Okay, this is a problem

Part of losing your job is losing your health insurance, obvious. Not a big deal, my benefits lasted until the end of April and after getting accepted to school I got information on affordable student plans since COBRA is so expensive it's laughable. Anyway, the brochure that came with my acceptance packet outlined a bunch of cheap plans and while I was looking over which ones may work best for me I stumbled across a footnote/requirement which basically said "no plan for you" because of my Crohns. Eh, okay not a big deal because these were cheap plans geared towards students, from some company I've never heard of, that really doesn't cover more than skinned knees and cold pills.

So after that I went to the website the school suggested (if you weren't satisfied with the plans in the packet) and looked into some plans from bigger companies. I eventually decided on a PPO plan from Anthem Blue Cross, which was about 1/3 of the price of the COBRA per month, and applied. I got some updates on my application status and it just kept saying that an underwriter was looking it over. I figured the guy was on vacation or something since it was taking so long and all he had to do was hit "Yes".

I mean, it's really that simple. I was diagnosed with Crohn's just about 10 years ago. Since then, counting the time of my original diagnosis I've had 2 flare-ups. I typically see a doctor every 3 - 9 months, mostly for prescription refills and updated blood tests. No surgeries, no crazy procedures, and I haven't even needed Remicade or any other sort of IV treatment for something like 4 years. I think it'd be fair to say that most of the time, I've got this under control.

My application was declined, rejected even.

My mom is going to freak. I'm not going to say she's overprotective or overbearing, I know she's just a concerned parent and cares about me. But she's a little much to deal with when it comes to my condition. Factor in that I'm 3,000 miles away and you can see why I'm not looking forward to telling her.

Me: "Hi Mom. Good news, I'm feeling great." (or Great news, I'm feeling good)
My mom: "That's good, I'm so glad to hear that. So did you find out about health insurance for school?"
Me: "Sure did mom! My application got declined. And the bad news is, 'Crohn's disease' means the same as 'Bubonic Plague' to insurance companies and no one will give me coverage. The good news is, I suddenly have an opinion on health care reform!"
My mom: Any one of the following reactions, or a combination of all 3
1) faint/hyperventilate
2) panic and start wondering out loud frantically "what are we going to do?, what are we going to do?"
3) yell at me for losing my job

Honestly, I'd prefer #3 because then at least she's yelling at me instead of worry about me. But even if she did yell at me or start a fight I know that right afterwards she'd go into mom-mode and start worrying and that's the worst feeling. And this close to Mother's day, oye, what a great gift. Here you go mom, aggita.

Fortunately Crohn's people are a pretty eager to help bunch and I've got some leads on cheap prescription methods and stuff. Lots of people said that their doctor was good about hooking them up, which makes me wish I was in NY because my doc there was a great guy who I'm sure would be able to figure something out.

Unfortunately, I've seen just as many posts from people who said they don't/didn't have insurance for long periods of time (because no one will give us any) and were just fortunate not to get "sick". There's zero chance of my mom going for that and even though I'm 26 and can make my own decisions, I'm not putting my mom in a state of perpetual panic over my health (when I'm already healthy).

Besides, let's be serious, me be okay off of medication for the 2 years in between jobs while I attend school? It ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son.

So I need to do something. I wonder if David Garrard knows what to do. Although I bet he's covered by the NFL's insurance plan. Man, I've got a lot of stuff to read over.