"Things That Make Me Go Hmmmmm?" Spring Edition

Spring has sprung and once again, lots of things are making me go Hmmmmmm.

PART 1

I’m happy the healthcare reform bill passed because I strongly believe that every single person (pre existing condition or not) needs to be insured at a fair price regardless of their job, or lack of one.

I've also had my own insurance issues as of late and know first hand what it's like to be forced to switch to a more expensive insurance or be dropped completely by your insurance company because of an out of the blue health scare that was none diabetes related.

Look, I still have questions regarding the health plan. There’s a lot of verbiage to plow through and I haven't plowed through all of it yet. I know it's not perfect and I never expected it to be. But things need to change regarding healthcare and insurance companies and it's a start. I’m still reading articles on the subject & will state my thoughts in a much more articulate manner very soon.

I don’t understand why people are so against having the option of a national health plan, if only for the following two reasons.

Insurance companies will finally have to be accountable for their actions- just like every other business in the United States.

Pre existing conditions like diabetes, asthma, lupus,etc will no longer cost us astronomical premiums that can increase whenever said insurance companies feel like it.

One thing that didn’t make go hmmm (it made go W.T.H) was why the FDA only had one person with the patient perspective speak at their hearings for meter accuracy. What’s with that?

Ellen Ullman was our voice at the hearing and she was WONDERFUL. Thank God she was there to speak on our behalf! And why shouldn't she have a place at the hearings? Aren’t the patients and their families the ones that actually USE THE METERS? Don’t the patients lives and well being depend on keeping track of their blood sugars?

Here's a question to the FDA: Why not include a multitude of patient perspectives in the hearings? It’s not rocket science FDA folk; it’s pure common sense. Talk to the people who use the product DAILY because their lives depend on it- not just the people who manufacture said product.

Click HERE to Send the FDA your patient perspective.

Click HERE to read an excellent post on the subject!

Another thing I understand but still don’t want to do is Basal Testing. The very thought of it makes say “OH SH*T” every time I think of what it entails.

I’m going to be honest here. I don’t want to fast and I don’t want to not drink coffee in the morning. I don’t want to fast, and I certainly don’t feel like getting up in the middle of the night to test and test again. Did I mention that I don’t want to fast?

BUT, and the but is KEY here folks- I want to be healthy and it’s been YEARS since I did basal testing - it needs to be done. My basal rates most certainly need to be tweaked, BIG TIME.

I’ll be starting my basal tests very soon and you'll hear all about it.

Another thing that makes me go hmmmm is drug/DME companies version of the “IDEAL DIABETIC.” We are far from perfect. We are not just the young and old, and our blood sugars vary from hour to hour. We are not all cute and fuzzy, and some pwds are more weathered and wise. Many look very much like the person you see in the mirror - Go figure? Companies need to represent us all- not just who YOU think we are.

Another thing that makes me cringe and go hmmmmmm is fashion. Seriously folks, who ever said that having a chronic illness must = bad, ugly fashion?

I don’t and won’t buy into that school of thought and neither do most of the PWDs I know. Stay tuned re: my passion for pretty diabetes fashion~

BIG Thanks go out to Amy, Mike, & Kerri for writing such excellent posts that I linked to in Part 1. THANKS GUYS~

PART 2

Why do people think Glen Beck speaks the truth? Just because he uses a blackboard doesn’t mean he’s a scholar or an authority on the “Real America.” Every single one of us, red state or blue, is part of the "Real America!" Just because I think Glen Beck is a moron makes me no less of an American.

And finally: Why are people obsessed with MTV’s THE JERSEY SHORE? I'm not even going to link to that piece of tripe!

I'm going to state as fact that those people don’t represent New Jersey as a whole. I grew up at the beach in South Jersey and that’s not how we were brought up.

Thats not how my friends and family bring up their children. New Jersey is the Rodney Dangerfield of states - Jersey gets no respect! And now with a show like that, we never will.

The people on that show are a horrible representation of the Garden State and give Jerseyites and Italian Americans alike a bad name!