Business (as usual!)

[merimask]

Well, yesterday certainly was exciting in a geeky cyber artist kind of way.  Final count after my day of being featured on DeviantArt:  over 2,700 hits on my gallery, and over 4,800 hits on the Fire Dragon that was the featured Daily Deviation.   Just to put that into perspective; since I opened the site (November 20th I think) I'd only recieved 291 hits on my gallery in total, until yesterday.  Wow!  My Etsy shop experienced a boost in hits exactly like the kind I get when I buy a showcase...so not bad at all!

I ran out of black dye over the weekend...what to do?  I know; make BLUE things.


This one was a special request, so it was going to be blue anyway...

Both up in Etsy, naturally.

I am doing an awful lot of dragon masks lately.  I just keep getting requests for them...it's not my fault!  It seems very few mask artists make dragon masks, too, so I have cornered the market there.

Not complaining...I really like making dragons anyway.  I just figured I'd better explain myself, since you guys are probably sick of seeing dragons!

In other news; not much going on.  I'm very very worried about our health insurance.  Greg's employer is raising the rates by over $200 a month for our health coverage.  That means over $400 a month out of Greg's paycheck, just for insurance.  Greg is making noises about dropping it, but getting health insurance on your own is an extremely expensive proposition.   I'm afraid we might not have a policy in a month.  Scary...

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Health Insurance is scary, and expensive. We were uninsured for the better part of 4 years because of issues with his employers insurance--too complicated to go into here. We tried to get insurance on our own, but even going in with "group" insurance programs (such as offered to members of some professional organizations we belong to) insurance would cost us easily $1000 a month for the two of us--for insurance as individuals, the monthly rates were considerably higher. When Obama said in the debates that basic, adequate insurance coverage for the average American was about $1200, he wasn't exaggerating. It's very, very expensive to be privately insured. And we haven't any major health problems to raise our premiums.

The good news is that if Obama manages to pass his proposed plan, these rates may go down in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, though it's very expensive.

We are insured again, as of this fall. We're paying a lot of money for it--$300 a month for the two of us--and it's gouged a huge hole in our monthly budget, and I don't think the coverage is the best, but it's a HUGE relief to have that coverage again. Because it's really stressful to be constantly worried that something would happen, needing hospitalization or even surgery, without any way to pay for it. And I'm no longer terrified that something would show up that would then be a "pre-existing condition" when we did finally get insurance again, which would either disqualify us from coverage or make it so expensive we couldn't afford it.

um, that was me

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

Oops. I must have somehow got logged off. The above post was mine.

Re: um, that was me

[merimask.livejournal.com]

LOL...I do that all the time too. LJ just logs you out sometimes.

The insurance thing is VERY scary. It's become SO expensive. It's more than either the car payment OR the house payment...seriously! Just wow.

I keep telling Greg that even with the rate increase it's STILL a far better deal than what we could do on our own. We have dental & vision coverage too.

Turns out that NY state has a law; if your employer offers ANY package at all, you're stuck with it. So, unless he cancels the coverage altogether we will just have to pay the increase.

Re: um, that was me

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

We pay $300 a month for 2 people, basic medical, no dental, no vision, and really lousy medical coverage ($60 copay for name brand drugs, even approved ones when there is no generic available--serious ouch) and it's still less than a third of what we would pay for coverage anywhere else, and realistically closer to 1/8th of what we would pay for decent coverage as individuals.

If you cancel the coverage completely, you should also consider that if anything happens to either of you--say one of your develops high blood pressure, or falls and ends up damaging themselves in a way that eventually requires surgery or something, future insurance companies can turn you down or refuse to cover related problems because they are pre-existing conditions. So long as you are continually insured, you are protected from that.

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's about what insurance is costing me - and I'm thrilled to have it. But you remember the decade that I was uninsured, so you understand.

You should always make blue things, not just when you run out of black dye.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Yeah the insurance thing is scaring me badly. I had no ins. at all when I was divorced & single...none for years & it was very frightening. I keep telling Greg we need to just suck it up & pay whatever Citicorp is offering us, 'cause the alternative is unbelieveably expensive. He has no idea...he never had to look into it like I did.

I like blue too! It's just that black is a good base color for drybrushing other colors atop it, so I use it all the time. Still yeah...blue speckles instead of black speckles all over my hands now. ;-)

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

You'd better come be Canadian if you get sick. When I was diagnosed, I found out my meds would cost $15,000 a year, which is of course NOT a price I can pay. So we're like 'um, how do we pay for this?' and the answer turned out to be pretty simple...we signed me up for Trillium, which is drug coverage for cases like this. (It's a provincial program.) It's free. They calculate your income and pick up what they feel you can't handle. In my case, I had to pay a deductible 3 or 4 times a year. So MY cost ended up being $475 per year or something like that.

And of course, basic health care is free. Regular visits to the family doc and so on, that is. And when I had my tumour removed, that didn't cost us anything.

I always forget other people have to PAY for that stuff! Geez, I'm happy to be Canadian. I always automatically assume that if someone NEEDS something for their basic health, they will of course be able to get it without any cost, as it's been that way my whole life and now I totally take it for granted since I never really thought about it being any other way.

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Canada for a year doing research, I talked to Canadians a lot about health care issues in both countries. I know that there are a lot of problems with the Canadian health care system, especially in rural areas, and I was in a community that was struggling with a lot of long term health issues relating to water contamination (which is why I was there in the first place, doing research for my dissertation) so it was on a lot of people's minds. I was also really stressed about health care because I was, at that point, uninsured, and for it really surprised them that I had no health care coverage at all--if anything went wrong with me, we'd have to pay out of pocket.

So, on the one hand, I knew that people were having to wait 6 months for an MRI, for example--a procedure that in the US that takes days to schedule--but on the other hand they didn't have to worry about going into debt for a decade or more--which happened to more than one person I know--because of medical expenses.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

I got an MRI the same day I went in to see the specialist, without even an appt...they fit me in.

Honestly I haven't had any problems at all, not even too-long waits. Of course, I do tend to be exceptionally lucky in quite a few things.

I believe there are also privatized options for people who have the money to pay to get out of waiting. I'm not sure how many, but they do talk of it. I don't know any details because I've never had to go that route.

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

It may also depend on where you are, too. I was in a pretty rural area, though only about an hour from a good sized city and not that far--3 hours, maybe less?--from Toronto. But being a rural area, there was a shortage of doctors, and long waits for basic services. Some people opted instead to cross the border (as we were close) and get things like MRI's in the US because of it, even though they'd have to pay for it out of pocket.

My understanding is that its better in more urban areas.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

I live in a town, 1.5 hours north of Ottawa...about 5 hours north-east of Toronto, maybe slightly more. We don't bother trying to do any major stuff here in town...we go straight to the city, as that's where the specialists are and I have to see a neurologist, none of which exist in my town.

I was diagnosed with a tumor in May of 2001, though, by my family doc, got an appt for an ultrasound a month later, then an appt with a specialist another month later, and an appt for surgery about a month after that. The tumour was out on September 10, 2001, so all told it was less than four months from me suspecting something was wrong to it being all fixed.

Mostly I'm lucky...but yeah, I have absolutely no serious complaints about the Canadian health care system, as it has so far never let me down. :) What others have experienced, I can't say...I don't know anyone personally with a major complaint but I'm sure there are plenty.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I would totally be Canadian...I love Canada. ^_^

I tell people your story all the time, whenever I hear folks talk about how scary socialized medicine is. It seems like Canada's system is doing just fine by you. Unless you have really good existing coverage here, something like MS would break your average American, financially, forever.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

I am really happy with it. I DO think it would be best of all if there were also more private options, which people with enough money could take to avoid waiting or just to get premium service...that would in turn ease up congestion within the rest of the system.

But all in all, I prefer knowing I CAN get treatment, even if I have to wait (which I rarely ever do) to realizing that I CANNOT pay for the treatment I need (assuming I'm really poor and can't even afford insurance, etc) and just have to be resigned to die, should I get leukemia or...whatever.

But I'd like it best the other way I mentioned, knowing there was a FAST option and a FREE option. But given a choice between the two, I will definitely take the Canadian way over the US way.

Socialist, hun? I believe Empath_eia or someone on her LJ mentioned that someone from the US (or not from Canada anyway) informed them that they lived in a 'socialist hell'. Gosh, if this is hell, it's a pretty cool place to be!

*doesn't even know what socialist means, though she can guess* Is it the opposite of capitalist? Oh you know, I don't care what it means anyway. I do just fine living in my bubble, in fact, I'm wretched on the rare occasion I try to peek my head out, so I'm staying in here! *zips extra tight*

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

ooops. My comment below regarding socialism etc. was actually supposed to be reply here. Sorry.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

That's okay, it's better addressed to Meri in any case, as what I said about me not caring if I know this stuff is really true. :) In fact, it's an understatement. I usually prefer *not* to know anything. The more I know about the world, even if the information is neutral, the more miserable I feel about being human.

[tricia612.livejournal.com]

Even working for the government doesn't guarantee low insurance premiums. A few years ago, the high option family for my insurance was almost 700 for the employee's share. Don't know how families afforded it. Had high option for myself for the longest and paid dearly. Knocked it down to standard and it's tolerable. Still have to get a separate dental/optical plan but even with that it's cheaper than the high option. You choices suck with some things (eye stuff especially) but I don't dare change. Been with them almost 25 years (my job and on dad's plan during college. Makes my head hurt to look at new plans and try to figure out what, if any, would be better.

Try to keep what you have.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I think we're just going to have to stick with it...he admitted we really don't have many other options. It's pretty much right in line with what other people pay.

Might maybe have to sell my car & get a cheaper one, just to lower our overall expenses. :-( I guess I'll cross that bridge if I have to.

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

Socialism is kind of like a compromise between Communism (where all the "means of production"--aka businesses, industries, and services--are all owned and run by the government) and a purely capitalist system, where everything is run by the free market. In socialist country, most of the economy is capitalistic but services and industries deemed essential (such as health care) are owned and managed by the government, paid for by taxes.

Since most governments have at least some key services owned by the government--municipal tap water, for example, though that has been increasingly privatized internationally--being considered a socialist country is usually a matter of degree (Canada is more socialist than the US but less than some other countries) than of rigid, mutually exclusive categories.

Socialism has become aa negative term for some reason in the US, but as near as I can tell few people really understand what it means. For example, a lot of people have accused Obama of being socialist, and yet he has not proposed nationalizing anything--he has proposed some increases in government regulations, but not outright government ownership.

"But all in all, I prefer knowing I CAN get treatment, even if I have to wait (which I rarely ever do) to realizing that I CANNOT pay for the treatment I need (assuming I'm really poor and can't even afford insurance, etc)"

Part of the reason health insurance is such a huge issue in the United States is that the cost of health insurance has gone up the to point that it's not only the very poor who can't afford health care. My mom tells me that her insurance costs her employer $15,000 a year, if I recall correctly--that's a big chunk of change for an individual to pick up on their own, and that doesn't include my father's benefits. Assuming his cost similarly, that's $30,000 a year for a couple--and my parents both have white collar jobs but they aren't all that wealthy. As my mom has a serious chronic illness, it would be very expensive, if not out right impossible, for her to get insurance on her own, which is one of the reasons she refuses--despite her health problems--to retire until she can keep her health benefits.

That's also why they talk about people being trapped in jobs because of health benefits. If my husband were to change his job, we would have a minimum of 6 months between when we lose the one coverage and before any coverage from his new employer would kick in. There are temporary plans you can get to cover those gaps, but they are limited in duration (so if you don't get insured within that period, your are out of luck) and very expensive.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

That's all so true. Greg and I are doing better than average with our combined incomes, and yet we have less expendable income than we've ever had, because all kinds of expenses just keep skyrocketing. I feel like the harder I work, the less I have to show for it these days.

When did "socialism" become such a dirty word? I think in a lot of ways, socialization is the way to go. Heck, we already have socialized education and no one freaks out about that. Canada and all of Europe has had socialized medicine for decades and it hasn't led to armageddon for them yet.

It reminds me of the demonization of the word "liberal"...that kind of happened during the last administration. It's a little frightening how pundits and politicos can spin a term to make it unpalatable to the general public, even if the general public has no real sense of what the term actually means.