Apparently I am a slacker this week. That’s not true. I’ve gotten a large chunk of revising done. I now have the whole shape of my revision in my head as it applies specifically to each scene of the manuscript. That was no small undertaking. I’m working on translating that into actual changes to the prose.
But I haven’t done anything else.
So here are several short (er) things that I’m thankful for.
Medication: In the fall, more than any other season, I am aware that my body doesn’t work quite right. It perceives pollens and dust particles as dangerous and decides to react as if it’s being invaded. I don’t think this causes any pain for the pollens or the dust particles, but it sure does inconvenience me.
So I’m glad that there are these magical pills and sprays and things that I can put into my body to compensate. I know they aren’t really magic, but when the doctor says “let’s try this,” I can’t help but feel like this science isn’t as exact as it’s cracked up to be. But I’m glad that I don’t have to be sick all the time, and that all I have to do to stay reasonably healthy is swallow a pill.
Medical Insurance: This is one of the things I was afraid of about self-employment. I think a lot of people are. But it turns out that for two reasonably healthy people, getting good individual insurance in Utah is really easy. (Note all the caveats in that previous sentence. I really wish it were easier for people everywhere regardless of health, but that’s not a thing I’m thankful for, so we’re going to move on for today.)
We’re with Select Health, which is a division of IHC, who own most of the hospitals in our area. And they are fantastic. I really never thought I’d say that about a health insurance company, but this is the first one I’ve dealt with that always bills us for the right amount the first time, always covers what they said they would, and gives excellent customer service over the phone. I’ve also had a great experience at all of their contracted facilities. My life is made so much easier by knowing what I’m going to have to pay for medical services, always, and not having to put up a fight over it after the fact. Plus, they do this awesome thing where they limit the maximum allowable charges on every medical expense, so that even when we pay a bill out of pocket (rarely), we usually end up paying only half to a third of the original bill.
They’re not perfect, and they don’t cover some things I think they should cover, but I’m so, so grateful for my medical insurance.
Being two reasonably healthy people who can get individual coverage: That said, I am so very aware that coverage like I have is not possible for a very large number of people in my nation. And that medical care and medication are not available to an even larger amount of people in the world. I am so grateful that we happen to be pretty healthy people, and that we happen to have gotten the coverage we have when we did. If we weren’t, we literally could not have the lives we have. If one of us had major, pre-existing medical conditions, one of us would have to have a job with good benefits. Period. I feel guilty for being so lucky (because there’s nothing we did to deserve it) but I’m grateful that we happen to fit into the group of people for whom good, affordable, individual coverage is possible. I hope in the future that window of opportunity will open for more and more people, because good medical care is pretty basic for good quality of life.
