BadCripple: The ACA and You

Dear Folks,

First: take a deep breath. We have some things to talk about. You may have to Google some stuff, you may have to visit some sites more than once. But you are going to be okay.

Since I am chronically ill and both sick and flaring, you will have to find most links on your own. Let me break down this part of my life for you: my phone thinks the damn hospital is my place of employment, okay? There is no setting to say I am just disabled. Heh.

Thanks to the ACA, you are going to be far more okay than you have ever been, if you were not independently wealthy. If you are independently wealthy: shut your damn dirty mouth about the ACA. Your fucking crocodile tears are part of the problem. Go polish your Bentley, the grown-ups have the floor. 

I am looking at you, Marco Rubio - quit fucking up your people in favor of some more money, you jackass. You were never going to be President anyway. Go write some useless memoir. I will read it when it gets to used book store bargain bundles.

Well, most of you are going to be okay. If you are poor but working in a state that did not accept the federal money to expand Medicaid you may still be fucked for a while. As I understand it, though, the Administration is going to try to find other ways to get you covered (you know, when they quit putting out the flaming Tea Party doggie bags on the White House lawn). That is the fault of your state, though, you got it? Good, because you have enough flaming shitballs to juggle just to get through the day. All I ask is that you vote, and remember this when you vote.

Okay, the rest of you: did you take a breath? Good, good. Take another one. For the first time ever, you are going to have reliable access to affordable healthcare. Yeah, really! You will have it no matter what happens to your job, even if you move, even if you or a family member comes down with a multi-million-dollar illness. No shit! Even if you get poor, unless you were in a red state that turned away the money to help you then. Think about that when you vote.

I know, I know, the web site is hard to use right now. But it is not just about the web site, and the web site is going to get fixed. You have until, like, January to get situated. That information is everywhere. You are going to be okay.

About the goddamn web page: this is not a simple thing. This is not some script kiddie's About.me page. This is a complicated thing, connecting to state and federal government, the IRS, dozens of health care insurers... You know how hard it is just to get some suits to decide where to go for lunch, let alone coordinate that kind of cooperation. Although other countries have universal coverage: this has never been done before. 

So make up your own mind, but educate yourself first, please. We have enough business people, "elected" leaders, and party dunces hollering straight out of their asses. You take care of yourself, and if you still cannot get things going for you and your family, take a deep, deep breath. You have a while.

Get Out and Vote!

I do not need to tell you that I am adamant about getting out the vote. Even if I do not agree with how you will vote, I think you should get out there and exercise your Constitutional right and obligation to vote.

Check out your state's voting rules and regulations at your Secretary of State's web page. Indiana voters can go here.  Here is some more Indiana information.

You can find information about voting with disabilities there, and you can find more voting with disability information here.

Know your polling place, and know your ID rules.

Are the rights of LGBT citizens on your ballot? Find out!

Check out Actually... if you need more motivation to vote. Here are some motivational voting posters that kick ass.

Here is the Planned Parenthood voting guide. Here is the ACLU's guide. Bold Progressives/MoveOn put together a guide too. You can find your polling place here.

If you have trouble voting, then immediately contact Election Protection, either via their web page or by calling their number: 1.866.OUR.VOTE. The ACLU Voter Protection Hotline is: 877.523.2792.

Remember that people have fought and died so that you can cast a ballot: DO IT! I am in a flare, but I had my husband bundle me up so I got to my polling place, which will likely still be only barely was actually handicapped accessible, and cast my damn ballot, you can too!

Planned Parenthood of Indiana

Planned Parenthood of Indiana does awesome things. When I was much younger, I had a cancer scare, and I had no other way to find out what was going on except through the low cost services of PPI. Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about in the end.

I have already been teaching my daughters about Planned Parenthood, safer sex, and both societal attitudes about sex and (versus) real life sex. I am glad I started early, as soon as they started asking, because even then it is a raging battle to make sure that they value themselves both as human beings in general and as free sexual agents. (No, I do not say it like that, but you get it, and they are starting to get it.)

Recently, PP has been working on political awareness, because a lot of politicians seem to want a government small enough to fit into every vagina in the land. The #YesWePlan effort is great, and here is my pic:

Here are some places you can find Planned Parenthood:
Facebook
Twitter
Web
Planned Parenthood Action Center

Because there is some awful up there in the links, I offer a relevant palate cleanser:

And I say:

GO VOTE NOVEMBER 6TH!