the premium. Subsidies are calculated based on a person's income so people with lower incomes get higher subsidies.

Obviously there is some nuance, and a coverage gap with ACA plans for individuals who make above $60,000 (and are not a small business obtaining a group contract with an insurance company) where premiums are still very expensive because they are ineligible for the majority of the premium tax subsidy, which is a major ACA weakness, but for everyone in the $30,000-$55,000 gap and for owners of small businesses that want to offer plans for their employees, the benefits are huge. I am able to get a PPO with a low deductible, low OOP for less than $200/mo in premiums! There is exactly zero way that I would have been able to do that if I were trying to get insured pre-ACA.

Made it so that insurance companies could not discriminate against patients with so-called pre-existing conditions — so basically if you are disabled, the insurance company can no longer: a.) decline to provide you coverage or b.) increase your premiums/ reduce your plan benefits because you have a disability or get something like, oh, idk, FUCKING CANCER. Like there were people who got cancer and found out that their insurer dropped them because they did not want to pay out for expensive cancer treatment. That was a thing that was legal for health insurance companies to do before the ACA, and they fucking did that. The pre-existing conditions clause was one of the biggest benefits that has been touted since the beginning of the bill's conception and passage. Under the ACA, all health insurance companies are banned from denying plan applications for any reason, or from revoking plan coverage for any reason that isn't "patient stopped paying their premium." Made it so that children could stay on their parents' health insurance plans until they were 26 instead of being booted at 18. Made it so that all plans must provide some level of coverage for a list of specific EHBs (Essential Health Benefits) such as "emergency room care," "prenatal and pregnancy related care," "preventative care such as doctor recommended cancer screenings for patients" "office visits with general practitioners," etc.

If you have an marketplace plan or medicare/medicaid, that plan MUST provide you with contraceptives at no cost to you regardless of whether or not you have met your deductible. Democrats also wanted this to be true for all other plans, but unfortunately in 2014, whacko religious conservatives got themselves an exemption for "companies with fervently held religious beliefs against contraception" from providing this coverage in their employer subsidized plans in the bullshit case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which was decided by a conservative majority vote in the Supreme Court. A case which had other broad and shitty implications btw, and which is yet another example of why allowing weird conservatives to get elected to the presidency is bad for America. btw, in the original intention of the ACA they wanted to also include mandatory coverage for abortion services. Unfortunately, the Republicans (and a group of stupid pro-life dems who suck, and to my knowledge are not in congress now) torpedoed this provision despite Nancy Pelosi's best efforts and refused to pass the bill at all as long as this provision remained in it. Reason #10000000 Republicans suck.

Lots more that I'm not naming here, but I hope you get the idea. My point is that even though ACA was not a medicare for all bill, it was a landmark (and very needed) piece of healthcare reform legislation that changed a lot about the landscape of health insurance in America. Tragically, right wing and far left smearing of it has obscured the truth about the many good things that the bill did do. Was it perfect? Absolutely the fuck not! Even Obama himself admits this. What it was was a major victory against injustices in the system, and a massive piece of harm reduction legislation, and I wish that more Americans credited it for the things it did do.

Dems managed to get the bill passed with the vast majority of their highest priorities still in it despite major republic ratfuckery combined with a minority of independents and dems who sucked. Pelosi walked circles around these fuckers day and night to get this bill passed, and I for one am deeply grateful. Because of the ACA I can get the healthcare that I desperately need as a disabled person with higher than normal cancer risk. I can get my desperately needed medications and see all of my doctors because of this piece of legislation. I was able to get surgery to remove CANCER from my body becuase of this legislation, so yeah, fuck everyone going "the ACA is bad because it's not perfect medicare for all." Girl (gender neutral), I (and many other people) would not be surviving if it were not for this bill, and I for one, think that that is a whole heck of a lot better than all of us dying because y'all want to wait for perfect legislation. Harm reduction is good and is an important step on the road to bigger and better change. Universal health care has risen to more popular and broad public opinion/knowledge because the ACA passed.

Yeah, anyways this is rant about how fucking stupid anti-ACA people are. To deny the gains of meaningful healthcare reform is a clear sign of privilege, ignorance, and tunnel vision that lets perfect be the enemy of good or better.

This is also a post about a clear and obvious way that Dems are infinitely different (and better) than republicans. Voting dem is harm reduction. Not voting, voting third party or protest write in voting is a vote for republicans. And republicans??? They give exactly zero shits about anyone other than themselves. They support stupid and insane religious conservative politics, and look to fuck over the American people (and everyone else abroad) at every turn because they don't believe in helping people; their convictions are all about hate, prejudice, fearmongering, and a right-wing Christian Theocracy. They would rather see millions of people die than give dems a win, because they are spiteful and hateful. They want us to be afraid, disengaged, disorganized and fighting one another, because their ideas, convictions and beliefs are deeply unpopular, and if we organize against them, they will lose.

[bougiebutchbitch]

Thank you so much for raising awareness about hypermobility. I've known I had it since a young age, but the (professional pediatric rheumatologist) doctor just told me "just don't do yoga i guess" and I assumed that was all I needed to know.

Now I'm an adult and it turns out my joint hypermobility is probably a full blown syndrome by now and has likely caused the migraines, vertigo, and chronic fatigue that has kept me mysteriously bed ridden for the past six years or so. Also the anxiety that isn't fixable by medicine or therapy (due to JHS causing adrenaline fuckiness) It pisses me off immensely that I already had the diagnosis and nobody told me about the symptoms other than fucking "bendy sometime?" literally around twenty years of constant pain might have been made a little more bearable if a single fucking doctor had known or told me. I learned about this because of the kindness of a complete stranger.

(mind you I was diagnosed back in like, 2000 - I couldn't just look it up on the internet back then)

I'm immensely pissed (not at you obviously), but also really fucking grateful. If you hadn't posted so much information about hypermobility and the associated disorders (and the poppin asshole) I would never have known where to start looking. Now I can talk to my doctor and maybe get the ball rolling on treatments.

(as always feel free to ignore this if I'm being a weirdo. Feeling emotionally charged right now.)

I'M GIVIN U A BIG CUDDLE WITH MY FREAKY SUPER-LONG DISLOCATING GIBBON ARMS <3

Doctors are finally starting to recognise Symptomatic Joint Hypermobility and the range of associated disorders, but the scars left by their refusal to listen to people (not to assume, but especially afab people) and their delight in slapping on a 'chronic fatigue & fibro diagnosis, it's all in your head, go out for a walk and take some antidepressants and you'll be fine :)' diagnosis will remain for a long time. Especially since a lot of them have yet to recognise the REAMS of scientific research into this and do their fucking jobs properly.

(This is not to say that chronic fatigue & fibro aren't real; they're what causes me the most day-to-day suffering along with the vertigo and syncope and dysphagia and popping asshole and IBS hell. But SO many doctors still think that because something is untreatable with a pill and affects primarly afab people, that means you're a) exaggerating, b) not their problem and c) should just suck it up, sweetie x)

Anyway, I am very, very, very grateful to my GP & Rheumatologist for being both informed and empathetic. I hit the lucky jackpot in that my rheumatologist has JHS, has studied a lot about hEDS as a result, and could accurately diagnose me and get me some help. But unless you're put in the care of someone who is either knowledgeable about this range of disorders or is willing to put in the work to both listen to you and learn, it's hell on earth.

I'm so sorry about your shitty experiences with the medical profession, and I can only say that, if it helps, you're definitely not alone - a huge number of people with this spectrum of disorders have suffered years of medical neglect and their symptoms being shrugged at and dismissed. I really hope things get better for you. <3

[genshinconfessions]

It disgusts me how easily some people in this fandom jump to telling others to harm themselves.

A Genshin artist I follow on Twitter, who IMO makes extremely unproblematic work, has left Tumblr because of the gross messages she is receiving. Because "I don't like this" translates to "I must attack the villain!!" for some people.

At this point, you could fill a book with all the stories of creators getting mistreated by members of the community. Kind of messed up.

:/// we totally agree with you. this is smth we've actually talked about in our down time lol how genshin is Literally just some pixels on a screen and it's really not that serious. like yeah, it takes inspiration from real life conflicts and places and things that exist, but such is art! art comes from life! that doesn't mean such art accurately represents said life, and it certainly doesn't mean that anyone should attack anyone else over a difference in opinion regarding the game.

and regarding fanworks -- god this is such a young fandom. i keep saying this but genshin is SUCH a young and new fandom, with young and new members. fans attacking fanart/fanfic is smth almost exclusively seen in younger, newer fandoms with younger, newer fans, and it's because--like you said--they don't know how to separate 'i personally don't like this thing' from 'this is a bad thing that should not exist'.

i see so much of this in the genshin fandom, even when i'm not actively trying to engage with it: if it's 'problematic' to like tartaglia (because he tried to drown a city and is part of a literal mafia), how no one should be liking dottore and if you do you're a shitty person (because he performed human experimentation and other fucked up things), and i shit you not, that liking ayato is a red flag (because he was the mastermind behind many inazuma plots but never showed his face so he could seem innocent).

like, guys... it's a game. fiction is not the same as real life. you can enjoy a fucky wucky little character and still realize that they're a bad person in the story. you can enjoy a fucked up little gremlin and not agree with their actions and thoughts. you can enjoy a piece of media without subjecting yourself to the purity mindset. i hate to say it but some ppl on the internet really take it too far with the purist thing; yeah it's good to know that a certain character's actions would not be acceptable irl, but that doesn't mean you can't like how they're written, or their personality, or even their appearance -- because they're fictional. nothing they do in the story will affect real life.

now, if you're going to emulate them irl, maybe don't do that...

katheryne from liyue

[rewatching-supernatural]

s14e04

I am going through this season very slowly for many reasons

1. the show got so long and boring, watching it feels almost like a chore

2. i know the ending is coming soon and I grew up with this show, and when I stopped watching at season 10, I was the one who walked away and the show still existed, it was still alive in my mind, I still had more if I ever wanted to get more... but this is it. There won't be anything more than season 15. so it's bittersweet, and I'm dreading the grief and loss that will come

3. i got a promotion starting March 15th and I now work more than twice the amount of hours I worked before, meaning I have a lot less free time

*****

Wow, geek shit, horror movies, Shocker TV!, this shop looks fucking cool

this guy mistreated a customer and now he's dead

I love all the references to the movies we saw in the early seasons of the show, particularly in the "Hollywood" episode (the haunted set)

*****

Dean's watching horror movies and Sam shaved

House IS full of strangers, and Dean and hiding in his room, laying down sideways on his bed eating pizza and drinking

has Dean ever been more relatable???

*****

Why the fuck is Dean sucking on a lollipop? 😂

and now he's fucking with the Hatchet Man 😂 this is awesome

*****

this guy playing Fortnite, of course

and Sam understands everything he says of course

I live on the internet and I have literally never heard "mirl", I'd say "meet irl"

*****

Sam : It was Riley

Me and Dean, at the same time : I don't know who Riley is, but okay/cool

🤷🏽‍♀️🤔

*****

If this guy is being hunted because he stole someone's favourite Pokémon, I'm gonna scream

*****

Dean geeking out with this guy, some people might think it's unrealistic but dude, 100% how it always goes

"I like to watch movies where I know the bad guy's gonna lose." 😭❤️ Dean baby

// the video is titled "Dean flirts" but that shit isn't flirting, it's making friends

*****

Dean's so excited about Hatchet Man coming to attack him 😂

Ah, this poor guy learning so quickly

*****

of course, the security guards are watching THAT movie

*****

and now they're exploding the Scooby Doo lunchbox

*****

hahahaha the fucking Hatchet Man hiding under the sheet what the fuck

ooooooh and now the Preview for the movie!

"but there's no escaping... the Hatchet Man!"

*****

*****

No

No Sam

Sam didn't fucki

he threw up

Sammy, my poor boy 😭

DEAN IS SUCH A SWEETHEART 😭😭😭😭😭😭🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

*****

Okay this episode was awesome

it had Kripke vibes and a cool haunting and Dean being the best Dean and a good older brother and it was really good