(no subject)

[serene]

Amid all the happiness in my life lately (and god, is there a lot of happiness), the only things of substance that mar my joy are homesickness and pain. The homesickness I can help a little by seeing more of my San Diego family, and I'm trying to do that. Other than that, there's not much I can do but be homesick.

The pain is something I'm trying to do more about. I got some cortisone shots for the hips, and I'm trying some dietary things for the joints in general. (Gonna go without dairy and caffeine for a while and see if it helps -- if not, several people have suggested giving up gluten, and that would be harder for me, but I'll try it.)

One of the reasons I'm going this route for the time being is that I lost my health insurance. In the ramp-up to visiting my family at the end of last month, I forgot to send my premium, and COBRA cancels if you don't postmark the payment by the end of the month. I really, really don't need to be chastised about this. I'm going to do what I can to stay healthy. I'm also going to do what I can, once the new year begins, to find a job with health insurance.

When we decided to move up here, my one condition was that we maintain my COBRA payments, and I'm chagrined that I let it lapse, when we have the money in the bank and we've made it such a priority. Whatever. Gotta move on. And gotta get an appointment with Planned Parenthood soon so that I can get more birth-control pills before they lapse (although I suppose I may be able to renew them at Kaiser and just pay full-price -- does anyone know?).

I'm just rambling. I don't really need encouragement or advice. Just letting folks know what's going on, because y'all have been so supportive.

Comments

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

*hugs* for the forgetting - I've forgotten really important stuff too. I went 7 months without health insurance because when I was laid off by the company in SD, they neglected to tell me that the COBRA was only good in the state of California. I didn't find that out until I tried to activate it after having left the state. -.-

Now then, I think you know of at least some of the myriad of health problems I have, and I did manage, so perhaps some of what I went through will help you until you get a job with coverage.

First of all, if the birth control prescription is still valid, you can definitely just go and pay the full price. Planned Parenthood is of course a 2nd very reasonable option for that issue.

The second thing is to search for your county's health department online. There should be some information there about the clinics they maintain. I went to these clinics in both Texas and Illinois, so they must also exist in California. I want to say that I paid $20 or so to see a doctor - this was nearly 3 years ago now, so I'm just guessing here. If you take any prescriptions (Celebrex, perhaps?) they can help you to get them for free or very cheap, depending on the programs they have access to. This is all they do, and you have to provide some sort of proof as to where you live and perhaps that you have no medical insurance, but you should be able to find that out on their website or by calling them.

This may be more than you need at this point, but I figure too much information is better than not enough when it comes to things like this. If you do have any questions, please ask.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[brotherelf.livejournal.com]

*huggles*

Be careful about your calcium intake when you quit dairy. (No dairy? I think I couldn't do without.)

[berkeleyfarm.livejournal.com]

Oh, fuck. Sorry to hear that.

Hugs and healing thoughts.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

If you end up paying full cost for your BCP, the cost is usually cheap ($15-30/month).

I realize that might not be cheap to you, but the full price I pay for my asthma meds is $300/month (and in grad school I had to pay out of the pocket for half of the year :( ).

[lysana.livejournal.com]

You might also want to check Costco's pharmacy prices. I don't know if they would automatically be cheaper, but they could easily be based on what I've heard they sell other prescription meds for.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

You mean if one COBRA payment is late, the whole thing is permanently, irrevocably cancelled? God, our health care system is evil.

[firecat]

Indeed. Given that one pretty common reason for being late on a payment would be BEING VERY ILL.

[firecat]

[hug]

It's worth asking Kaiser.

Also, paying for a doctor visit or two might be cheaper than your COBRA copay would have been. I recall porcinea saying a while back that she negotiated discounts from some doctors by telling them she was a self-pay patient. I don't know if any California doctors work that way.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I did self-pay for years in San Diego, and I ended up spending less than the $340 a month I was paying for COBRA -- then again, it was an occasional earache and things like that most of the time. It was hundreds and hundreds (probably more than a thousand) for my cancer scare operations, but yeah, the doctor took it easy on me because it was out-of-pocket (and he was a good Christian).