Unsurance

No, it’s not a typo. Yes, this little cripple has been without insurance for a solid 5 days now. I am officially unsured.

I had to leave my job due to…how do I say this diplomatically…there was a little bit of a misunderstanding about how much responsibility my position should entail, which ended up making it very uncomfortable for me to take time off for my health. In all, it’s been very valuable for me to have time to rest and also to be with Jenn, and though I miss my co-workers and my clients, I know I made the right decision. It was, however, a decision that had a consequence of losing my insurance.

I’m realizing how incredibly, INCREDIBLY privileged I have been for this to be the first time that I am dealing with this. I have always been in the universe’s good graces and have always managed to hold jobs that offer insurance. In addition, my family has always made it a priority to have insurance for me and my brother, and both he and I had a childhood knowing that we were insured.

How cliche can I get? Really, Scout? A Lyme blog talking about insurance? Oh yeah. I’m doing it. In the words of the a true prophet, the genius Madame Gwendolyn Stefani, “this shit is bananas.”

Man, I got something in my eye tonight and my first thought was, “What if I scratch my cornea and need eyedrop antibiotics and can’t afford to go to the doctor to get them?!” Ok, before you assume I’m over-reacting, in the land of “weird things that only happen to Scout,” several years ago I was walking home with a friend and got dust in my eye, which lodged there and scratched my cornea. I DID in fact have to go to the eye doctor after spending 24 hours unable to open my eye, and he said the magical phrase: “Ok, just relax…I’m going to flip your eyelid inside out now.” Freaking, EW, right?

So it’s legitimate. A little crazy, but it’s legitimate. No, nothing actually happened tonight and my eye is fine and yes I’m a giant hypochondriac sometimes but trust me, when you are a cripple AND a lifelong giant klutz, sometimes it’s worth it to be on the lookout for disaster.

I had the option to go with COBRA instead of being completely without insurance. For those of you that might think I’m insane for not doing so, note this:

1 doctor’s appointment without insurance – $450
1 month of COBRA – $537

Yes, it would cost me almost $550 just to extend my shitty insurance plan, for which I have had and would continue to have stupidly high co-pays for everything, not to mention the amount of things that I need that just aren’t covered at all. It will actually cost me less in the event that I need to go to the hospital, because those services are covered by state free care.

So…I’m playing it safe. Trying to keep away from ice patches, pecking birds, lava pits, head hunters, and monkey armies. If I can tough it out, it’ll be totally worth it to be able to go back to the Haverford Wellness Center once I’m insured again. As long as I don’t run into a wayward monkey on the way.