Health Care Reform is About People

Updates on Menstrual Poetry have pretty much come to a standstill over the past month. This has happened a few times over the past two years that I have been blogging here, but never quite to this degree. My life pretty much revolves around my online projects–and I have a lot of them–so while I try to spend as much time as possible online, treating my computer as more of a lifeline than anything else, even beating out coffee, that just has not been possible over this past month or so.

As some of you who speak to me on a frequent and personal level may know that I have a dental condition called Periodontal Disease that has given me a great deal of problems. Over the past few years however, my dental condition has worsened and of course, my wisdom teeth have decided that now would be the perfect time to sprout up. Apparently they did not receive the memo that I already have crowded teeth because my mouth has already produced too many teeth to fit so there is no way four additional, massive teeth are going to fit in there. But up they sprouted anyway. My wisdom teeth have been making their way into my mouth, desperate to be my best friends, for over two years now and throughout the entire time, I have spoken, saw, consulted with, and have downright pleaded with dentists to do something to help me, but to no avail. These past few years have been hell for me because my dental condition has continued to worsen, my teeth are beginning to decay regardless of how well I take care of them, and my wisdom teeth (that are coming in already pre-decayed for me) are causing me to be in constant, unrelenting pain. They are forcing pressure against all of the teeth in my mouth, causing my mouth and face to swell up and is also the source of a constant migraine headache. The pressure they are putting on my head has gotten so bad that I have woken up several times barely being able to hear and I woke up just this morning with what I am assuming is an ear infection from hell and a swollen throat.

I hardly get any good sleep where I actually wake up rested; often I wake up after 15 hours of sleeping and I am still tired. But I know that it is not me being tired, it is me being in so much pain that the only thing that my body will do is shut down.

So why, in over two years, have I not had these teeth pulled? Why am I blogging about mind-numbing pain instead of getting something done about it?

I don’t have insurance. No dental insurance, which would have helped with preventative dental work so I wouldn’t be in this position right now. No health insurance, which is what I am in need of now that my dental condition has become so bad that it is directly affecting my health. And because I don’t have insurance, I do not matter.

Dentists are only willing to do work if they know that they are getting paid, so when you call a dentist’s office to inquire about sliding scale fee options or payment plans and realize the kind of money you need in order to even get started on the process is more money than you have seen in quite a while–combined–well then you have a problem. When it comes to the uninsured, money is always the problem. Hell, money is quite often just a problem–to those who don’t have boatloads of it. While on my quest to get the dental work I need done, I have applied for medical assistance–and was promptly denied. I am still flabbergasted as to how I could be denied since my income is hilarious! Nevertheless, I have been wafting in a sea of denial and have realized that there is way too much wiggle room in the system for people, like me, who get denied for medical assistance yet can only dream of being able to afford private health insurance; especially if you work from home, like I do.

Everywhere you look in the media right now you are hearing about health care reform. Right wing extremists have dubbed it “Obamacare” and Republicans have been doing all they can to knock a public option for health care off the table. The message of their efforts is simple–All people do not deserve the right to a healthy life; just the privileged people who can afford it do. This belief has never sat very well with me. As Americans we are told that we must love our country; that we must stand by our country, fight for our country, and die for our country if we must–and we should be proud to do it. So why is it incomprehensible to think that our country should ensure that we are a healthy nation? The health care reform legislation is not trying to change anyone’s existent health insurance programs, it is merely giving people like me, who cannot afford private health insurance yet are denied for medical assistance by their state, a chance at a healthy life. It seems ludicrous to me to discriminate against people who are ill and who are low income, yet the government is allowing that discrimination to occur within the Republican and “Blue Dog” affiliations. This country will inevitably always be comprised of the have’s and the have not’s, but access to health care that people so desperately need should never be lumped into those categories. Health care reform is about people. It isn’t politics; it is something that will make it easier for people to get the care that they need in order to live. And I can attest first hand that living in pain and living with a condition that no one can or wants to help you with is not living, it is existing and barely at that.

As for me, I have finally found a sliding scale clinic that gave me a consultation for the dental work that I need done. They also gave me a referral to an oral surgeon who, of course, does not have a sliding scale option and I’m just going to assume, not very fond of the poor people. On August 25 I will go in for yet another consultation, this time with the oral surgeon to schedule getting five teeth extracted–all 4 wisdom teeth and another tooth that has pretty much decayed and that has been giving me many problems, including not being able to put anything remotely cold into my mouth because it makes it feel like my entire mouth is being attacked by super tiny ninjas with huge, sharp swords.

I am making a tremendous effort to stay up to date with all of my online projects and work that I do but if I go missing for a few days, you now know why. You can also follow me on Twitter because I tend to update that when I have a few seconds to spare and something witty to say or need to get something off my chest. Sometimes I’m entertaining.