capitalism ruins everything

This isn't a Moody Monday post, because it's centered primarily on my daily life. People in civilized countries may not understand that this is what life is like in the USA.

1. A few months ago, when I had my 2nd broken tooth, I discovered that some earlier visits to this clinic had not successfully been charged to my health insurance policy, so I had to pay them myself. I did so, and I alerted my workplace to the error. They notified the insurer, who contacted me, and they tried figuring out the problem with this clinic. They didn't succeed while I was on the phone, but I noticed that subsequent visits were reimbursed normally. I recently got a call from the clinic that they needed to verify my information so they could mail me a check to reimburse me for the earlier double payments. Apparently insurance reimbursement was finally figured out months after I quit my job. Better late than never. I've used part of that unexpected income to buy a month's worth of Hulu, so I can watch the excellent "The Orville" season 3. (More on that later.)


2. I finally received my new health insurance card today. I spent a month or more without coverage, and I was hopeful that I wouldn't need any healthcare during that time. I'm now a member of Hennepin Health. I still don't know what it will cost me per month. I hadn't budgeted health insurance into my estimates while living unemployed. Of course, taxpayers of Minnesota are subsidizing it for me, but there will still be some portion that I have to pay. I just don't know what. At least I won't immediately have to sell the house if something bad happens to me, but it's still disconcerting not to know the details before the bills arrive.


3. I've been writing here at least since the Occupy movement about living costs, healthcare, wealth inequality, criminalization of poverty, and the awful unsustainability of it all. We deserve so much better than literally eating rats.  This morning, I see the news that housing costs and wages are so bad in California now that one school district is asking people to allow teachers to live in their homes.  Let the societal collapse begin.

You know how I feel about the worship of wealth. We need a new system that doesn't reward selfishness at the cost of humanity's welfare.  I've told everyone that for at least a decade, but I still don't see the necessary change.