wrecking ball
Long covid demolished the life I knew. I am trying now for disability and hoping to keep my home. I am in pain every second of every day. No health insurance because I had it through my 21-year public teaching position, and when I had to leave that job, I lost my insurance. I couldn't afford the $1k a month that COBRA would have set me back. I can't begin to afford marketplace insurance. I used my savings to survive financially the past few years. My pension is there, but I'm not old enough to access it; nor will it be remotely enough to live on if I can get Teacher's Retirement Disability. Every day is a struggle to continue. I can get basic care at a wonderful local clinic, but even something like a cortisone shot requires me to go elsewhere. And in order to qualify financially for that shot, I'd already need to be on disability.
This illness is one of many, including chronic Lyme and ME/CFS (the latter of which I probably actually do have now, along with osteoarthritis and asthma) that is poorly understood and often dismissed because it's an "invisible" illness that, on a tolerable day, isn't always evident to observers.
The US needs health care reform in an immediate and sweeping way. I'm not counting on it, though. I truly don't know what will happen.
This book is a really powerful account of what it's like for those of us living with invisible illnesses and disabilities.
wrecking ball
Long covid demolished the life I knew. I am trying now for disability and hoping to keep my home. I am in pain every second of every day. No health insurance because I had it through my 21-year public teaching position, and when I had to leave that job, I lost my insurance. I couldn't afford the $1k a month that COBRA would have set me back. I can't begin to afford marketplace insurance. I used my savings to survive financially the past few years. My pension is there, but I'm not old enough to access it; nor will it be remotely enough to live on if I can get Teacher's Retirement Disability. Every day is a struggle to continue. I can get basic care at a wonderful local clinic, but even something like a cortisone shot requires me to go elsewhere. And in order to qualify financially for that shot, I'd already need to be on disability.
This illness is one of many, including chronic Lyme and ME/CFS (the latter of which I probably actually do have now, along with osteoarthritis and asthma) that is poorly understood and often dismissed because it's an "invisible" illness that, on a tolerable day, isn't always evident to observers.
The US needs health care reform in an immediate and sweeping way. I'm not counting on it, though. I truly don't know what will happen.
This book is a really powerful account of what it's like for those of us living with invisible illnesses and disabilities.