Fuck these midterm elections.

[ericadawn16]

Every time I thought it couldn't get worse, it did. Now all of my life, except for Bill Nelson and Barack Obama, are controlled by Republicans. The only silver lining is that the Pro-Environment Amendment passed and everything was SUPER close so Florida has more progressives than they give us credit for, but...

Fuck.

Frodo : I can't do this, Sam.

Sam : I know.
It's all wrong
By rights we shouldn't even be here.
But we are.
It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo.
The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were,
and sometimes you didn't want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy.
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened.
But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you.
That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand.
I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

Comments

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Just as it running both ways that the Senate and House disrespect each other...it also runs both ways that opinions matter and can be respected.

Do I HAVE respect for my grandparents?

Obviously, I'm grateful that they put a roof over my mom's head, kept her clothed and kept her fed.

Do I respect my grandparents?

I find that very hard because they were bigots who mentally abused my mother for decades so that the invisible scars are still there.

My brother feels I need to appreciate my father still being alive but he's nothing to me. I told him how nice it was to see him accidentally at work and he didn't write me for ten months.

People are complicated and while, we can certainly respect that they have a right to that opinion, we don't HAVE to respect that opinion. This is why you're able to tell several of the commenters that their opinion is wrong but you are BOTH equally entitled to your opinion because this is the United States of America. Just having more years does not make one's opinion matter more because we all have different life experience. I've seen people from broken, shitty homes have a better grasp on how to survive on their own than people from perfect, two parent households.

As for the college part, my mom gave me a one time loan for $500 that I paid back the following semester and after that, she co-signed my loans...that's it. I paid for my college, not my parents. I hardly know a soul nowadays whose parents paid or helped to pay for college outside of the rich elites.

On one hand, I do feel sorry for the discomfort of those whose plans were changed under Obamacare BUT...

This is as far as it goes because I also know first-hand how it feels to go without health insurance for decades or the six months that I was on Medicaid where no one but the hospital wants to see you and you get kicked off for any reason they can think of. I have a friend who had to reapply for Medicaid EVERY SINGLE YEAR! She was confined to a wheelchair. It's not like her medical status was going to change.

To me, a person complaining about the discomforts of finding another doctor or what have you is like complaining to chicken farmer in Nigeria that they couldn't find the right kind of Nutella in their grocery store.

Of course, they are entitled to their opinion, but I don't have to pretend to agree with them about the supposed drastic nature.

I will admit that I've never been entirely happy with Obamacare but I wanted a national service like every other intelligent country has...my neighbor up the road broke her hip. It was going to cost $9,000 here but they called their health care in Canada so they flew her back home and had her hip replaced in 24 hours upon arrival. They didn't pay a dime. Meanwhile, I have co-workers who dream of owning their own home but can't because their credit is ruined forever. Why? Because they had the bad luck of getting cancer and not being able to pay for it.

I fear that you are right that they think they won because people want them to work together. Whereas I think they won because they promised a better economy and jobs and all of that BUT you can only have that if you're willing to spend money on our aging, decrepit, dangerous infrastructure that basically dates from the New Deal. I've seen no evidence that anyone wants to do this. Instead, they mention things like the Keystone Pipeline where foreign companies pay to ship dangerous oil through our country so that it can be shipped out to foreign lands and most of the jobs involved would be temporary construction work. This appears to be side by side with repealing Obamacare.

There a LOT of voters who were thwarted though because information was incorrect, absentee ballots had insane restrictions or early voting was too limited. This is something else we must work on for next time.

I have only forgotten to vote in one primary in 2002 and I felt so bad afterwards that I promised never to miss one again.

I do still feel bad about not being more involved this time, what if I had stopped putting off calling people for various groups? What if I had been more persistent in trying to reach a local Charlie Crist group?

[psyko-kittie.livejournal.com]

I will admit that I've never been entirely happy with Obamacare but I wanted a national service like every other intelligent country has...my neighbor up the road broke her hip.

Speaking as a person who has lived under a national healthcare system, they are not intelligent. While I'm happy to hear that your neighbor was able to get her surgery so quickly, in a country like the UK (where I lived) that is usually not the case. Depending on the surgery needed, some people have to wait weeks for it to happen because of the referral process and the waiting lists once the surgery has been approved. And lets not get started on mental health, I had a friend, who waited 18 weeks on a waiting list before finally being able to get an appointment with a therapist.

Furthermore, the healthcare given is (imo) sub par to the care received in the United States, and it's mainly because the doctors will only run tests after they have exhausted everything that can be diagnosed by touch, sight, and in the rare cases smell. I'm not saying that tests are the end all the diagnosing a disease/disorder, but to allow a person to languish because the government won't pay for the service is not intelligent, imo.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

other intelligent country

I called the country intelligent for trying to have a system in place so everyone is provided for somehow.

I understand what you're saying, I get Canadians that do complain about their services as well, BUT...

but to allow a person to languish because the government won't pay for the service is not intelligent, imo.

We are in agreement over this so let me give you some facts...

in 2010 alone, at least 26,100 people in the US died prematurely from not having health insurance.

At least 42 million people in the US STILL don't have health insurance right at this moment.

In 2010, 66 million were on Medicaid so you can only imagine how much that number has gone up...

Did you read past my Canadian anecdote? Did you read about my coworkers who will never have good credit? Who will always be burdened with medical debt because they had the misfortune of cancer and did not die? Did you read about my friend who wasn't considered disabled enough to qualify for a new wheelchair?

Let me add some more stories to that then...

I've had two coworkers who put off dental work for MONTHS! For months, they suffered with pain that ended up in root canals and teeth removal because they had to WAIT so they could get a promotion and have their insurance kick in because they never could have afforded it on their own.

Of course, there is Medicaid if you can somehow be eligible for it. We tried to get my mom on it but our savings account was too high...you see we do like to be prepared for that unexpected expense that comes along from time to time.

I was on Medicaid for six months. I had my choice of two doctors in town...my town actually has no less than probably 60 in all, there's a clinic just about everywhere because of all the elderly residents. I was kept in hospital for three days and given all sorts of tests which could never find out what was wrong with me. A few months later I moved into a college dorm for college. They found out my address had changed and I was kicked off Medicaid.

A couple of years later, when I had no insurance, I was given just a couple of tests, diagnosed promptly and kicked out within three hours...although this was a different hospital. They wanted me to get follow-up tests but since I was uninsured, this never happened. Luckily, I am not dead over it.

The life of an uninsured citizen is constant fear of anything requiring a hospital visit or doctor. You can't do anything where a limb might be broken because that could lead to bankruptcy. You ignore all signs of illness until you're on death's door or you self-medicate with everything the drug stores have to offer. if it's something minor, there are some clinics for less than $500 a visit but otherwise, almost everyone I know use the ER for everything that should be the responsibility of a regular physician or dentist, like toothaches, flu or irregular heartbeat.

You complain about people having to wait. To me, waiting is still better than NOTHING AT ALL! Even with Obamacare, most people were either placed onto Medicaid or still unable to be insured because we aren't eligible for Medicaid but we can't afford anything else.

You also complained about your friend having to wait to see a therapist. MENTAL HEALTH IS NOT COVERED UNDER HEALTH INSURANCE HERE! Maybe if someone has a gold premium plan or something, but my country seems to feel it's a luxury...you have noticed all those violent incidents of people who were mentally unwell, right? I remember my BFF did counseling through his company. His company allowed him to have THREE sessions and anything after that would be at his expense. They talk about people going off their Meds and how drug companies will help pay for them if you're poor enough but you still need a DOCTOR to prescribe them so if you can't afford a doctor, you're still stuck.

So yeah, my country's current healthcare system is basically...unless you have money, you should just die as quickly as possible.

[psyko-kittie.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying and I understand what you're saying. I'm an America, who is now back in America. Also I'm currently one of the many uninsured because I can't afford a $500 a month premium for a basic health plan that in turn will provide me with a $3000 deductible that I'll never meet because I'm generally not a sick person.

As for the dental, dental is not covered under the ACA and never will be, unless you can get an oral surgery coded as a major medical procedure which is rare.

Also mental health is covered, depends on the plan and insurance company. Otherwise, my inbalanced sister would not be able to afford her meds or her therapists, and she works retail.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I'm glad for sister, but outside of someone who's had it diagnosed as an actual disability, I don't know anyone who has it covered in their health insurance.

Then again, I also work retail and have almost given up on ever having health insurance again.