I created a healthcare category. Veterans’ healthcare & insurance-funded health care have a lot in common, so Voila! It’s all in one place.
I’m a 100% service-connected veteran of nearly 30 years. I have advocated for myself as both a veteran and private insurance-funded healthcare*.
The only difference is that one healthcare system can pass laws to prevent treatment, and the other lobbies politicians to pass laws to deny services to their customers.
My goal is to share my experiences to promote more questions that will inspire Americans to ask a minimum of one of these three:
1. Why isn’t veterans’ healthcare adequately funded?
2. Veterans have family and friends who die from inadequate health care*. Why aren’t all Americans getting the medical care and social services we need?
3. How is someone with no medical training in diagnostic medicine paid to deny needed health care and treatments based on the best bargain in favor of insurance company profits?
References
Grammarist, “Healthcare vs Health Care“*
And of course, the Turtle’s name is Ricky-Bobby.
Hello, my name is Karen Vasquez. In 1994 I was diagnosed with a rare progressive degenerative disease called, scleroderma. I felt isolated, even in support groups and after the internet became a thing. I thought no one could possibly understand what I was going through. In 2007, I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis in addition to scleroderma and that opened my eyes to the similar symptoms experienced by people with different chronic illnesses. I started talking to people with other chronic illnesses and people who don’t have an ongoing medical stuggle. I found one thing that connected us all, grief. I may not know exactly how a person with Lupus feels, but I do understand their loss of function and/or abilities.
Not only did I find grieving loss in common with others who had different symptoms and hard to pronounce names, but I also found grieving loss in common with people who did not have chronic illnesses. Sure, I don’t know what suddenly losing a job after twenty-three years feels like, but I do understand what it’s like to lose my thumb at twenty-five years old. Yes, they are distinctly different devastating losses, but both trigger overwhelming grief.
The Grief Connection
In college, I was introduced to two books; one in psychology class and the other in philosophy class. They are The Five Stages of Grief and The Power of Myth. The Five Stages of Grief, by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, is based on her studies of death and dying. The Power of Myth is based on a six-hour conversation between journalist Bill Moyers, and author of The Hero’s Journey, Joseph Cambell at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in 1998.