Talk about sicko

Even if I'd tossed away all the calendars--and trust me, it's tempting--each day's mail would tell me it's nearly time to go back to school. My district must blow its entire budget for postage and letterhead in a three-week span, sending out everything from meeting schedules to single-spaced welcome letters from every new administrator to an announcement that is annual and inevitable but this year expanded from a postcard to a five-page packet though with the usual headline: Health Insurance Rates Increasing 10/1.

As someone who has racked up $26,148.74 of medical bills this year not counting last week's surgery (I bet I hit 30K, or nearly*), I am nothing if not grateful for the insurance my job provides, especially considering I couldn't even afford the individual premium if I had to pay it. I'm even more grateful that there's another job with benefits that cover the rest of my family, because if I had to take this year's new family rate seriously, well then I would have a stroke, and who knows what that would cost. Probably not $932/month, but the insurance would.

So since that's clearly not a benefit, what is it? A scheme to drive business to Blue Cross? In reality if not intention, most definitely. Who could afford such a premium premium? Or even the laughable "base" plan, an 80/20 option that, at "only" $769/month, would cost more the minute one stepped foot into the hospital, which, I'll testify, sometimes happens whether it's ever happened before or not?

It's a sign of the times, for sure. A sign that the times need changing. I've been lucky this year, really. Lucky that all my medical ridiculousness has been nothing more than a hassle and a slog--no killing me, all making me stronger, or so they say. Lucky that I only have one claim of 43 sitting out there unpaid even though I've yet to make one bitchy phone call. Lucky that I have a relatively secure job that provides me that overpriced insurance that has granted me access to way too much health care for relatively little cash. But I know it's on the backs of those who pay out-of-pocket. And it could all go away if things just get a bit out of balance. And, most especially, most importantly, for all of us-- it all shouldn't be about luck.

*Turned out to be $35,012.78