You can't say the word healthcare these days without stirring up a debate. After all, Republicans shut down the government over it--stupid as that shutdown may have been. It's been a horribly bad rollout for the website. Which has been making my problems worse.
I've always said the "system" (and I mean larger society) isn't set up for people like us. And, by people like us, I mean non-joiners who present unique situations not easily addressed by anything mass-oriented. We don't like the typical tv shows. We don't drink the typical wines or beers. We don't do the typical sports. We're different. We love it. It's just hard to find handmade organic soap at Walmart and you can't get too upset that it is difficult. Well, actually, you can but we'll save that discussion about how much to fight for inclusion for another day.
This post is about an unmarried Stay At Home Dad trying to get some health insurance. And the difficulty in that is that I have too many "it depends" to answer too many demographic questions. When you want to know how many people in my household or how much income I live off of...it depends. Do you mean really? There are 4 people in our household and we live quite comfortably.
If you're the IRS, I'm a household of one who lives in utter poverty. I wonder if somebody somewhere thinks it's odd that my little blip on their radar hasn't applied for some sort of assistance? I'm kind of surprised nobody has knocked on my door to inquire about the horrible social conditions keeping a man living off of so little.
Which brings us to my current Obamacare situation...I can either look poor and mooch off the state for virtually free healthcare (not my preference). Or, I can jump through hoops to get reasonably-priced insurance via a real, private health insurance company (what I'd prefer). I can't complain too hard here because the fact that a low-income man without dependents can now get healthcare in many states---which we couldn't before--and that's awesome. On the other hand, it sucks that what would really be easiest for everyone (the govt and me) is if it would simply recognize facts on the ground for a better picture of an individual's situation.
So, as it sits now, I still can't apply to get insurance. It's right there, I can see the rate now that some of the early log-in problems have been bypassed with direct access to the numbers. But...big but...because of my household situation it's really my unmarried partner with the income who needs to be applying FOR me. So rather than one of the few things in the world where I can have some agency, it gets taken away in favor of the breadwinner needing to do the paperwork.
Is this what it felt like to be a 1950's housewife? I'd love some health insurance, but you'll have to wait until my husband comes home. This is what it's like to be an unmarried SAHD in the early 21st century. Hopefully, one day future generations will laugh at how clueless we were in extending benefits to everyone who needs them. For now, we're only a small step up from feudalism.
I've always said the "system" (and I mean larger society) isn't set up for people like us. And, by people like us, I mean non-joiners who present unique situations not easily addressed by anything mass-oriented. We don't like the typical tv shows. We don't drink the typical wines or beers. We don't do the typical sports. We're different. We love it. It's just hard to find handmade organic soap at Walmart and you can't get too upset that it is difficult. Well, actually, you can but we'll save that discussion about how much to fight for inclusion for another day.
This post is about an unmarried Stay At Home Dad trying to get some health insurance. And the difficulty in that is that I have too many "it depends" to answer too many demographic questions. When you want to know how many people in my household or how much income I live off of...it depends. Do you mean really? There are 4 people in our household and we live quite comfortably.
If you're the IRS, I'm a household of one who lives in utter poverty. I wonder if somebody somewhere thinks it's odd that my little blip on their radar hasn't applied for some sort of assistance? I'm kind of surprised nobody has knocked on my door to inquire about the horrible social conditions keeping a man living off of so little.
Which brings us to my current Obamacare situation...I can either look poor and mooch off the state for virtually free healthcare (not my preference). Or, I can jump through hoops to get reasonably-priced insurance via a real, private health insurance company (what I'd prefer). I can't complain too hard here because the fact that a low-income man without dependents can now get healthcare in many states---which we couldn't before--and that's awesome. On the other hand, it sucks that what would really be easiest for everyone (the govt and me) is if it would simply recognize facts on the ground for a better picture of an individual's situation.
So, as it sits now, I still can't apply to get insurance. It's right there, I can see the rate now that some of the early log-in problems have been bypassed with direct access to the numbers. But...big but...because of my household situation it's really my unmarried partner with the income who needs to be applying FOR me. So rather than one of the few things in the world where I can have some agency, it gets taken away in favor of the breadwinner needing to do the paperwork.
Is this what it felt like to be a 1950's housewife? I'd love some health insurance, but you'll have to wait until my husband comes home. This is what it's like to be an unmarried SAHD in the early 21st century. Hopefully, one day future generations will laugh at how clueless we were in extending benefits to everyone who needs them. For now, we're only a small step up from feudalism.