I am one of that 21.3%
Young adults make up the largest sector of the uninsured in Virginia. (at 21.3% in my age bracket of 25-34)
-Profile of Virginia's Uninsured
Data compiled by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) in 2006 revealed that adults with serious mental illness have a life expectancy that averages 25 years below the general population due to significantly higher rates of medical co-morbidities such as diabetes, heart disease, pulmonary disease, asthma, and cancer, as well as poor access to primary care.
-National Alliance on Mental Illness
“Help! The insurance company denied coverage to my adult son because of his bipolar disorder. What do we do?"
-Fairfax County Resident
I've been shopping around for health insurance again.
It's not working out the way I'd hoped.
Depression is considered a "pre-existing condition" (this is a problem that needs to stop) and none of my current physicians are listed in the physician finder things on all the insurance sites. And the Virginia Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is not accepting applications anymore.
So, I'm getting my Abilify through the mail, right? Well, why not my three other meds? Klonopin and Paxil have a patient assistance thing like Bristol-Myers Squibb, so that's pretty clear. If I don't get approved for those, then I still have to pay for the prescriptions along with the Adderall. Which does not have a patient assistance program anymore. That's the one I'd prefer help with since it's so goddamn expensive for even the generic crap.
Other than the prescriptions, the "every-two-months" psychiatrist's bill, and weekly (maybe every other week…) therapy bill, my plan on healthcare is as follows:
Don't get sick.
And how will I accomplish this?
First off, I'm going to quit smoking.
Stop laughing, I mean it this time.
We recently bought a huge bag of cinnamon sticks for our birds to tear apart, and (on a whim) I just stuck the end of one in my mouth yesterday afternoon and chewed on the end for the rest of the day. Surprisingly, doing this helped me curb my cravings. Because something vaguely cigarette shaped was stuck in my mouth and, frequently, between my fingers (or behind my ear-I've gotten into the habit of tucking a cigarette behind my ear). And it's a cinnamon stick. So it smells good. Not like smoke or (in the case of an e-cig) nothing at all. It's nice. I can chew on one during a movie and no one can snap at me for blowing smoke/vapor.
Oh man, it's hard to not light one up right after I finish watching a movie at the theater.
But that's settled. I'll make do with cinnamon sticks.
If I can make it through to October without a real cigarette, I think I'll be okay. If I can make it through all of September (I'm going to ration myself) without a new pack of Blu cartomizer refills, I'll be golden. No more nicotine. Just… Oral fixation. I have a feeling that I'm going to be using those cinnamon sticks more than the birds.
Otherwise, yeah.
Don't get sick.
That's about all I've got. If I do get sick, I can either tough it out, go to the free clinic (misnomer-you still have to pay something when you visit one) if it's bad enough that I need anti-biotics, or ignore the problem until it goes away (what I ended up doing earlier in the spring when I basically had bronchitis). Drink more water, eat some fruit. Whatever.
Or, I could follow that order until 2014 and return to insurance shopping, find a new GP, and get a physical to make sure I don't have cancer or something.
Starting in 2014 - and in 2010 for children up to age 19 - insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. The law also prohibits annual and lifetime limits on coverage, which will help people who have chronic conditions that require expensive and long-term treatments. And the law prohibits a practice known as "rescission" in which the insurance company retroactively cancels a policy for nearly any reason, including discovering that a person has received treatment for serious mental illness or substance use disorder.
-National Alliance on Mental Illness