MY experience with insurance in this country

Well, let's see...where do I begin.....this blog will be about the insurance nightmare that has become my life...and my lovely ex husbands contribution to it all :)

When I was married, we both had good insurance through our jobs...his was through the prison system in Texas (he was a teacher in a jail when we moved to Texas, hence his sparkling personality) and my insurance was through the school district I worked for for 5 yrs.

When I left the school (I had to go out on disability cause I ended up yet again in the hospital) we had a choice....which insurance should we continue to use? We weighed the pros and cons of each and decided that HIS insurance was less expensive in the long run, so that is the one we kept. The specialists were on both of our plans.

Now, please keep in mind that  when you are married for twenty years there is no YOURS or MINE....everything is OURS....unless you live in my ex-husband's head....and THAT trainwreck of a mind will never be figured out by anyone......

As soon as I left him in 2006, we went right to court, and the judge wouldn't grant us a divorce stating she was afraid he would try to cancel my health and life insurance and that he was not allowed to do that since I had such a serious illness....she got a very clear view into his personality when the man would not shut up and rambled on and on and on.....my lawyers just whispered in my ear, do NOT say a word, we are winning big time since he cant shut his mouth.......h sunds like a complete lunatic!!

The judge stopped him finally and  said we would be legally seperated and could live as a divorced couple, but in order to have continuation of health insurance we would revisit the plan in a year.....and then she granted me child support AND alimony (VERY RARE in the state of Texas and you would have thought someone killed his puppy the way he carried on complaining! The judge said to him " it sounds like you"re so much more worried about how you will afford to live, but honestly I'M more worried about HER living at ALL.....ect...) We walked out of that court room with DOUBLE what I asked for....THIS should tell you something about my ex husband!! DOUBLE!!!

So what was the very first thing I did when we left court?

I stopped him on the front steps and told him he didn't need to pay the alimony but to please pay the child support...subsequently, he made ONE payment and never EVER paid again! Dirtbag....and no I didn't take him back to court, I decided I could support my own child and didn't need his money to do it anyway and it simply wasn't worth my time or effort to try to get Texas to MAKE him pay....now I wish I had banked all of that money he owes me and put it in a transplant fund!!

What was the first thing HE did upon leaving court???
He spitefully canceled my life insurance.....keep in mind someone with MY illness is not elidgable for life insurance and the policy we held together was a universal policy  that was completely paid off....we bought it 20 yrs prior when we first got married! Ill never forget the day he called me laughing telling me my life insurance was gone and he knew I could never buy another policy!

Whe I told my daughter, she  flipped out and called him immediately "Thanks DAD.....this didn't hurt MOM, it hurt ME since MOMS insurance was going to ME to handle her funeral expenses and such" His dumbass response was something unintelligable like" oh derr ummmm...." Lets just say not the brightest bulb in the pack. Since 2006  my daughter has seen him maybe 15 times.....when I left him he decided he would hurt ME through HER,,,,,,karma.....I believe in karma and one day he will get his......till then, I don't give him a second thought (unless I am blogging about my past! LOL) And it makes me proud knowing that when my daughter needs something she can and always does come to ME never him cause she knows he wont help......for hr 18th birthday he gave a a card a few days late and in it was a letter explaining why he would not give her a present.....he said he had to think of himself and his retirement and that giving her a present wold interfere with that plan....he said this would help her to grow...then he signed his name with his firt name.....to this day it still breaks my heart for her whenever I think of the things he has done to hurt her......he is an ass.....

Oooops back to my insurance story......
so....
 I ended up in the hospital again and I missed  a court appearance, I was considered a "no show" (I was in the hospital in a freakin COMA for God's Sake during that time!) and he was granted the divorce...different judge...... and the very next thing HE does is........ready???
He quit his job so he would LOSE our health insurance.......he told my daughter this was very funny to him...he said things like "now she has no health insurance either!!"  How many ways can we say CRAZY??

and the word COBRA came into my life.

Anyone know how expensive Cobra is? VERY!

I cobra'd the insurance for as long as I could and moved to Hawaii to be near my daughter and brand new  granddaughter.........when Cobra was gone I applied for insurance in Hawaii and they said yes......Hawaii has it right....they mandate all of the employers give full coverage to their employees that work a min of 20 hrs a week and their state insurance is there for everyone else....they feel in this state that everyone should be covered under insurance. Wouldn't it be nice if the rest of the country followed suit!?

I applied for EVERY private insurance there is and was denied by each and every one of them.....they all said the same thing....you are TOO sick so we do NOT have to take you on......it is what is called a "Catostrophic Clause" in private health insurance companies......

Remember don't ever get TOO sick for insurance....that'll fuck ya every time! lol (not funny )

So, I had since moved back to Texas for my job and kept applying for insurance in the state of Texas....they said no every single time....no....no...declined...declined.....why? They said since I earned more then $800  month that I made too much money......THIS is why people are forced to hide money in this country......not me! Im afraid of the IRS and pay every dime due on my taxes so that was never an option for me.......

 A friend helped me with some information and I  went to Congress and immediatly "Congressional urgency" was placed on my file to try and push through the Texas insurance......The Congressman's office saw the media attention I was getting and decided to help me.....even with his offices help the answer just came quicker.....it was still a no....

they said if i dropped my Hawaii insurance then they might consider it....I said NO WAY IN HELL am I dropping the only insurance I have in the hopes that MAYBE Texas might approve my application after being denied over 14 times!! Even the rep on the phone said she didn't blame me that if it were her she wouldn't drop the only insurance she had. And that was a smart decision because once again I was even turned down for the "buy in" program!!

So the decision was made ....I had to move back to Hawaii and be a full time resident (no longer the dual residency I had held)......this is where I am now, living in Hawaii.....hoping the Hawaii insurance will transfer over to what is called Circa (insurance co that heads transplant in Hawaii) and approve me for Transplant Evaluation.....

The good news? I am living very near  my oldest  daughter and granddaughter....my youngest is moving here in  few weeks to help me through impending evaluation and surgery......and it is gorgeous paradise here every single day.....I am counting my blessings.....

Remember these words.....life is not fair...no one EVER promised you fair....you take what God gives you and you make the best of things.....
Thanks Mom.....you are right about that!

And I taught MY kids these words:
Never be Ordinary.....