A Little Late to the Party

     Admittedly, I've been out of the political loop for awhile now. With great intention I've avoided political debate as was once my morning fare. I came home to simplify...raise a few goats...grow a little garden...You think you'd feel healthier just for making a conscious decision to rid your life, where you can, of the angst and anger, but no matter how hard you try, seems you can run, but you cannot hide.
     Discussions of health care annoy on a good day, for in our country, we don't have "health care" but "sick care"to my way of thinking. Add the additional hassles of self-employment and a family history of certain things and I was doing good to find a plan, period, which today I discovered, they've booted me from thanks to compliance rules...(whatever that means). The good news is, I NOW understand the anger. All I can say is, No WONDER this country is so pissed. (Nothing like finding this out on your way to a mammogram, but at least the nurses were sympathetic when I had to cancel.)
     Will spare the saga of how much time was consumed (read: wasted) on the phone today, suffice to say "I now get it!" Having personally met the newly overhauled website, I have to say I was amazed at its simplicity, for truthfully, there were only 2 questions beyond "What is your name?" and those were "What's your email?" and "What's your phone number?" (So the "fix" is to make it open season for every insurer in the world to call me repeatedly trying to sell me something? Dear Lord, THIS was their fix?)
     "Surely not" I thought. (But I thought wrong.) One company called 16 times, and that, because I came dangerously close to signing with them, only to be transferred from "qualified agent" to a "disclaimer reading person" in India. After an hour on the phone with the former, my one and only job with the latter was to give a simple "Yes" after each statement, while they recorded my voice. When his script reading sped up and the numbers he was quoting didn't match my notes, I made the mistake of asking a question, which meant he had to go back to the VERY beginning of ALL the scripts and start all over...Four attempts and me asking him to repeat something twice that I literally could not understand for the accent, and eventually I gave it up, saying "I'm best starting fresh tomorrow," (after which the telemarketing team of "Dewey, Cheat'um and How" rang my phone every 5 minutes until 9 pm).
     So for now, it's bye-bye mammogram. Bye-bye "regular checkups" Bye-bye anything responsible since I only get 3 doctor visits a year and none to a specialist or anyone my primary care physician might refer me to until I've burned up $6400 in out of pocket deductibles...(for the luxury price of $363 a month and a 70/30 split thereafter...no dental, no prescriptions, no nothing). If this is the best they can offer,  I'm probably better off not knowing if I'm sick... In the off-handed chance I get hit by a bus, I can only pray my mandatory auto insurance would kick in.