Tweet
Note: This has fratching potential, so let's not go there, 'kay? I'd appreciate it, but the mods would appreciate it more, I'm sure.
Anyway... Are you sitting comfortably? Let's begin. I was scheduled to work tonight, but now I am off. I'm off because this is what the human resources department at my factory came up with to make sure that I can continue to receive the medications for my HIV that keep me alive.
To make a long story short, the state of North Carolina pays to keep me alive by funding a program that pays for medication for state residents who suffer from HIV. When I was entered into the program, economic times were good and people whose gross incomes were up to 300% of the federal poverty line got their medications paid for. Thus, anyone who made $32,490 per year or less, before taxes, got their medications paid for by the state.
In a normal year, I'll make enough money to be within nodding distance of that amount. I and that amount will recognize one another in the corridor, nod our friendly hellos and be on our way, but we won't stop and chat.
This year, however, I would have made a bit more than that had I not realized it in time and gone to human resources this morning the minute I got free from my doodad-inspecting responsibilities. What would have bumped me over the limit was about ten days of overtime I was forced to work back in the summer thanks to my ex (You can read about it here -- scroll down a bit.) who put me in a deep financial hole.
So... Had I not caught it in time, and had human resources not been willing to work with me, I would have been dumped from the program that gives me the medicine that keeps me alive. It would have been doubly bad, because I learned from talking with a social worker at my doctor's office on the phone this morning while human resources was working their phone magic with our factory's corporate offices, that because economic times are no longer good, the state of North Carolina has lowered its income threshold to 125% of the federal poverty line. Meaning that I would have had to at the very least, quit my job and either attempt to go on disability (a process that can take more than a year to achieve and which is humiliating, such as when they forced my mother to prove she was blind and made my father take off his prosthetic legs to prove he was actually missing his legs), get only a part-time job, or just try to sponge off the government in some way. Any way you cut it, it would have meant disaster for me.
All because I had to work overtime to get myself back on sound financial footing, and that because I allowed my ex-boyfriend to run through all my money and put me deeply into debt.
The solution that human resources worked out was that I not come in tonight and not get paid for it (ordinarily you can opt to have a paid vacation or personal day if you have to take a day off), and defer the two remaining paychecks this year until January 13th. By doing so, my income for the year will be about $600 below the threshold allowed for me and for other people who entered the drug program before the recession. If we apply in time, we're grandfathered in under the rules that were in place at the time that we were entered.
If we do not apply in time, or if something else unpleasant arises, we are taken off the program and are left to die a horrible death. One of the most horrible deaths a person can die, in fact. Meanwhile, this coming year, as it did this year, the state will cap enrollment in the program and there will be a waiting list for those who didn't reapply in time and for those who will be diagnosed later in the year. In 2010, more than 500 people were on the waiting list for North Carolina's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. In 2011, there will likely be more. Many, if not most, will not be helped because there's no money, and anyone who was on drugs but gets dropped from the program will be in a bad position if and when they ever find another way to fund their medicines. HIV/AIDS is a tricky little shit and constantly adapts to the body's defenses and to medication. That's how it kills you, and that's why, if you stop taking medication and let it build up a defense, your old medicines won't work anymore -- and you get to see if new medications, with all their fun and amusing side effects such as physical deformity (to name but one) might work instead.
However hopefully, because I am taking tonight off, I won't get to find out for myself.
The kingdom was lost for the want of a nail, and hauntedhead almost died for the want of a pill.
Anyway... Are you sitting comfortably? Let's begin. I was scheduled to work tonight, but now I am off. I'm off because this is what the human resources department at my factory came up with to make sure that I can continue to receive the medications for my HIV that keep me alive.
To make a long story short, the state of North Carolina pays to keep me alive by funding a program that pays for medication for state residents who suffer from HIV. When I was entered into the program, economic times were good and people whose gross incomes were up to 300% of the federal poverty line got their medications paid for. Thus, anyone who made $32,490 per year or less, before taxes, got their medications paid for by the state.
In a normal year, I'll make enough money to be within nodding distance of that amount. I and that amount will recognize one another in the corridor, nod our friendly hellos and be on our way, but we won't stop and chat.
This year, however, I would have made a bit more than that had I not realized it in time and gone to human resources this morning the minute I got free from my doodad-inspecting responsibilities. What would have bumped me over the limit was about ten days of overtime I was forced to work back in the summer thanks to my ex (You can read about it here -- scroll down a bit.) who put me in a deep financial hole.
So... Had I not caught it in time, and had human resources not been willing to work with me, I would have been dumped from the program that gives me the medicine that keeps me alive. It would have been doubly bad, because I learned from talking with a social worker at my doctor's office on the phone this morning while human resources was working their phone magic with our factory's corporate offices, that because economic times are no longer good, the state of North Carolina has lowered its income threshold to 125% of the federal poverty line. Meaning that I would have had to at the very least, quit my job and either attempt to go on disability (a process that can take more than a year to achieve and which is humiliating, such as when they forced my mother to prove she was blind and made my father take off his prosthetic legs to prove he was actually missing his legs), get only a part-time job, or just try to sponge off the government in some way. Any way you cut it, it would have meant disaster for me.
All because I had to work overtime to get myself back on sound financial footing, and that because I allowed my ex-boyfriend to run through all my money and put me deeply into debt.
The solution that human resources worked out was that I not come in tonight and not get paid for it (ordinarily you can opt to have a paid vacation or personal day if you have to take a day off), and defer the two remaining paychecks this year until January 13th. By doing so, my income for the year will be about $600 below the threshold allowed for me and for other people who entered the drug program before the recession. If we apply in time, we're grandfathered in under the rules that were in place at the time that we were entered.
If we do not apply in time, or if something else unpleasant arises, we are taken off the program and are left to die a horrible death. One of the most horrible deaths a person can die, in fact. Meanwhile, this coming year, as it did this year, the state will cap enrollment in the program and there will be a waiting list for those who didn't reapply in time and for those who will be diagnosed later in the year. In 2010, more than 500 people were on the waiting list for North Carolina's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. In 2011, there will likely be more. Many, if not most, will not be helped because there's no money, and anyone who was on drugs but gets dropped from the program will be in a bad position if and when they ever find another way to fund their medicines. HIV/AIDS is a tricky little shit and constantly adapts to the body's defenses and to medication. That's how it kills you, and that's why, if you stop taking medication and let it build up a defense, your old medicines won't work anymore -- and you get to see if new medications, with all their fun and amusing side effects such as physical deformity (to name but one) might work instead.
However hopefully, because I am taking tonight off, I won't get to find out for myself.
The kingdom was lost for the want of a nail, and hauntedhead almost died for the want of a pill.
I'm sooooo glad this worked out for you! Yay for an HR department that actually cares!
Comment