I'll speak to the printer about it later

[sovay]

1. So today's attempt to clear up my insurance was a bust: I went to the office derspatchel has been dealing with (which seemed like the right one to both of us!) and they were very sympathetic, but referred me to another office which closed at five o'clock. I will try it on Monday. After that, there was really nothing to do with the evening but drink a lot of alcoholic ginger beer at the Squealing Pig and see the Magna Carta at the MFA. It is actually extremely neat to look at, especially since it's housed in the same exhibit as John Adams' manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence. There are two portraits relating to a Massachusetts abolition case I'd never heard of and contemporary newspapers with marginal annotations by their collectors. All of this is next to the room of maritime art, filled with eighteenth-century models of cutters and clippers and ships of the line and figureheads and scrimshaw and random bits of wood from famous naval engagements; we were substantially delayed on our way in. We didn't get to Jamie Wyeth, teenybuffalo, but I recommend the Pictorialists (my favorite portrait of W.B. Yeats! Aubrey Beardsley looking exactly like one of his own drawings!) and the Meroitic gold and jewelry to anyone who can get to them. I am a little sad that we missed the exhibit of avant-garde photography, but it's not like I've never seen Man Ray before.

2. My back is in absolutely terrible shape. We need a new bedframe. Where does a person buy a queen-sized futon frame in this city? Dream On Futon in Inman is no longer an option; we tried them right after Readercon only to discover they had flown by night without alerting the majority of the internet or altering any of their signage—they left their name lettered on the storefront glass along with the website and hours of operation, but the showroom was dark, locked, and empty, occupied only by a motorcycle and an Oldsmobile. Rob took some pictures and it was absurdist, but not actually helpful. Boston Bedworks is expensive. I am taking recommendations; I need not to be in this amount of pain every day. It's like all the physical therapy I practiced from January to April never happened.

3. I had no idea goat towers were a thing. I'm so happy to know they are.

Comments

[sovay]

Sorry the insurance is taking a while to get straightened out and hope that happens soonest.

It is an appalling catch-22 based on the fact that I applied for subsidized healthcare from the state of Massachusetts in February because I am broke, broke, broke, and the state's website crashed with my application—not to mention the applications of many, many other Massachusetts residents—in it. Everybody in my position got a sort of temporary health coverage while MassHealth sorted out the website. It was supposed to last until the end of June. It was just renewed through the end of the year because MassHealth has still not sorted out the website. The temporary health coverage does not cover several of my doctors—most critically, my therapist—and it does not cover an unpredictable range of medications, including at least one that I need on a regular basis. It is not possible for me to change to another plan that does cover all my doctors and all my medications because I don't strictly speaking have a plan in the first place; I have this makeshift temporary free apology which as far as I can tell is designed to cover the most cost-effective services, not necessarily the most successful ones. I admit it is better than having no healthcare at all, but that is literally right now my only other option; I could withdraw my application from February, get off the temporary coverage, and then be completely screwed, because the whole reason I was applying for subsidized healthcare in February is that I don't make enough money from any of my current jobs to afford a plan on my own. This is not functional in the long-term. Not being able to see a therapist regularly* has made the stresses of the spring and summer much, much, much worse than they might otherwise have been. The medication coverage issues have given me real trouble already and I'm not looking forward to finding out what else I can't afford to keep myself healthy with if this keeps up. I spent weeks on the phone in May and June, fruitlessly trying to find out if I had any options other than endure until 2015 and in the meantime watch my physical health crater and my emotional stability follow it down; I finally decided I should just go down to their office and sit there being unavoidable until someone had to talk to me. Except the office that helps Rob can't help me, apparently. So, on Monday, the other office had better be able to.

* I had three appointments over as many months before her office refused to make bookings for me any longer based on my lack of compatible insurance—for two of those visits I was under the impression the problem had been miraculously sorted out, because no one was asking me to pay three hundred dollars up front to get into Harvard Vanguard Behavioral Health, but it turned out that was just some kind of oversight on the part of the receptionist and no, they want that money from me after all. Found out on Tuesday. That was awful. Anyway, no more future visits until I have insurance again.

I used to sleep on bare hardwood floors when I was in my twenties and Boston got real hot in the summers, and now the thought of ever doing so again makes me cringe.

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh. Yeah. I slept on our current mattress on the floor from December until . . . whenever we got the bedframe which is now broken. Sometime in mid-May, I think. It was not fun and it was definitely not a good idea for my back. And then we got a hand-me-down bedframe and I was so hopeful. It was such a short-lived happiness!

Meanwhile, thank you for the goat tower link! That brightened my evening.

I'm so glad! Goat towers are the best.

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

"...not to mention the applications of many, many other Massachusetts residents..."

This is "good" to hear -- "good" in the very cramped sense of shared problems. One of my friends is in the same bucket, and has the same apologetic emergency coverage extended to December. Like you, she spent several weeks hammering on MassHealth via phone; eventually got someone saying "Nobody here can fix your problem until our web site is rebuilt." (Not "fixed", but a new system built to replace it.)

You'd think somebody could spend a week typing raw SQL commands into the database, but no. Government.

The worst part(*) is that you don't want to complain in public, lest some Tea Partier notice and decide that this screwup justifies everything the GOP has ever said. In fact *my* health care plan went through MassHealth with only minor hiccups -- because I didn't hit the "subsidized" option -- and it's been working fine. But this is no comfort to you folks.

(* Not actually the worst part. We know.)

[sovay]

You'd think somebody could spend a week typing raw SQL commands into the database, but no. Government.

Man. I was afraid the problem was something like that, but I wanted to be wrong.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Geez. I would product manage that mess for free if it would fix the problem. I'm so sorry to hear about this.

NJ health insurance cancelled my dental insurance because I got married and told them so, but that doesn't hold a candle to this mess.

*sending as much sanity and hope as the wires will hold*