One Of The Many Reasons Health Care Reform Can Only Be Seen As A Good Thing

This is one of the many reasons why Health Care Reform can only be seen as a good thing.

For years, there has been a strong contingent of gay men that have refused to get tested for HIV because of the repercussions knowingly being positive could bring. The smarter ones would get tested, but only at anonymous clinics and never reveal their status to their primary care physician. Why? It's not just the fear of "what if?" and the stigma that would come with living with HIV, it was also because they knew that if they did test positive their health care benefits would be in jeopardy.

Insurers have been known to drop patients that have tested positive for HIV. If the patient was lucky enough that their insurer did not drop their policy, they would have to pray that they never need to leave their current job (or get new insurance for any other reason) because no new insurance company would take them on because they had a "pre-existing condition." And if their treatment became too costly, they could reach their lifetime cap and no longer get anything from their insurance company.

Gay men have not stopped having sex and new cases of HIV infection continue to occur. Yet the previously policies that were rampant within the health care industry only changed to exclude men with HIV and only served to kill thousands of gay men with HIV and AIDS because they refused to cover them. And it's not just HIV/AIDS. There were forms of cancer and other deadly diseases that all lead down the same road.

Sarah Palin wants to talk about mythical Death Panels under Health Reform, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't understand that the current system is nothing but Death Panels full of MBAs with not a single doctor in sight. That's because she doesn't read anything. Like many of her mind-numbingly ignorant followers who only regurgitate what they've been force fed by her and her ilk.

Health Care Reform is good policy. It is barely a start toward what this country needs, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. I cannot fathom looking at this bill as a bad thing, and I challenge those that do to really understand what this does for us. If, for perhaps one moment, the right-wing nut balls of our society could stop making insidious and just plain stupid comments, then they might see that as well.

I've seen many young people who have no idea how this bill will help them. Frankly, that's because we're young. We are not so likely to have ever been in a situation where our doctor says "I can test you for X, but if it's positive, you'll have to find a way to pay all your doctor bills out of pocket for the remainder of your life… Or we could just risk it and hope things turn out ok." But those days will come. And now we won't have to worry about that anymore and can rest assured that we will be covered and can afford more medical care now.

A Smattering Of Hostility

I am just filled with rage today. Honestly, it's mostly due to things work related, but it's just spilling over into everything else. So when I opened my RSS reader over lunch to see what's going on in the world… well, I suppose I should have just left the damn thing alone and just read some more of the Sookie Stackhouse books.

If you don't read Joe.My.God, you need to check out his weekly articles on Holy Crimes. While the religious right continues to attempt to defile us queers as vile, predatory freaks, it's even more interesting to note the child molestors, child pornographers and outright scoundrels Joe brings to light every week. For people that are so obsessed with making the gays look bad, they should really take a few moment to look at their own damn people.

A new study popped up that scared the living crap out of me. 17% of gay males in Chicago are HIV-positive. Half of those men don't even know it. Why? Because they are too damned scared to go get tested. Man up. Go down to Howard Brown and get yourself tested. There is absolutely no excuse for being a sexually active gay man and not getting tested every few months. You can get free testing and you can get it confidentially. But most importantly, take care of yourself people! Be smart, wear condoms, practice other forms of sex. Sure, we may not have to live through another generation like the 80's, but you will still die from HIV and AIDS. You will still be broke from the cost of treatment and medication. You will still have a hard time getting insurance. You will still be stigmatized.

The senate, or at least one senator, is considering a bill that would repeal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act that prevents same-sex marriage recognition at the Federal level) that would not do the same for Domestic Partnerships and Civil Unions. It's not even clear if this bill would truly afford same-sex couples federal marriage benefits, other than the right to have your marriage in one state recognized in another state. Truly, this is D.C. at it's finest: A gesture that doesn't mean a damned thing, that you have to work twice as hard to get passed, but at the end of the day makes you look like you did something good while not solving anything.

Good news for the day: Kentucky asshat Jim Bunning will not be running for office again. Good for you! Now, lets see which asshat will take his place…

Oh, and gays smoke more than straight people. If you're a LGBT person and hadn't made that casual observance yet, you need to open your eyes. Again, take care of yourselves people!

I think that's enough to raise my blood pressure to unhealthy levels for today...

Alive And Not-So-Well

I first heard about the group Alive and Well AIDS Alternatives when I read that one of my favorite bands supported the organization. At the time, I was very torn about what to do. Foo Fighters remains one of the best bands to emerge from the 90's, yet I don't support Alive and Well's message. Alive and Well is an organization that believes that HIV doesn't lead to AIDS, and that HIV meds either cause AIDS, lead to AIDS, or inhibit your life by sucking away your money needlessly. Instead, they promote a "healthy alternative" to HIV treatment, advocating exorcise, proper diet, and vitamins can manage HIV and prolong the life of a person afflicted by the disease.

Recently, one of the biggest proponents of the group died at the age of 52. While her death due to complications of AIDS is tragic enough, the true tragedy comes to light when you understand that she was HIV positive when she had her daughters, and refused to test her daughters for the disease because she did not believe that HIV could be spread through the womb or during birth.

It saddens me a lot when I hear this kind of story, because it seems to me that this woman was so full of hope… but it was, sadly, misplaced hope that ultimately led to her's and her daughter's death. She believed so strongly in this alternative that she refuted science and science's proven methods to extending the life of an HIV/AIDS victim. I have to wonder how much more of a positive affect she would have had if she had continued to placed her energy toward promoting AIDS research and funding and the legislation that surrounds it.

I don't know what to make of these groups and people that support them though. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a victim of such a horrible disease, but I also can't truly imagine looking proven realities in the face and saying "You're Wrong!" You don't get the chance to bargain with nature, so pushing a line doesn't work. It's not political. No amount of protesting or arguing or law-making will change the fact that HIV leads to AIDS, and without proper treatment, it will kill you.

So, when my boys in Foo Fighters support such an organization, I have to question my loyalty to the band. There was a time when a new Foo Fighters album was a no-brainer purchase for me. But now I'm not so sure about that. I expect those in celebrity positions, people that can influence others for good or for worse, to understand what they are backing before they do so, and I'm not really sure Dave Grohl and friends get it. Maybe they were misinformed about the whole deal, but misinformation still does not wash the blood off your hands when it leads to unnecessary deaths.