 |
| "Flags," 1986, Brian Buczak |
I'm sitting alone at a
Williamsburg's bar miffed at my boyfriend. He isn't communicating the way we
talked about. It has me thinking about other serious issues we could face come
November. Our domestic problems will be nothing compared to what will happen if
Mitt Romney is elected president.
***
I guess our problems were a bit
more serious for him—I got a break up e-mail. Lousy move on his part but a motivation to really see the magnitude of this coming election and how it will
affect people like me, living with HIV.
***
My history with Insurance
companies and Social Security Disability is long, so I'll start from the
beginning. I found out I had blood disorder called Hereditary Coproporphyria in
2001, shortly after my mother was diagnosed. When your body produces red blood
cells it creates neurotoxins and enzymes to kill those toxins off, with
Porphyria your missing the enzymes, which basically means you body is
constantly poisoning itself.
Although it's not curable, there
is a treatment called Hemetin, which cost nearly $2000 a vial. A normal round
of treatment consists a week to (in some cases) months, of three to four day
infusions. You are also given a shit ton of expensive medications to treat the
related symptoms.
Before my mom passed away in 2003
from complications of disease, her medical expenses were a bit over $1.5
million dollars, reaching past the cap insurance company would pay. Nearly half
of her life insurance money that came after she died went to pay off those
expenses.
After her death, my dad paid my
insurance for a few years. When I turned twenty I applied for, and was awarded,
Social Security Disability and have continued to rely on that “safety net” for
the last seven years. In 2009, I found out I was HIV positive. The already
ridiculously expensive medical bills became three times worse with the addition
of antivirals and other new medications having to do with the combination of
diseases.
I'm lucky to have the coverage I
do--I don't have to pay that much in insurance premiums but only receive about
$500 a month cash assistance and can only make an additional $220 a month before
I am at risk of loosing/having benefits reduced or have to start paying more.
Which isn't really an option, seeing that your not permitted to have more than
something like $1000 in saving at any given time. It's a trap. And a necessity
for millions of Americans like me.
Nearly 1.1 million Americans are
living with HIV; 40% of HIV positive people receive their HIV medication
through Medicaid. You cannot be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition
and the cap on how much an insurance company has to pay towards your medical
expenses is gone.
So what would a Romney/Ryan
administration mean? It would devastate Medicare and Medicaid. A study released
on Tuesday reports that Paul Ryan’s budget plan would end up cutting $1.7
billion from Medicaid, dropping enrollments by nearly 50%.
I talked with my Dad about this
and what it was like to be a caretaker for a spouse with a serious, chronic
disease. “There's sadness,” he said, “ in part
just because you're exhausted. Sadness at the current state of life. Sadness
just that a lot of the happiness seems gone, not permanently gone, but
somewhere else far off. Maybe you'll be back there one day. And of course there's fear. Fear that all this chaos and
exhaustion will never end. And fear that it will.”
I guess what frightens me most is the
possibility of being alone and sick, being my mother and father—the sick and
the caretaker.
***
Like the email I got from my ex,
the Romney campaign is blurring their true intentions. But unlike with my relationship,
I know what’s coming. If don’t to be without insurance-less I have to vote for
President Obama.
Brad Crelia is a writer and editor.
