Thursday, July 23, 2015

What Exactly is Healthcare?

One of the few perks of my full-time, full-stress, 40 hour a week, managerial, analytical sales driven job (can you gather I am not a numbers driven person much?? ;) ) is I get benefits. I felt like an adult when I accepted the job - snazzy title - Director of Sales and Marketing, 401K, health insurance, paid vacation, sick time, bereavement pay, etc., etc. These are real, adult job type things that make people go "Ooohh, ahhh." They used to make me go oooh ahh but now a year and a half in, I have learned more about myself that all the oohs and ahhs, titles, responsibilities, perks, money and benefits, don't matter to me. I would rather be broke, happy and fulfilled than wealthy and miserable. But that is not the point of this post - if you follow me, you know full well that I am unsatisfied with my day job, which is changing quicker than I can keep up :) - this post is about healthcare, or actually the sad definition of what our government deems "healthcare."

I don't want to be political, because I am not by nature, but I kinda like Obama and feel bad for him. I think he inherited a shit-show and is trying his best. With that said, and not much more, I thought initially Obamacare, maybe, possibly, could be (probably not), overly hopeful, might, just might do some good for the American healthcare system. I quickly realized my hopes and expectations were far-fetched...sigh.

I am a firm believer in universal healthcare, call it socialist, call it whatever, people are entitled to any and all resources that promote good health. And if you are in poor health, you should not be robbed blind to get well. I have watched enough documentaries and have enough friends from other countries that don't even flinch at higher taxes when they get free healthcare and education. And I agree, that is how the whole world should work.

Unfortunately, Obamacare is no where near universal healthcare. It is universal mandated insurance. Insurance is not healthcare. Insurance is the lining of pockets of the wealthy insurance investors. Our "healthcare" system is a "wealth-care system". Mandating what little resources us average folk have to paying conglomerate insurance companies even more money is just plain wrong. Illness, chronic disease, pharmaceuticals and surgeries should not be a money making industry. Making people healthy and well should be the only incentive.

Back to the perks of my fancy job - I had health coverage through my employer. Yay (well kinda).....I signed up because the company plan was cheaper than the offerings through Obamacare (I know this was not the case for everyone). I had my employer plan for all of 1 year and that 1 year has been fraught with more headaches then ever necessary - a sure sign of dealing with insurance companies. A side note: I worked in the healthcare system for a number of years and I became well acquainted and versed in insurance lingo, how to ask the right questions, threaten just enough and have the right bitch tone to ensure our patients got the best coverage and most payout. I know the insurance rigmarole and Obamacare has intensified the rigmarole to a national level. 

So I paid a penalty last year on my taxes because my insurance application got "lost" and was "never submitted" and NOW my employer plan is no longer Obamacare compliant! Ugh! I waited 3 weeks to get verification from the insurance company that my plan had been terminated so that I could re-enroll with Special Enrollment. Come to find out you have 1 month from the date of termination (which I found out 2 days prior and my annual pap scheduled a week later!) that my plan had been terminated. 

Now that I have received my official paperwork of termination I am no longer eligible for "Special Enrollment" and must wait, uninsured, pap rescheduled yet again, until Open Enrollment in November. I asked the lady twice if I would get a fine this year, to which she replied no, but we shall see. I should not have to pay a fee for a system that has not worked since day one and is penalizing me for being healthy and not wanting to buy into more wealth-care insurance.

There is not a big enough wine glass to make this any easier! Waiting on hold. Getting hung up on. Being told there will be no "fees"(lies) and no longer being eligible....."Dear, bring the big bottle!"

Sob-rant story aside, as a person approaching healthcare from a holistic approach and a place of self healing, this "healthcare system" breaks my heart. I am young and very healthy. I ferociously chase fairness and do my do-diligence of timeliness and following the "rules."  But I am pissed. HEALTHCARE IS NOT ABOUT MONEY! Insurance is about money. How can people sleep at night laying in their McMansions on 1,000 count Egyptian cotton sheets knowing that what surrounds them is paid for by ailing, poor, suffering Americans who have no other options?? 

We do not have a healthcare system at all. We have a-suck-what-little-money-you-make mandatory-sick-maintenance-surgery-required-pharmaceutical-driven-pseudo-health/sick system that gives two shits about anyone's health! I can't imagine being sick or recovering from surgery and having to navigate the bullshit that insurance companies put us through. Granted I never go to the doctor for much of anything. I will go for a semi-annual pap, which is more like every 3 years, but that is it. To think I have to pay some 1% Joe Schmo for that pap boggles my mind and even then I am prescribed medications more than I am listened to about my very minor health woes.

Our system is broken! It does not promote health or well-being and honestly it feels like nobody gives a shit about us. 

So I am proud to become a health coach. To learn how to help people heal themselves with good whole foods, balance in exercise, nutrition, relationships, spirituality and career. Because our government isn't going to help us, let alone come close to healing the masses of people who are unwell. Don't feed into insurance-care, feed yourself whole-food, real-food care. Trust your gut, your heart, your intuition - not your pharmacist. 

The only way we are going to get healthy is together, on our own, by demanding a healthcare system that aims at healing, not placating or cutting away the illness. We do this by putting ourselves, our needs, our health and our decisions first, by choosing clean organic whole foods above medications each and everyday.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Exactly! I Could Not Have Written This Any Better if I Tried!

Thanks @yoga_girl! Took the words right out of mouth and heart.......
TRUTH

MY BODY.

15 JULY, 2015
The strength I have on the mat and the space I’ve created in my body is a result of a lot of hard work, but mostly…a lot of letting go. We hold so much emotion physically. Practicing yoga is releasing—that’s why it’s so difficult! Not because we move in different ways or inhale to lift this and exhale to lower that. It’s scratching at the surface of what you don’t want to see; it’s unveiling all the fears and judgments you have about yourself buried deep inside. It’s connecting to what’s really true. And yes, along the way we might pick up some strength and flexibility and handstands and backbends and arm balances—this is a bonus. It’s not why we keep returning to the mat, every damn day. It’s not the purpose of this practice. As I move deeper and deeper into backbends, I move deeper and deeper into self-love. As I build strength to balance steadily on my hands, I build strength to face whatever the world throws at me. As I release tension from the hips, shoulders, hamstrings, I release fear, frustration, sadness. Little by little…I release the need to control. As I learn to surrender on the mat, I learn to surrender to the present moment. This is the practice. It’s accessible to you, to everyone, right here, right now—but you have to do the work. No one is going to do it for you. Don’t hold back. Today is a beautiful day for a new beginning.
SUPBOD
SUPBOOT

Thursday, July 9, 2015

When You Have No Time to Write - Post Pictures


Lupine in our garden


Oli driving the boat


Window gazing


Homegrown peonies and homemade kombucha


My downdog view


 A lovely meal out - local Maine crab salad with avocado and mango, local pea shoots and cukes


Breakfast smoothie pre-blend view


A day off morning view with a cup-o-joe and Boo


Farmer's market lunch: roasted beets, zucchini, portabella mushroom, poached farm fresh egg, Maine Pineland Farms feta and a balsamic reduction


 Organic, homemade almond milk.


Going fishing in the handmade boat (by Mr. here).


Our beautiful-down-the-road-from-our-house-beach walk. Gosh, I love where we live!


There's also been a lot, a lot of work and a lot of diversity of work (exciting new things a-brewing), but no one takes photos of work (well maybe one day ;) )