AIDS budget cut protest in Sacramento on 10 June 2009 (photo: Dan Aiello)

I had a CT scan and doctor appointments yesterday because I have pneumonia and I’ve had constant fevers for the last three weeks. I forgot to bring the mail in until late last night, and I discovered that, as part of Arnie and the Teabaggers’ New Deal for People with AIDS, the State of California has cut my health benefits. The California and San Diego County slime-balls who make these decisions slithered into hiding and let the Social Security Administration deliver the bad news:

The State of California will no longer pay your Medicare medical insurance premiums after June 2009. You must pay the premiums beginning July 2009.

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If you want to cancel this insurance [and have no fucking insurance whatsoever], please contact the local Social Security at the telephone number and address below.

The State of California didn’t start paying these insurance premiums until a few months ago. They stepped in and took over the payments when, after trying to use a redetermination of eligibility to throw me out of the MediCal program (MediCaid everywhere else), they discovered how financially fucked I actually am.

I’ve become a master of living on nothing. I simply don’t spend a dime unnecessarily. I will tighten my belt again and I’ll survive. That might not be true for many of the individuals who face even harsher cuts or whom the State of California will simply throw out of the state’s AIDS/HIV and MediCal program like trash. The appeals judges, in my personal experience, simply tell the victim that the state can do anything it wants. It has the law on its side.

More on the AIDS-care meltdown in California

Veteran reporter Rex Wockner has a must read  post up on the insanity that is now taking place in California:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed, and the California Legislature is considering, draconian cuts to all types of HIV-related funding in the near-bankrupt state.

In the worst-case scenario, which is still not off the table, slashes to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program could result in thousands of Californians who make less than $41,600 per year losing access to the state-provided drugs that suppress HIV and keep them alive.

Go and read the rest of Rex’s post … now!

Then read Rex’s: What is Arnold smoking now?

Tags: AIDS, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Dan Aiello, Queer Culture, Queer History, Queer Rights, Rex Wockner, San Diego

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under Healthcare, People, Places, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.