My Journey Through BC, Cardiomyopathy & Stage IV Breast Cancer ~ LMBC: February 2013

Thank you for the votes for Healthlines "Best Health Blog of 2012" contest.

Competition was very stiff and I would like to congratulate Ann Silberman of But Doctor I hate Pink's blog, who is the grand prize winner and a daily blogger. Healthline describes Ann as, "a self-described “metastatic breast cancer ass-kicker in stilettos and denim” doesn’t dislike the color pink, but you won’t catch her wearing a ribbon. The 54-year-old mother of two from Sacramento has been documenting her terminal battle with breast cancer since she was diagnosed in September 2009 on her blog." Ann has quite a following and won by a landslide.

I follow Ann pretty regularly on her blog and on Facebook and she is one tough cookie who is not about to let cancer get her down, although it has given her a real run of it. Check out more about Ann on her blog above, or Here on Healthlink.

Debbie... aka the cancer warrior ... AND SURVIVOR!!!

LIVESTRONG:

• I AM STRONG • I AM HEALTHY • I AM LOVED •

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It makes no sense....

My Anthem Blue Cross health premium has increased $156/month. That is $1,872/year increase.

I now pay $939/month for me alone. That is $11,268/year. (Nope; Marks retirement from Fire Service did not provide any health benefits. They conveniently made that change a few years before he retired. Thank you GEFD for this.)

Because of my high deductible of $7,500/year, I rarely submit things to insurance these days. This is because if I contract to do private pay at time of service with my providers, I can negotiate the cost down to nearly 1/3 what they would charge my insurance --- BECAUSE, it is all coming from my pocketbook anyway. And I don't expect to reach the deductible this year.

So why do I carry health insurance?

I know why; really I do. It is because I could have a recurrence of cancer or a catastrophic situation that would be more than $7,500/year. In that case, $7,500 is the most I would pay that year.

But it is just all so hard to accept on a month-by-month basis.

I so look forward to 2014 when there will hopefully be a change that will prevent me from going broke from paying for health insurance.

There.... I feel better now. Thank you for listening/reading. :-)