healthy jen in san francisco

living in san francisco is fabulous. no, really, it is. yeah, yeah we’ve got our restaurants and museums and picturesque backdrops galore. there’s the awesomeness in that i never, ever have to own a car because the whole city is so darn walkable (and when a walk doesn’t suit you there is the ever so convenient/efficient/affordable city carshare or a cab on every corner or the love of my life (muni)). not to mention it’s flip-flop weather about 10 months out of the year. i could go on, you get my drift. but what makes me so proud to live in this city is the degree to which it cares about its residents.

what’s got me spouting off this time? healthy san francisco.

healthy san francisco is the city’s program making healthcare accessible to the uninsured and i can’t stop singing it’s praises. because i cannot get health insurance you see (pre-existing condition, yo) so without the help of some corporate job i’m plain outta luck. except i live here.

basically the way it works is on a sliding scale: you report your income (in my case, unemployment) and where you land on the scale determines how much you pay for services. i pay $50 a month with $10 copays and $10-25 for medication. someone with zero income pays $0 a month with $0 copays and $0 for medication. can you believe it?!

it’s stressed all over the place that this is not the same as insurance, i’ve got very specific and limited instruction on where to go and if i ever needed to see a specialist i’ve got to get approval just like any crappy HMO. but the point is that it’s something. and i’ve got this lovely and proactive doctor at the CPMC near my apartment who i’m actually happier with than the one i had before. and yeah, it isn’t without its share of bureaucracy but thus far has actually been a heck of a lot easier to navigate and decipher than all that intentionally tricky and sneaky stuff on a blue cross statement.

i have no interest in getting into the nitty-gritty of the universal healthcare debate on this a-here blog but have to wonder how many of the most vocal opponents have ever been turned down themselves. if we live in this kick-ass-powerful-nation why can’t we all be healthy? it blows my mind that not everyone sees it that way.

anywho, now all of you know “one of those people” who has been denied coverage through no fault of their own and incase you need me to reiterate: it seriously, seriously blows. but i live in san francisco, which most certainly does not.