immortal

For Democrats there was an air of bittersweet celebration, underscored by the presence of Vicki Kennedy in the visitor's gallery that overlooks the Senate floor. Her husband, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, died in August after a career spent working relentlessly for universal health care.


"With Sen. Ted Kennedy's booming voice in our ears, with his passion in our hearts, we say, as he said: The work goes on, the cause endures," said Reid, echoing words Kennedy uttered in his most famous speech... rest of article at AP on yahoo

there are changes in the air again, although i don't think they are evident. with the healthcare reform being launched in our nation's capital, i would estimate that many, many programs are going to be shifting. this will most likely affect drug/alcohol treatment as well as mental health care. from the vantage point of colorado, these are issues that sorely need addressing. a very high percentage of our law enforcement and emergency health care dollars are going to address residual issues that stem from these two core items. but i do believe, that unless we start to actively teach our citizens how to cope with their mental health issues and their life issues in more healthy and productive ways, we are most likely going to be throwing more funds after many of the same issues. we understand so much about healthy living, longer living, exercise, diet and yet very few of us actually engage in them actively. and we rely on pills, meds, and other quick fixes to pull us through. this may be the mindset that may be poisoning our society. "i'll take something to fix it." is our modus operandi..

if we could find a more thoughtful way to help people manage their life issues, and inspire ourselves to actually do it, we wouldn't have to spend so much time bandaging them up after binges and warehousing them as punitive actions. i don't believe our current policies are effective, nor holistic, nor humane. we have very much been bandaging emerging issues, or moving them to a place out of sight.

the actual scope of the bill which passed the senate a few days ago, is way more than i have been able to comprehend. and as with most new laws, there is much regulation to go along and be ironed out with the rollout of such. i would imagine it will take at least till 2020 before we see some actual finished policies. with the actual population of this country, it is no wonder it will take time to iron out details- so many variables.

we'll see how it all plays out. again, i cannot imagine that, as a nation, we will become more thoughtful or more prudent in our problem solving skills overnight, but i am certainly hoping we will develop insight that we previously were not afforded.

You used to captivate me

By your resonating light

Now I'm bound by the life you left behind

Your face it haunts

My once pleasant dreams

Your voice it chased away

All the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal

This pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

today's sound choice is evanescence with "my immortal"










Share

runaround

image credit: eccehomo


so, as most of you know, i've been poz since '85. i have a tendency to think i've got most of my health situation under control. or at least i like to think that. but since october, most of my life has been a tilt-a-whirl. this would definitely include some of the pieces i consider "handled" around my health care.

i switched jobs in august. i was working for 2 years as an hiv client advocate- mostly connecting poz persons to services and working out situations that were really barriers to treatment, or continuing treatment. in august, the grants that a clinic i have been working with part time for a year were awarded, and that awarded enough(tongue in cheek)salary for me to just work full time at that clinic. i became a full time substance abuse counselor, and have also been developing (when time allows) some outreach and a gay men's treatment program for denver metro. this is truly a privilege and i try to do the best i can.

well, with the shift of jobs, came a shift of insurance. the new company required me to be working full time for 90 days before i became eligible. the gracious company i had worked for previously just paid for my insurance until the shift took place. (either i am a good employee, or my old boss is benevolent, or both?)

but i received a letter dated nov 9 from my old insurance company telling me that my benefits and coverage were discontinued as of oct 31. i received the letter on nov 14. i informed my current job of the situation and the processing for the new insurance company began. this was a month early and i was caught off guard completely. i was out of one of my hiv meds on the 17th of november. i called the help line at my old pharmacy, and they informed me that the best they could offer was to perhaps fill the prescription and i could pick it up a full price( about $900) but, luckily a friend had enough to loan me 10 days worth.


but after 10 days, still no new coverage. i called the state health department person who handles ADAP (Aids Drug Assistance Program) to see if they could help.he told me that they would but not until monday and then he loaned me three days of meds to get me through the weekend. luckily my salary is low enough that i qualify for assistance and was processed. the local main hospital would help, but they required me to sit through a 2 1/2 hour intake procedure, which i really didn't have the time to do this day. then another city said they could help. all i needed to do was fax my driver's license and get my current expired prescription information, they would call that clinic and transfer and fill that prescription. i did drive way across town to get this accomplished and then 2 hours later i received a call that my original insurance had never expired. i was still active. i phoned in a refill and we shall see what happens on thursday.

you know the truth is, this adventure has been more than just a little emotional for me. i have a good support system in place and i have people i can count on to try to help me when necessary. i honestly cannot imagine how difficult this same scenario is (and i'm sure it happens) for people who don't have the grounded lifestyle i am privy to. or don't have the patience to ride it out.

and on another note, this is so very similar to other chases i have been on in order to obtain drugs. but this was much more serene and civilized than my memories of those wild goose chases. never wanna go back there...