So, a while back, flagamuffin asked me to write up the experience of applying for healthcare under the Affordable Care Act, which I just completed today.
I applied shortly after my original post, so about 2 months ago. The site was still very slow and buggy and when I finally entered all the info, I electronically signed the document and received a "processing" message. I logged back in a day later and it still said processing. After a week, it said the same thing. After two weeks, guess what? Still processing. Concerned, I called the number provided and spoke to a nice lady who seemed intent on helping me. She told me that they were having trouble verifying my identity, which seems odd, since I don't have a common combination of names, especially given the region I am from and currently living in. She told me to expect a letter or a phone call to clear things up.
So, I waited some more and each time I logged in, it was still processing and no letters or phone calls came. I called the number again today and spoke to another, younger person today. She asked me to provide verification over the phone, which I did. She brought up my file and then told me that I hadn't filled in everything, (which was not the case). She asked me about my financials and eventually it came out that their software rejected my response because I entered that I get paid every 3 weeks instead of every 2 or 4 weeks as the system is geared to accept.
I don't know what kind of schedule temp agencies pay in other states, but it's something those implementing healthcare.gov might be getting calls about.
After that, I selected a plan and was told that the carrier would get in touch with me "soon" and that I "should" have coverage by January 1st. I expect to have to call someone at least one more time. Oh, and now there's lots of wet snow and some freezing rain and I'm sure that more is on the way. Good thing my car passed inspection. Oh wait, it didn't! I'm sure that nothing could possibly go wrong driving on icy roads in a 21 year old car to my amazing temp job.
So, mission accomplished. I guess.
Paid every 3 weeks? To be fair that sounds like some Commie shit to me. I don't want you people to get healthcare either, Comrade. But honestly that's weird, I know plenty of people who get paid weekly. And this system was only setup to hand 2 or 4? Odd.their software rejected my response because I entered that I get paid every 3 weeks instead of every 2 or 4 weeks as the system is geared to accept.
Dude, you don't even know. Best of all? I score those No Child Left Behind tests. Sometimes for special needs kids (which are actually a lot more fun to go through, but sometimes depressing because those kids try really hard, but sometimes I have to give them incompletes and shit on technicalities). Oh, plus, I have to score x tests per hour per day or else my "number" (ranking) goes down and I'll be less eligible for projects. And if the group goes too fast we get dismissed early (yay!) without the full pay (hiss, boo) of the project as planned, since we're hourly. One time we did get free ice-cream though, but then the state that hired us for that project complained, so no more free ice-cream. Ever.
I do floss (twice!) every day. My best childhood friend is supposed to be taking care of that for me, since he's in dental school. The thing is, they just had a baby so he's really short on time lately. I just hope my third-world fillings don't decide to leave me any time soon.
For those of you wondering, as I was: Trench mouth, also known as necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (NUG), earned its nickname because of its prevalence among soldiers who were stuck in the trenches during World War I without the means to properly take care of their teeth. Trench mouth is not contagious. Was this back when you were in 'nam? How did you get... trench mouth? -Best name ever btw.Trench mouth is a severe form of gingivitis that causes painful, infected, bleeding gums and ulcerations. Although trench mouth is rare today in developed nations, it's common in developing countries that have poor nutrition and poor living conditions.
It's really gross, and a friend of mine actually came down with it right at the same time. For a while I was worried I had given it to her. Or she had given it to me. But nope, not contagious. Basically, my only symptom was that my mouth was bleeding. (The dentist was amazed that I was not in any pain.) As for now I got it, thenewgreen , I'm not really sure. The dentist and maybe wikipieda told me that it can be caused by stress. Here's what I think happened: for a while my gums had been a little sensitive during brushing. It didn't seem to get any better though so this caused me to be less aggressive about brushing instead of more aggressive. THEN ... I got a new job, moved, and went to a music festival within the span of 3 weeks. The first two I'd say are stress factors. The third, well, it's kind of hard to brush your teeth with any regularity or effectiveness when you are camping at a music festival for four days. So I think that's my fault there. I think a combination of these factors exacerbated pre-existing less-than-ideal conditions, and when I came back, my mouth would randomly start bleeding. What made me go to the dentist (and I did not have health insurance at this time, because rememebr? New Job. Took like 2 months for it to kick in) was when I woke up in the middle of the night to my mouth bleeding and it took an hour of being awake and attempting to apply pressure before it stopped. I was panicked and crying everywhere, no one wants to lose their teeth of course, convinced I had something like periodontis. I went into work. I didn't have sick time, same reason I didn't have insurance. I was afraid to talk to anyone in case my mouth started bleeding and occasionally would start crying seemingly for no cause. Finally my bosses came in, I spoke to them directly, and they were like "Go. Just go, take care of whatever you need to take care of." - One of the only times in that job where they were actually decent human beings. So the dentist had to debride my teeth and I was on antibiotics for 10 days. On the 9th day of the antibiotic treatment I had an allergic reaction to the amoxycillin (broke out in hives). The dentist told me it was rare to have an allergic reaction like that at the end of the cycle and continue taking the antibiotic til it was gone. (I was freaking out - again - bit of a hypochondriac here, I guess.) He also advised me that if it was truly an allergic reaction, I'd find out the next time I took that particular antibiotic. I only had one or two more doses so I did finish taking it. However, I talked to my GP this year and she was like "Yeah we are counting that as an allergic reaction and I am never prescribing you amoxycillin again." I think we were in agreement that that dentist was either off his gourd or just saying that because he wanted me to finish the round of antibiotics (even though...it was potentially unsafe). I wasn't even smoking at the time I got NUG. When I went back to the dentist for my check-up, things are looking good, thankfully I only lost a few mm of gum - becasue that shit don't grow back son - and my gums are looking okay. Definitely not NUG-ish. However I do think I have to constantly upkeep my teeth, there was a time in college when I was - let's say, not sleeping a lot - and when you don't sleep a lot you kind of lose track of when you are supposed to brush your teeth - and I went to the dentist around then and I had bad gingivitis at that time. So I think I have to be very careful. Now I brush 2x a day and floss. But I really should add mouthwash to the routine it couldn't hurt. So yeah! Brush your teeth kids!
That sounds awful. I'm sorry you had to go through that. My wife was almost a dentist, but during her training she'd come home every day, nearly in tears because she hated it so much. "I don't want to be an orifice dweller," she once confided in me. Sounds like a pretty sucky career imo. I've heard it has the highest suicide rate of any profession. I have my theories on why that is but I think having to deal with mouths full of trench-rot is probably up there.
Trench boil or Angel boil? I've been lucky to avoid any such stress induced maladies. (knocking on wood right now).
Trench. Most definitely trench. It's probably the most disgusted I've ever been with my body. The puss that came out of it, was not like any puss I'd ever seen before. And once all the puss was out, it left a big, gaping wound that I had to pour betadine into several times a day, for more than a month.
If it were called Angelgums it wouldn't be nearly as heinous sounding, but yeah... it doesn't sound all that pleasant to get trenchmouth. Ouch.
Oh my god, that's... probably accurate and depressing. When the bill was being passed in 2010, who would've thought the biggest barrier (besides House Republicans) to enrollment would be a shitty website.