So, that “wonderful” time of year is upon us again. The part where I have to make a thousand phone calls, but to find a new insurance plan, that has a doctor on it that I can actually trust.
I should not have to go through this. It is a very traumatic experience for me every year. Every year, I face the risk of either not finding a plan I can ACTUALLY AFFORD...or not finding a plan that has any doctor on it that I know for a fact I can trust.
This is very important for me as a transgender woman. I will never again see a doctor I do not know...unless a doctor I DO know, and preferably one who treats transgender patients...says is okay. You see, in 1997, I was sexually assaulted in a doctor’s office...just because I am trans. I will never put myself through that again.
But ACA, every year...makes me risk that very thing. Because insurance companies seem to think that it is okay...to pick from a list of names to be your doctor...a person whom you will appear before often….in a state of undress. It’s like they think we are all machines now or something...they do not acknowledge that there are those among us who have real trust issues where doctors are concerned.
Every time I find a plan that looks good, and I think I can afford...it ends up none of the doctors I actually trust...accepts that plan. This is so much bullshit! Insurance companies should just simply fucking cover any licensed physician...fuck this “network” bullshit. Why the hell should I not be able to pick a plan that works for me...and then go to any licensed physician I AM COMFORTABLE WITH...and have them get paid for my care?
And then there’s this bullshit about estimating your income for the next year!! With this fucking coronavirus, how the hell can ANY of us accurately estimate our income for the next year, when we have no fucking idea what the next year holds?? It should be based on whatever your income was THE PREVIOUS YEAR...so that you can accurately answer the god damned question! This year, for example, I estimated my income based on the previous year’s income...and then WHAM, here comes coronavirus and fucked everything up….I could have most likely qualified for Medicaid this year...but I didn’t because I estimated too high. So I get fucked.
And next year...if I estimate too low, and then get Medicaid, and I end up making to much...I get popped for penalties and shit. This whole system fucking sucks. I hope Joe Biden is listening. Sure as hell none of my useless fucking Senators from North Carolina are...and good luck trying to reach Rep. David Price.
So here we are again...another fucking Open Enrollment (the name itself is fucking laughable...as is the name AFFORDABLE Care Act) and another god damn heart-wrenching trauma. I should not have to go through this every damn year.
This whole system sucks.
Rant done. Except to say FUCK ACA, FUCK Private Insurance Companies….MEDICARE FOR ALL is the only solution.