I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

"Yeah, you do have some spinach stuck between your teeth."

Hi all,

Well, longer weekend than I'd intended. After work, I went out and did a bit of shopping, for a few items I needed. Then, I walked downtown to take in a bagpipe/celtic music concert at the hall where the local pipe band practices. Unfortunately, right in the middle of an instrumental rendition of "The Star of County Down," my bad foot flared up unexpectedly, and I had to hot-foot it ('scuse the pun) out of the hall, before I turned into a prize idiot and yelled "Owwww!" (and maybe an unladylike word) out loud during the concert.

Ah well. It was nice, here, Saturday night. More like early June than mid-April. There was live music outdoors at the Davidson Brothers pub, and people sitting out at other little bistros, so I had a slow but pleasant stroll home. The nice thing about warm weather this time of year, is no mosquitoes yet, ha-ha.

Sunday was a relaxing day. I worked on a little craft project I'd been putting off, re-potted some plants, tidyed my bedroom. But, seems I overdid in Saturday, as Sunday night was spent in the ER, as I nearly passed out unexpectedly. Took Monday off, went to the doctor's for the follow-up. Nothing to worry about, really. Just that my hypertension for some reason, suddenly went...well, hyper. It was still at 210 over whatever, by Monday morning. So, some new med with something called a beta blocker, and another appointment...and, I was told no more caffine (dang, I love my Coke-a-cola) and no more salt or salty stuff, keep hydrated and...I have to get an extra hour or two of sleep every day. Yuck. Now I really am turning into my mum.

It explains my fatague though, I suppose.

I am trying to find affordable medical insurance, and that didn't help my BP at all!

Okay, get this:

I went on half-time at work, because of my ill health...but, also, so I could go back on disability benefits, as I sorely needed a stable income of some sort that I could (well, let's not go there) rely on...eventually. (See previous personal entry.)

I wanted a somewhat stable income, so I could finacially manage my healthcare better. HA!

I still have medicare, but...because I also work part-time 14 to 21 hours a week, I no longer qualify for New York's medicaid programme, NOR do I qualify for New York state's "Family Healthcare Plus," because I get disability benefits!

So, with Medicare, I pay a co-pay of 20 to 40 dollars per doctor's visit on average, but...that MAY go up to $80 to $100 dollars. That does not count medicines. Meds will average $10 to $50 per bottle. Overnight hospital stays are $1000 per day OR MORE. Also, it takes between $6 and $12 in cab fare, for most visits, depending on where the office(s) are located. There are few doctor's offices on bus lines, I'm finding.

So much for visits. My visit on Monday cost me, between cab fare, meds and the visit, cost me $40 cash. When one is on a low income, $40 can seem like $400 dollars, trust me.

And...I get to do it all over again, on Thursday. IF I can afford it, that is.

I really don't like my country, sometimes. Billions spent fighting terrorism, and virtually nothing spent to help ordinary citizens have basic health care they need to stay alive and lead a productive existance. How can you love a country, that is so obviously selfish and greedy and disgusting? Why doesn't Bush and is Nazi neo-cons just put the poor, elderly and disabled in concentration camps and be done with it?

Sorry, just angry. They tell you to take care of yourself, but they don't tell you how the hell you're supposed to do it without the funds to do it with. Republicans and their Private healthcare is worse for low-income and working poor Americans, than any terrorist ever could be. At least the terrorists will kill me for a reason (albeit probably the wrong one). Republicans kill thousands of Americans every year, for only greed and mean-spirited selfishness--the creeps are afraid of losing their grip on one single penny--even 'tho those pennies may save the life of a child or adult or grandparent. They hurt their own people for sheer wanton ignorance of the consequences..which is no reason at all, as far as I'm concerned. I wish I lived in Canada or Europe. I mean that.

The neo-cons and other well-off Americans arrogantly make the lives of people already suffering hardships, harder. They do this by raising costs, cutting benefits, adding red tape and worse--despising and verbally attacking Americans that are too badly off to properly defend themselves. Listening to them (Rush Limbaugh, George Bush, etc), for me, is nothing short of an abborhence. I find them totally inhuman and disgusting.

Basically, Bush and his neo-conservatives absolutely lack the courage and strength to geniunely care. They are less than cowards, they are zero's. Nearly every day I see and hear (and sometimes experience for myself) first-hand, the terrible suffering these blatantly ignorant rich politicians in Washington are causing their fellow citizens, and I genuinely hate them for it.

Well, I'm done ranting. I must go home for lunch, I'm famished...and tired.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Cheers.