You’re entirely welcome. And thank you back for the kind words.
Take care of yourself and the important people in your life. 
Bolding mine.
Because the government has so much extra money floating around, right? that we should just do this without even thinking anything more about it.
This is more than a mini-rant, but maybe we should consider that not having children is not a health care crisis on the order of, say, cancer, heart disease and AIDS. Especially considering how many unwanted chldren there already are, right here in this country.
This should probably go in its own thread, but jeez, get a grip! The world does not owe (generic) you the ability to procreate.
Roddy
This would be a lot more convincing if insurance didn’t routinely cover drugs that treat erectile dysfunction.
Exactly.
Yeah, it’s SO easy to just adopt! Wow, and cheap too! Especially if you want a child under five. Not to mention all the emotional implecations of moving from coming to grips with not having your own children to taking on a child that’s not your own. :rolleyes:
Your comments are spoken like a true ffergile. I hope for your and your loved ones sake, you never have to suffer from infertility, which in many cases is caused by a disease or condition of some sort - you know, like cancer.
I think we’re talking apples and oranges here. Insurance routinely covers lots of drugs that don’t treat life-threatening conditions (like my Flonase for mild hay fever).
Right, so why would fertility treatments be excluded? I mean, I can get a ton of pretty much ‘elective’ surgeries done that don’t really improve the quality of my life, but I can’t get some coverage for IVF? I have this weird growth on the back of my neck in my hair that just an inflamed oil gland, and they offered to remove it if I wanted them to. And it’s covered. Strange.
I absolutely agree with your point about ED. But in any case, that is insurance companies, not government funding.
Roddy
I guess this is just an issue of clarity then. I was not specifically referring to government subsidies for infertility treatments, I was thinking of insurance mostly.
Completely ignoring my main point: infertility, in and of itself, is not life-threatening. If it is a symptom of something else that is life-threatening, that something else can be treated. But that’s not what you were talking about. You were talking about infertility treatments, very expensive treatments the sole purpose of which is to make babies, and treatments that would be paid for by other peoples’ taxes.
I never mentioned adoption. My reference to unwanted children had two points: 1) there are already too many people in the world, if not in your house; 2) it is not clear that having more babies serves society’s needs. It only (apparently, to me) serves the emotional needs of the relatively few families involved.
Your ad hominem attack on me (I assume that “spoken like a true ffergile” was supposed to be “spoken like a true fertile (person)”) is not worthy of comment.
You now appear to be backtracking on the issue of government funding, which is contrary to the part of your original post that I bolded as well as your reference to legislation which I did not bold. This is sloppy thinking and too many people don’t pay attention to the difference. But for the record, I also don’t favor raising everyone’s insurance rates to the level that would support paying for expensive fertility treatments. And the way things are going, private insurance may be on the way out, so it may come to the same thing in the end.
Roddy
Regarding the bolded parts: 1) neither are thousands of other diseases and disorders that are covered by government or insurance funding, which leads me to believe that it’s based upon demand for coverage more than anything else, and 2) you didn’t mention adoption explicitly, but you inferred it, regardless of your backtracking now (which you accuse me of).
Putting legislation in place to mandate insurance coverage for fertility treatments (as some states in the US already do - though I am in Canada so it’s a bit different) is what I am referring to. I do not expect the government to cover it, but I do expect them to step in if society demands it.
As a comparison, I don’t favour high insurance rates as the result of people not wearing their seatbelts, so perhaps we should force them to pay out of pocket? Or the smokers who get lung cancer and need treatment - it IS self-inflicted. Fair?
Success!!! Not a rant, but rather a success. Thanks to everyone who gave me fodder for the platitude wars with the well meaning but clueless. I’ve used, “As well as can be expected” a dozen times already.
We also have an answer for, “Is there anything we can do?” The answer: “Go donate platelets.” One of the permanent blood donation centers has the apheresis machine to separate them out. It won’t be a directed donation thing – they won’t go to my brother, but the blood banks always need platelets. They’re only good for a few days. And he had to have two transfusions in the hospital. So people can help us ‘pay back’ the system.
I have an answer to give, they can feel like they are doing something concrete, and the blood supply gets a boost right before the holidays. Win-win-win.
(Can’t believe it took me two weeks to come up with this…)
If it’s any consolation, the company that built my house is no longer in the house-building business due to money issues. But yes, almost every house in this neighborhood has the water heater in the attic. I’m really, really glad the drain pan worked properly; the only water damage is a small spot on a piece of plywood. I don’t think the plumber left the manual though…I’ll have to call them again tomorrow.
Side hijack: a relative recently posted on Facebook that she had a cold, and felt like she had been “run over by a Mac truch”. :smack:
Thanks, guys. I feel better now. Be advised that I wasn’t feeling suicidal when I posted that. It has to do with Christmas and my extended family. Since I posted, though, I talked to my dad, of all people, who had a different take on things. So no worries, and thanks for posting. Especially Mom-of-Andrew. Glad to see your most recent post!
Fucking Company Provided Health Insurance
Last year our premiums got jacked to the sky. To stay on the Silver Plan would have cost me about 60% more than it had the year before. I dropped down to the Bronze plan and it still went up over 35%. At the time I joked here that by this year I would be on the Lead or even Wood plan.
Well, this year that made a big fuss about how we were getting a new insurance company with much lower costs, so I took a look at the plans today.
Yes, they’re about 1/3 of the costs of last year.
But they cover even less than that.
They have strict dollar limits on what they pay for.
$50-80 once per year for a physical, depending on the plan.
$10-30 per prescription.
Need tests? $100-175 per day of testing.
In the Hospital? $400-700 per day maximum.
Those of you who have actually used your medical coverage should recognize how absolutely ludicrous this coverage is.
Oh, but wait, the best part is what it doesn’t cover.
In an airplane in any respect other than as a passenger on a commercial airline? Nada. (Uncle Fred takes you flying and you crash? Sorry, on your own)
Injured in a DWI? No coverage.
Birth control, STD testing? No coverage
Ambulance? Not covered. :eek:
I don’t recall seeing a single word about mental health issues. Would seem to be a certainty it isn’t covered.
This is much much less than anything I would have considered a Lead or Wood plan. This is “a shit stained piece of toilet paper” plan.
I think given what you are going through you can forgive yourself for not thinking of everything all at once. I’m glad you are feeling a bit more in control of the “well meaning but clueless” folks. Hopefully you will get a huge influx of platelet donors for your hospital. I wish I could say something encouraging but all I can come up with is “Hang in There.”
But they will probably cover all pregnancy related costs and IVF, right?
w00t!
I’ve been sluffing off and haven’t donated in a while, so I’ll get off my butt and go give some also.
Thanks for the motivation.
::: Rick wanders out of the thread to head over to the Red Cross website to make an appointment:::
I’ve donated whole blood twice in the last six months after not giving anything in 13 years. After the last donation, they told me I was special, that I was ideal to give platelets. I’ve never given platelets before. Did they lie to me? Can almost anybody give platelets rather than whole blood? They also called me twice a day for about a week to try to get me to go down there again. I will give again, just not right now. I don’t like to be harassed to do it. Good idea for people that want to help your brother, though.
Bah friggin’ Humbug.
I have volunteered to decorate a table at the Booster Club (Columbus Cottonmouths minor league hockey, for those who don’t breathlessly follow my inane bitchings about refs and suchlike) Christmas Party. I decided it would be attractive to so a small model railroad type centerpiece; the tables seat 8 so there’s enough space.
The least expensive model railroad I could find was over $40 at Hobby Lobby. A bit more than I wanted to spend. Oh, wait! K-Mart has a beautiful carousel in their little holiday village! Since I collect carousel animals, I’d be willing to spend a bit for it because I could add it to my collection.
Oh, wait! They have the carousel in the display; they don’t actually have any for sale. I checked both K-Marts.
So my fall-back idea is to to a door wreath - I’ve done some nice ones in the past - and lay it flat on the table with candles in the center. After the party I’ll give it to my player and his fiancee for their apartment door, if they want it. If not, I’ll hang it on my door.
I’m already over Christmas. At least after the party this Sunday I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Not the insurance carriers chosen by my graduate school in the US. They changed it every year (leading to “the pre-existing condition dance” for anything that lasted longer than a week), and for one of the years I was there and the year after I left, the following items were covered re. ObGyn: abortions.