# Having an illness that can't be diagnosed is killing me and I'm going to fix it my damn self! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984 "2013-11-28T05:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nobody\_sMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/258eb7/32.png) [@Nobody\_sMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_sMama)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/41 "2013-11-30T20:31:59Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Who the fuck are you even talking to? The people who posted the following to what I considered serious discourse. Why Not: "Yeah, I bet you only have TWO vacation homes. Slacker. " Qadgop: “I miss out on so much” And, really Miller? You felt the need to use that kind of abusive language in response to me? I don’t think that is called for. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/42 "2013-11-30T20:35:27Z")
> [@Nobody\_sMama](#): > > The people who posted the following to what I considered serious discourse. > > Why Not: "Yeah, I bet you only have TWO vacation homes. Slacker. " > > Qadgop: “I miss out on so much” > > And, really Miller? You felt the need to use that kind of abusive language in response to me? I don’t think that is called for. They were teasing each other, not making fun of you. And I think **Miller** was just being a pottymouth, not being abusive. I swear all the fucking time, and I wouldn’t call that particular use abusive. (Side note: Ability to pay for medical care is technically a side discussion of the OP’s original topic, so frankly, lots of hijacks should be expected.) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody\_sMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/258eb7/32.png) [@Nobody\_sMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_sMama)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/43 "2013-11-30T20:41:54Z")
And, further, thanks to the folks in D.C. who put this wonderful deal together (with lots of influential monies from insurance, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals-we have the best new health laws that MONEY CAN BUY!!) I can expect to receive in the mail, any day now, my current health insurance policy cancellation notice. Guess why? Because my policy doesn’t cover maternity. Because, I am 48 years old, and not fertile and I don’t need such coverage. I can barely afford the policy that I did purchase to cover catastrophic care only. Because, ya know, if I actually wanted a decent policy that covered anything else, it would be double the monthly premium. Really. I got the quote. Oh and guess what else? Once my policy is cancelled, I will have to shop around for God knows how long to try to find another individual policy that will now be EVEN MORE expensive. The Affordable Care Act has just been wonderful. This is what is it like in the REAL WORLD folks in D.C. They haven’t a clue. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/44 "2013-11-30T20:42:38Z")
[quote=“Nobody\_sMama, post:40, topic:674984”] > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > That’s what the affordable care act is out there for. Go get some. > > I did go on the so-called “affordable care act” website the very first day (was waiting anxiously for it, in fact) and guess what I found? > > My monthly premium increases by $76.00 per month and instead of a $10,000.00 deductible it would be $12,000.00. Still can’t afford to go to the doctor. > > Sure made it so much more affordable for us! I really, really had hoped that the Affordable Care act would do just that. We have had our own business and supplied hundreds of jobs for years. Paid more than our fair share of taxes. Always, always carried health insurance while we watched others go without and used the money to take luxury vacations. Then they would tell us how “great the South of France is and that we should go sometime!!!” > > And, every year, despite being healthy, non-smoking hard working Americans who never make a health claim and wouldn’t consider abusing the health system the way some do, our premiums climb and climb. And now, the much touted “affordable” care act is actually just a sham and certainly no apparent help to the middle classes who are being crushed more every year by the insurance companies. I was on similar low cost, high deductible plans for years. From a real world medical coverage point of view IMO they are almost all useless trash. Unless I had a catastrophic accident I would never come close to meeting the insane deductible standard and even then the benefits are limited. It would almost make more sense actuarially to go bare and save the cash for accidents. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody\_sMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/258eb7/32.png) [@Nobody\_sMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_sMama)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/45 "2013-11-30T20:43:54Z")
Thank you, Ferret Herder. I agree with what you wrote with regard to my quoting the other posters. This is just such a sore sticking point with me that I guess I take offense much too easily. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody\_sMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/258eb7/32.png) [@Nobody\_sMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_sMama)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/46 "2013-11-30T20:57:10Z")
Astro: “It would almost make more sense actuarially to go bare and save the cash for accidents.” But now, that has been made illegal. Still, with the extremely high cost of a hospital stay, the average person would be stripped bare of their assets within a very short time. American medicine has now been all but limited to the poor (Medicaid), the old (Medicare) and the very wealthy (whatever they want, up to and including vanity procedures that tie up medical professionals and facilities) while the rest go without. Unless you have nothing else to lose. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/47 "2013-11-30T21:20:28Z")
> [@Nobody\_sMama](#): > > Astro: “It would almost make more sense actuarially to go bare and save the cash for accidents.” > > But now, that has been made illegal. Still, with the extremely high cost of a hospital stay, the average person would be stripped bare of their assets within a very short time. > > American medicine has now been all but limited to the poor (Medicaid), the old (Medicare) and the very wealthy (whatever they want, up to and including vanity procedures that tie up medical professionals and facilities) while the rest go without. Unless you have nothing else to lose. It looking at the current Obamacare options as single 55 year old man in generally good health the best option for me is quite possibly to simply pay the tiny penalty for the next few years until the penalty gets ramped up to painful levels. It might be your best option as well. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984/48 "2013-12-01T01:52:43Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > About 15 years ago, one of the doctors I worked for had a mid-80s Honda Civic as his pride and joy, not to mention his family’s only car. It was stolen off the street by joyriders and totaled. He used his insurance company payout to… buy another Civic of the exact same year, from the proverbial little old lady who only drove it on Sundays. 😃 > > He’s also someone with celiac disease, and he’s the one who recommended not going off gluten before getting tested. He did go off so he found that out the hard way, but his daughter was properly tested and diagnosed with it. Another vote for getting tested first. My wife doesn’t know if she has celiac disease. She stopped all gluten when she had her last episode, so when it got to the point where the specialists were trying every test in the book they explained that the lack of gluten in her system likely would make a celiac disease test inconclusive at best. Her gastroenterologist (and the second opinion one) both agree that she may have it, and both told her that it wasn’t worth the health risks of starting to eat gluten again just to test her now; they prefer to let sleeping dogs lie. It sucks to not know what you have. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-an-illness-that-cant-be-diagnosed-is-killing-me-and-im-going-to-fix-it-my-damn-self/674984.md?page=2)